August 11
1492: Alexander VI is elected Pope. Alexander was one of the Borgia popes. He had reputation for “moral depravity” and was more politician than prelate. He defied Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain by allowing large numbers of Marranos who were fleeing the Inquisition to take refuge in
Rome
. He did reduce the size of the badge worn by the Jews under his rule but raised their taxes by five per cent. He also lengthened the course that the Jews of Rome were forced to run each year so that he could view it from the comfort of his castle. The Jews were forced to run naked much to the amusement of the Christian population of
Rome
– the home of Catholicism. Everything is relative and for all of his shortcomings, Alexander VI’s treatment of the Jews was a lot better than that of the other Catholic strongman of the day, The Grand Inquisitor – Torquemada.
1634: Seventeen arrests were made by the Inquisition after a man turned another man in for being "unwilling to make a sale on Saturday," and for not wanting to eat bacon.
1667(21stof Av, 5427): Jonah Abravanel, a Dutch Jewish poet and author, passed away today at Amsterdam. “He was the son of the physician Joseph Abravanel, and a nephew of Manasseh ben Israel.”
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=631&letter=A#1475
1772: Following the partition of Poland which gave the Russians a large, unwanted population, Catherine II whom the Boyars call “Great,” issued an order that read, “Jewish communities residing in the towns, cities and territories now incorporated in the Russian Empire shall be left in the enjoyment of all those liberties with regard to their religion and property which they at present possess.”
1786: Captain Francis Light establishes the British colony of Penang in Malaysia. The Penang Jewish Cemetery, established in 1805, is believed to be the oldest single Jewish cemetery in Malaysia. According to legend, the first Jews may have actually come to Malaysia as far back as the 11thcentury.
1804: Francis II assumed the title of first Emperor of Austria. When it came to his Jewish subjects, Francis and his chief minister, Metternich followed in the footsteps Maria Theresa and not the more liberal Joseph II. During his reign ghettos were set up in Austria. Jews were not allowed to settle in the province of Tyrol. Stringent restrictions were placed on where Jews could live in Bohemia and Moravia. In Vienna, a special tax was placed on all Jews who entered the capital. While the Emperor “ennobled a few Jews” he “humiliated” the remainder of the population. Jewish marriages were restricted to the eldest son or those who had enough money to pay large bribes to the appropriate officials.
1827: Birthdate of Jesse Seligman, the German born American banker and philanthropist whose career began in Alabama and ended in San Francisco, CA.
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=454&letter=S
1828: Birthdate of Edward Salomon a native of Saxony who served as Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin from 1860 to 1862 at which time he became the state’s 8th Governor when Louis P Harvey drowned in the Tennessee River.
1833: Birthdate of Robert G. Ingersoll, Civil war soldier, orator and defender of agnosticism. He was the author of “Some Mistakes Moses Made” which begins “For many years I have regarded the Pentateuch simply as a record of a barbarous people, in which are found a great number of the ceremonies of savagery, many absurd and unjust laws, and thousands of ideas inconsistent with known and demonstrated facts. To me it seemed almost a crime to teach that this record was written by inspired men; that slavery, polygamy, wars of conquest and extermination were right, and that there was a time when men could win the approbation of infinite Intelligence, Justice, and Mercy, by violating maidens and by butchering babes.” Ingersoll was not an anti-Semite. He had a “low opinion” of other religions as well.
1840: Lord Palmerston the British Foreign Secretary wrote a letter to the ambassador in Constantinople that said, “There exists…among the Jews…a strong notion that the time is approaching when their nation is to return to Palestine…. I instruct you… to strongly recommend that the Turkish Government … encourage the Jews of Europe to return to Palestine.” Palmerston was not philo-Semite or a proto-Zionist. Rather he was an English statesmen looking to bring what he considered Western civilization to the Orient.
1844: Just days before his death, Rabbi Aron Chorin sent an address to the conference of Hungarian rabbis meeting at Páks.
1853: It was reported today that an unnamed Jew owns a house at Table Rock adjacent to the Great Horse Shoe Falls where visitors can buy brandy and cigars and seek protection from the spray of the cataract.
1856: : Isle Dernière (Last Island), a barrier island southwest of New Orleans which has served as a resort was destroyed today by the Last Island Hurricane whose victims included more than one unnamed Jewish resident.
1857: During a debate on India, Benjamin Disraeli reiterated his conviction that the mutiny in India was more than just a military matter and that the government was not taking the correct measures in the matter. He also repudiated the government's faith in European alliances declaring that could not be depended upon.
1858(1st of Elul, 5618): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1860: The Jewish Messenger cautions “the public against an impostor, who calls himself Nelton and Abramowitsch, according to circumstances,” who writes his name with Hebrew letters “which may mean saint or sinner, as far as the knowledge of the common crowd goes. He dresses in priestly attire, so the Messenger says, with a white cravat and black cassock. While asking the Editor for charity, he appropriated an article of silver-ware from the mantelpiece”.
1862: In a letter written today addressed to the Adjutant General of the United States Army, General William Tecumseh Sherman warned that "the country will swarm with dishonest Jews" if continued trade in cotton is encouraged. (In a letter written in 1858, Sherman had described Jews as "…without pity, soul, heart, or bowels of compassion…" During the Civil War Sherman had numerous Jews serving in the various armies under his command with no whiff of anti-Semitism attached to his decisions. This included the 82nd Illinois Regiment that included a large contingent of Chicago Jews and was commanded by Edward S. Salomon. The regiment fought under his command during Sherman’s brilliant Atlanta Campaign and rose to the rank of General as Sherman’s forces bravely marched north from Savannah to help trap the remaining Confederate forces.
1864(9thof Av,5624): Tish’a B’Av (Did the Jewish soldiers fighting in the Union’s multi-prong offensive against the Rebels fast as they made their way across Northern Virginia and Georgia.
1867: Birthdate of Joseph Weber, one half of the vaudeville comedy act of Weber and Fields. Playing Jews was not a key to show biz success when this team started out. Some of their early success came playing Dutch (German characters) and Irishmen, something their audiences really enjoyed.
1879: The New York Times featured a review of Somebody’s Ned by Mrs. A.M. Freeman. This is a work of romantic fiction combined with a murder mystery. In this case the star crossed lovers are a French Catholic named Danton Roland and French Jewess named Rachel Rosenthal as well David Dudley and Jessica-Rachel. The plot thickens when Solomon Rosenthal is found dead. To find “who done it” go to
http://books.google.com/books?id=_t4hAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=Somebody's+Ned&source=bl&ots=FDDNcEE-yT&sig=0RcgZr29ekCFTZHPiDIoPIdFO3o&hl=en&ei=qHhATvrBH4uDtgegk7nvBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CBUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
1879: In White Plains, New York, Justice C.W. Cochrane heard a case in which the Osmond C Lyon had filed a complaint against a Jewish merchant – Adolph D. Pollack – for selling cigars and neckties on Sunday in violation of the “blue laws.” The defendant responded that he had not violated the law because he had not “exposed” his goods “for sale” and had only sold them quietly when requested. He also said that as a Jew, he observed the Sabbath on Saturday and the enforcement of the law in this manner was a violation of the New York Constitution which prohibits interference with his religious views.
1879: “A Cool Day At Coney Island” published today shows that prejudice against Jews is now becoming prevalent at the popular resort. “For Coney Island is miniature New York and has its German quarter, its American quarter and its quarter where Jews are not tolerated.”
1881: It was reported today that the new Home for the Aged and Infirmed being built in Yonkers will cost more than $60,000.
1881: During a period of on-going Pogroms,” a dozen of the wealthiest Jews in Tsarist Russi filed into the palatial St. Petersburg home of Baron Horace de Gunzberg” to discuss their concern that a mass exodus of Jews from Russia would convince the authorities to continue their program of violence as a way of dealing with “the Jewish problem.”
1882: Mr. Lazarus Silverman, a Chicago banker, appeared at the office of the Clerk of Circuit Court with 12 Russians Jews who had arrived in the Windy City with their families. After following all of the legal requirements, the men took the oath and became citizens of the United States. Since their knowledge of English was limited, they signed the documents in Hebrew.
1883: Police fired on a mob that had resumed its attacks on the home of Joseph Scharf one of the defendants who had been acquitted of charges of having killed a Christian girl as part of a Jewish ritual murder.
1883: “The Demands on Charity” published today described a change in the assistance that will be rendered to the needy by New York’s charitable organizations. In the future, they will provide assistance to the needy who are trying to establish themselves in gainful occupations and trades. The United Hebrew Charities will help Jewish immigrants establish themselves in almost any occupation with the exception of street peddler, a calling that is now considered to be a public nuisance.
1884(20thof Av, 5644): Israel Blatchky, a young Jew who has been working in Des Moines, Iowa for the past three years passed away today.
1889: “The Russian Emancipation” published today described the freeing of the serfs, which took place a quarter of a century ago, as a total failure. The peasants are in perpetual debt due to their inability to re-pay the government for their land and the failed agricultural system. This forces them to borrow money from the Jews who seize the land when they are unable to repay the loan. (Yet another reason for treating the Jews badly – they are the moneylenders despoiling the noble serfs)
1892: Birthdate of publishing giant Alfred Knopf.
1900: Mass meeting of the English Zionist Federation was held in
East End
.
1903: Herzl meets Jews from all circles in
St. Petersburg
and a banquet is arranged by the Russian Zionists.
1905: Birthdate of Erwin Chargaff, the Austrian born American biochemist who discovered two rules that led to the discovery of double helical structure of
DNA
. He passed away in June of 2002.
1905: The British Aliens Act, which reflected anti-Jewish bias, became a law. The anti-Jewish bias was aimed at the Jews fleeing
Rumania
and
Russia
who were seeking a safe haven in
England
. This was manifestation of lingering anti-Jewish sentiment in an English society that was increasingly accepting of its Jewish population.
1909: The Chief Rabbi of
Adrianople
was forced to resign by Jews of Demotica for failing to take action and not protesting against the change in market day at Demotica, from Thursday to Saturday.
1911: Birthdate of Giorgio Cavagliere, an American Jewish architect who fled Mussolini’s
Italy
and became a leader of the urban preservation movement.
1911: Jews suffer the impoverishing effect of fires in Russian communities including Tulishkoff, Mlava and Konskavola.
1911: As the Turks recover from the effects of the fires at
Constantinople
, the Chief Rabbi forms a Relief Committee and Grand Vizier Hakki Bey sent a telegram to the 10th Zionist Congress meeting at
Basle
,
Switzerland
thanking the Jewish organization for the contributins to relieve the suffering of fire victims.
1911: In
Copenhagen
,
Denmark
, attacks are made on Shechitah at the Animal Protection Congress.
1914: Jews are expelled from Mitchenick, Poland
1917: Turkish representative at The Hague, Netherlands denies that negotiations took place between Turkey and former United States ambassador, Henry Morgenthau regarding the sale of Palestine to the Jews
1917: Birthdate of Algerian born, French-Israeli writer Andre Chouraqui, known for his French-language translation of the Bible and his work for the government in Israel. A poet, Chouraqui was best known for translating religious texts, including La Bible hebraique et le Nouveau Testament (The Hebrew Bible and New Testament), published in 26 volumes between 1974 and 1977. Chouraqui studied law in
Paris
. During World War II, he joined the French Resistance and hid out in the Haute-Loire region of central
France
. After moving to
Israel
in 1958, he became an adviser to
Israel
's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, from 1959 to 1963. He also served as deputy mayor of
Jerusalem
. He passed away at the age of 89 at his home in
Jerusalem
in 2007.
1919: The Weimar Republic's first Reichspräsident ("Reich President"), Friedrich Ebert of the SPD, signed the new German constitution into law. The Weimar Republic marked Germany’s first experience with a truly democratic government. It failed for lack of popular support and would give way to Hitler’s Third Reich. One of the excuses offered for German support the Holocaust was that Jews were associated with the founding of the Weimar Republic and the Weimar Republic was viewed as a humiliation saddled on the Germans by the Allies at the end of World War I. The logic is tortured, but it is neither the first time that people would rationalize and justify their anti-Semitism.
1920: Samuel Gompers is one of several labor leaders who attend a dinner honoring T.J. Healy before he departs for Europe where he will represent the American Federation of Labor at an international labor conference.
1923: At a session of the World Zionist Congress meeting in in Carslbad, Czechoslovakia, that continued until
2 o'clock
this morning, Dr. Chaim Weizmann and Nabum Sokolow, heads of the World Zionist Organization, defended their administration from the attacks to which it has been subjected during the last few days.
1926(1st of Elul, 5686): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1927: Birthdate of Stuart Rosenberg, director of Cool Hand Luke.
1929: The Jewish Agency was created at the 16th Zionist Congress in Zurich. It was intended to include non-Zionists such as Louis Marshall, Leon Blum and Felix Warburg to take a leading role among those working to create a Jewish state. 1929: Florence Wolfson Howlett turned 14 and made her first entry in the diary she received as a birthday present. The diary would provide the basis for The Red Leather Diary by Lily Koppel
1930: At the second session of the fourth world congress of the Zionist Revisionist, Dr. Robert Lichtheim delivered a speech in which he said that the organization “would conduct its own political activities, particularly in pleading the Zionist cause before governments and statesmen, independently of the Zionist executive and the Jewish agency.
1930: In New York City, an announcement was made at the headquarters of the Allied Jewish Campaign that more than $1,214,000 was spent in the development of the economic and cultural program of the Jewish Agency in Palestine during the half year” that ended on May 1.
1932: Birthdate of American architect Peter Eisenman
1932: Birthdate of Israel Harold “Izzy” Asper, Canadian tax attorney and media magnate. A native of Minnedosa, Manitoba, Asper “was the founder of CanWest Global Communications Corp and father to Leonard, Gail and David Asper, each of whom served as officers of CanWest.
1933: The Supreme Representative Committee of German Jews established a farm near Rathenow, in Prussia, to train unemployed Jews as agricultural workers.
1933: Nineteen year old actress Heddy Lamar, the daughter of Viennese Jewish parents married Austrian arms dealer and fascist Friedrich Mandl.
1933: In response to what is described as an “epidemic of suicides among German Jews of the Rhineland,” the Jewish community of Cologne has issued an appeal signed by the lay leaders and the Rabbinate, urging Jews not to despair.
1933: The Hamburg Federation of Grain Merchants, which had a large Jewish membership, was dissolved. Its funds and property were turned over to the "Aryanized" All-German Federation of Commerce.
1933: In Warsaw, an edict was issued forbidding Jewish bakers, who observe the Sabbath, to bake bread on Sundays. The edict affected over 50,000 Jewish bakers.
1933: In Cracow, Thirty-one of the forty-two arrested persons, charged with organizing riots against Jews in a nearby town received sentences of imprisonment of from four months to three years.
1936: Condemning British proposals to partition Palestine as "outrageous," Senator Royal S. Copeland (Dem., NY) introduced in the Senate today a resolution asking the Senate's "forthright indication of unwillingness to accept modification in the mandate without Senate consent." Senator Copeland declared that the territory allotted the Jews in the proposed partition was insufficient to maintain even a small number of Jews and that establishment of a small Jewish state might result in a war between the Jews and the Arabs. The Jews are having a "terrible time" in Germany, Poland and Rumania.... At the same time he noted a "distinct animosity" on the part of American consuls abroad in granting visas to Jews, which, he said, showed discrimination. (As reported by JTA)
1936: Rabbi M.L. Perlsweig, head of the World Zionist Organization's political information department, addressed the World Jewish Congress which was meeting in Geneva. During his speech tonight, he accused the British authorities in Palestine of "political ineptitude so gross as to be almost unbelievable."
1937: By a vote of 304 to 158, the 20th Zionist Congress, held in
Zurich
, endorsed Chaim Weizmann¹s proposal and empowered the Zionist Executive to negotiate with the British government the terms of the Royal (Peel) Report, according to which the partition of
Palestine
would be implemented and the Jewish state was to be established. Dr. Weizmann¹s proposal was denounced by Dr. Stephen Wise, on behalf of American Jewry and many other delegates, including Menachem Ussishkin. A revised version of the partition plan was also supported by David Ben-Gurion.
1937: In
Zurich
roving bands of Nazis assaulted and molested a number of Zionist delegates.
1939: Laurence Steinhardt begins serving as U.S. Ambassador to the U.S.S.R.
1941: Birthdate of
Brooklyn
political figure, Elizabeth Holtzman. A graduate of
Harvard
Law
School
, Holtzman began serving in Congress in 1973 just in time to be part of the Watergate investigation. After leaving the House, she held various political positions but missed out on her biggest prize, a seat in the U.S. Senate.
1944: Joop Westerweel, Dutch poet and educator was executed by the Nazis, for helping Jews escape. In late February 1944 Joop Westerweel traveled to the foot of the
Pyrenees
to say farewell to the group about to cross into
Spain
, which included Joseph Heinrich and thirteen other young people Joop and his underground group had helped to escape from
Holland
. His memorable speech was later vividly recalled by many who were present. He wished them well and that they should build
Palestine
into a place where there would be no war, only food and work for everyone. As the young pioneers left for
Spain
, Joop turned back to
Holland
. On March 11, he was arrested by border police while helping two young Jewish girls cross illegally from
Holland
to
France
. Five months later he was executed in prison in Vught Concentration Camp. The sacrifice of Joop Westerweel and those like him must never be forgotten. The challenge for the living is to be worthy of the proof of such virtue.
1945: A ‘small pogrom’ took place in
Krakow
,
Poland
, three months after the end of World War II in
Europe
.
1948(8th of Av, 5708):Elaine Hammerstein, the daughter of opera producer Arthur Hammerstein, who gained fame as an American silent film and stage actress, passed away.
1951(9th of Av): Yiddish playwright and journalist David Pinsky passed away.
1951(9th of Av, 5711):Rebekah Bettelheim Kohut passed away
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F70B12FD395A137A93C0A81783D85F458585F9
1952: The ailing Talal¹s son, Hussein II, was proclaimed the King of Jordan, but a Regency Council was appointed to rule the country, since he was a minor. In 1952 three Middle Eastern monarchs Hussein II of Jordan, Ahmed Fuad of Egypt and Faisal of Iraq were minors. King Hussein had seen his grandfather assassinated by an Arab fanatic who thought he was too friendly with the Jews. Hussein’s goal was to stay alive and remain king. He wisely did not take part in the Sinai Campaign of 1956. He foolishly attacked
Israel
in 1967 and lost the
West Bank
and east
Jerusalem
. In the end, he signed a peace treaty with
Israel
but without gaining any territory west of the
Jordan River
. Fuad would be ousted by a revolt masterminded by Colonel Nasser, the Pan-Arabist who had a secular version of Osama’s vision. Faisal would die in a revolt in 1958 that would eventually bring Hussein (the dictator not the king) to power in
Iraq
.
1955: Leonard Bernstein led premiere of Symphonic Suite from "On the Waterfront", BSO, Tanglewood
1961: Birthdate of columnist David Brooks
1964(3rd of Elul, 5724): Sixty-four year old Leopold Mannes, the creator of Kodachrome, passed away today.
http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/223.html
1970(9th of Av, 5730): Tish’a B’Av
1972(1st of Elul, 5732): Rose Schneiderman passed away. Born in Poland in 1884, Miss Schneiderman was brought to the United States by her father who worked as a tailor on the lower East Side. She gained first-hand experience on life in the garment industry when she went to work as a cap maker. She earned eight dollars a week. But she had to buy her own sewing machine with a cash $25 cash down payment and an additional $45 paid in installments. In addition to this, she had to pay for power and thread. Miss Schneiderman helped to organize the Women’s Trade Union League, an organization that she served as President for several terms. In 1909 she took part in a strike of waistmakers that began the unionization of the garment industry. In New York, she served as Secretary of the State Labor Department from 1937 to 1944. During the Great Depression, she served as an official of the National Recovery Administration and was considered to be a member of F.D.R.’s “brain trust.”
1977: West Bank mayors and notables submitted separate views to US Secretary of State Cyrus Vance. The mayors acknowledged that the PLO was the ³sole² representative of the Palestine Arabs and claimed that no settlement was possible without PLO participation. But other
West Bank
notables had different ideas. They advocated an immediate mutual recognition of the national rights of Palestinians and Israelis in the area. They claimed that their two homelands must be mutually exclusive and advocated the establishment of a ³peace-promoting force² acceptable to both nations. These
West Bank
notables advocated the holding of a plebiscite during the interim period so that Palestinians could decide freely whether to join
Jordan
or establish an independent, democratic state. Unfortunately, these talks led to the same place as those that had come before and after – nowhere.
1977:
Jordan
and
Egypt
informed the
US
that they were prepared to sign formal peace treaties with
Israel
, but at the conclusion of the Arab-Israeli peace negotiations.
1983: Today, Joseph Hochstein wrote an Op-Ed titled "Not goodbye, but l'hitraot," in which he said, "I love newspapering, and I have a special love for this paper, since I helped start it in 1965 with my father. ... What happens each week at The Jewish Week is achieved with greater difficulty than the work done in the newsrooms of great metropolitan dailies, and it is more profoundly needed. Knowing that I played a central role in making this happen helps offset the regret of leaving, as does the joy of realizing a long-held dream of living in Israel." He wrote this just before making Aliyah.
1987: Alan Greenspan becomes Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve. Another Jewish economist hits the top spot.
1988: Meir Kahane renounced his
US
citizenship to stay in the Israeli Parliament. Kahane and his virulent anti-Arab views have been rejected by the Israeli mainstream. Kahane himself was gunned down by Arab terrorists.
1991:In an article entitled “The Felix Warburg Mansion; A Window to the Past in the Present,” Christopher Gray describes the past, present and future of the building that was home to one of New York’s most influential and famous Jewish families.
http://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/11/realestate/streetscapes-the-felix-warburg-mansion-a-window-to-the-past-in-the-present.html?pagewanted=print&src=pm
1991(1st of Elul, 5751): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1997: Baltimore born Washington lawyer Alfred H. Moses completed his service as U.S. Ambassador to Romania. Five years later the President of Romania awarded him the Marc Cruce Medal.
1999:Sheila Finestone began serving as Senator for Montarville, Quebec.
2002: The Sunday New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including 'F E G: Ridiculous Poems for Intelligent Children by Robin Hirsch Fireweed: A Political Autobiography by Gerda Lerner, the Austrian born Jewish American political activist.
2005: While the front pages of the paper carried news of
Sharon
’s attempts to bring peace to the
Middle East
with the withdrawal from
Gaza
, the back pages of Haaretz carried a reminder of
Sharon
’s warrior past. According to a story in Haaretz, “The bloodstained bandage that wrapped Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's head after he was injured in fighting during the 1973 Yom Kippur War has been offered for sale on e-Bay with the bidding starting at $10,000.” Sharon sustained the head wound when he was leading Israeli forces across the Suez Canal.
2006: First day of the New York International Fringe Festival which will include a performance of “The Cheerleader and the Rabbi” featuring Sandy Wolshin, “a former cheerleader for the Oakland Raidrs who later immersed herself in a mikveh as part of an orthodox conversion.”
2006: The Jerusalem Post reported that Maj. Nimrod Hallel, 42, from Rosh Ha'ayin, was killed in the town of
Leboneh
in the western sector of southern
Lebanon
when an anti-tank missile was fired at his vehicle.
2006: A reported 120 rockets rained down on northern
Israel
striking
Haifa
, Safed and Kiryat Shimona.
2006: Conflicting reports abound concerning the terms of a proposed cease fire intended to stop the fighting in
Lebanon
. Some of the major points of contention include the robustness of the mandate of the international force and the willingness of the Lebanese army to confront and disarm Hezbollah fighters.
2007: On the “Jewish Jock Front,” The San Diego Union-Tribunereported that San Diego Charger Igor Olshansky may not get to play in an upcoming exhibition game with the Seattle SeaHawks whileJohn Grabow of the Pittsburgh Pirates won a game on just 13 pitches, which was all he needed to complete a one inning relief stint against the San Francisco Giants.
2008 Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Finance Minister Ronnie Bar-On decided to implement all of the recommendations of the State Commission of Inquiry into the government's handling of Holocaust survivors. One of the key recommendations was to increase the monthly stipend of about 43,000 survivors to the level of 75 percent of the stipend given by the German government to recipients of its restitution payments.
2008:Palestinian terrorists in Gaza violated a truce agreement with Israel, firing a Kassam rocket at the western Negev town of Sderot. Noam Bedein of the
Sderot
Media
Center
told The Jerusalem Post that there were no wounded in the attack and no damage. Bedein added, however, that the projectile landed right next to a home that was hit in the final rocket attack launched from the Strip before the truce went into effect in late June. The incident continues a pattern of sporadic cross-border shelling and rocket launches since the cease-fire was declared.
2008: Iowa native,James Hoyt passed away at the age of 83. As one of the first four American soldiers to discover the
Buchenwald
labor camp in 1945, James Hoyt rarely slept well. “He’s finally getting the rest he’s never had all these years,” his daughter, Theresa Stewart, 51, of Oxford said. When he closed his eyes, he’d see images of the Nazi concentration camp, which he thought was a mannequin factory when he first saw it before its liberation April 11, 1945, Stewart said. His daughters remembered him as a reserved man who put others first and loved reading, rebuilding cars and solving crossword puzzles.“He had time to listen to anyone and would hear everybody’s story,” Stewart said. For years, Hoyt did not share his own story. He later learned from doctors at the
Veterans
Affairs
Medical
Center
in
Iowa City
that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Hoyt of Oxford, Iowa graduated from high school in 1943 and became a private first class after he was drafted in early 1944 to serve in World War II. He was a member of the 6th Armored Division’s 9th Infantry Battalion and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. On April 11, 1945, Hoyt was the radio operator and driver for a four-man reconnaissance team when two Buchenwald escapees flagged them down. The team went to the camp, which was hidden in a forested area. “When the people saw our vehicle with the American markings on it, they really went wild. They tore a part of the fence down. They threw us up in the air,” Hoyt told The Gazette 10 years ago. “It was a very sorry sight all the way. They were skin and bones, the living ones. Of course, there were all kinds of dead ones there.” In all, about 238,500 prisoners were held at the camp. As the years passed, Hoyt became more willing to talk about his experience, helping him to heal, his daughter, Pat Hatcher, said. “We didn’t know what he was fighting,” Hatcher said of the emotional memories. “It helps us understand him better.” After the war in 1949, Hoyt married Doris Hipp. He worked with his brothers in construction before joining the United States Postal Service in Oxford, where he served more than 30 years.
2009(21stof Av, 5769): Seventy-one year old Robert William LeVine, a man who helped countless number of Russian immigrants who arrived in New England during the 1980’s and 1990’s passed away today. (As reported by Emma Stickgold)
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2009/08/13/robert_levine_71_helped_russian_jews_with_funerals/
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