Toby Axelrod
By Toby Axelrod
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Fast Forward Berlin’s Polish Cultural Institute Director Might Have Been Fired for Jewish Focus
BERLIN — The firing of the director of the Polish Cultural Institute in Berlin has led to a diplomatic brouhaha in the German capital after some assert that she focused too much on Jewish topics. The Jewish Museum also has become involved in defense of Katarzyna Wielga-Skolimowska, who was let go last week by the Polish Foreign Ministry, ostensibly…
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Fast Forward German Jewish Leader Ordered Not To Brand Israel Critic as ‘Notorious’
BERLIN (JTA) – A German Jewish leader was reprimanded by a German court for describing a Jewish critic of Israel as “notorious” for anti-Semitic remarks. Charlotte Knobloch, head of Munich’s Jewish community and of the Bavarian Jewish umbrella group, made the assertion about Jewish blogger Abraham Melzer of Frankfurt in a private e-mail last September. Melzer sued in response. Knobloch,…
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Fast Forward Did Jew Who Triggered Kristallnacht Survive Nazi Era After All?
— A photo found in Vienna suggests that Herschel Grynszpan, whose murder of a German diplomat in 1938 was used as a pretext to launch the Kristallnacht pogrom 78 years ago this week, may have survived World War II. It was previously believed that Grynszpan, a Jew of Polish background who was 17 when he shot…
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Fast Forward German City Celebrates a Somber Jewish First
— The Reform congregation in the German city of Hamburg has dedicated its first Jewish cemetery. In ceremonies earlier this month, Rabbi Moshe Navon, who also heads the Liberal congregation in Bad Pyrmont, inaugurated the community’s section of the Ohlsdorf cemetery, which was supported with a gift of $3,280 for plantings at the site from…
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Fast Forward German Jews See ‘Nazi Renaissance’ in Far Right Breakthrough in Berlin
BERLIN — In what one German Jewish leader is calling a “Nazi renaissance,” Germany’s newest right-populist party – Alternative for Germany – has broken the Berlin barrier, gaining seats for the first time in that state’s parliament. The anti-immigrant, euro-sceptic party that has been plagued by controversies over anti-Semitism in its ranks now has seats on legislatures in 10…
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Fast Forward German Judge Avoids Punishment for Helping Survivors Get Pensions
— A German judge who landed in legal trouble after helping Holocaust survivors apply for ghetto pensions has settled the case against him out of court. The North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry of Justice announced the settlement on Tuesday. In its statement, the ministry said that as part of the agreement with Jan-Robert von Renesse, neither side would discuss…
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Fast Forward Why Is German Judge Facing Punishment for Helping Holocaust Survivors Get Pensions?
— Jewish leaders and others are rallying to the aid of a German judge facing punishment for helping Holocaust survivors apply for ghetto pensions. In an open letter that has been picked up by German Jewish and mainstream media, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany has urged the German minister-president of North Rhine-Westphalia to intercede on…
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Fast Forward German Jews Call Far-Right’s Strong Showing a ‘Nightmare’
— A far-right party in Germany finished second in voting in the political home state of Chancellor Angela Merkel, ahead of Merkel’s party, spurring concerns among Jewish leaders in Germany. Alternative for Germany, known as AfD, with its anti-immigrant and ultranationalist platform, picked up 21 percent of the vote Sunday in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, behind the center-left…
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