Detroit Federation Chief on Neo-Nazi’s Hit List
The FBI warned the head of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit that his name was on a the hit list of a convicted killer and neo-Nazi sympathizer.
Scott Kaufman, CEO of the Detroit federation, was told last week that his name was on a list in a notebook kept by a Toledo man who was indicted last month on federal weapons charges.
The notebook was found Dec. 21 in the raid on the home of Richard Schmidt, 47, who served jail time for voluntary manslaughter in the 1990 killing of a Toledo man. The list made reference to the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit and listed its leaders, the Toledo Blade reported.
The Rev. Wendell Anthony, the head of the Detroit branch of the NAACP, and his group also were on the list.
Federal agents who raided Schmidt’s house said they seized a video of a 2005 national meeting of the National Socialist Movement, a white supremacist neo-Nazi group, and a national list of Jewish-owned businesses, according to reports.
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
