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Friday February 27, 2004

shorts: u.s.

Nazi-looted art case to hit U.S. high court

washington (jta) | A case involving Nazi-looted art was slated to be heard this week at the U.S. Supreme Court. On Wednesday, Feb. 25, justices were to hear arguments in the case of Maria Altmann, who wants the court to help her recover six paintings seized from her family by the Nazis and currently held by Austria’s National Gallery.

The works are valued at $110 million.

The government-owned gallery says it acquired the works in 1948 in a gift from Altmann’s brother and that U.S. law does not permit Altmann to sue a sovereign nation for historic deeds.

Jewish groups to aid Moroccan victims

new york (jta) | The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations will raise funds to aid the victims of the earthquake in Morocco on Monday, Feb. 23.

The funds will be contributed in New York through the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee to assist in the aftermath of the devastation that took at least 550 lives and caused enormous damage.

Leaders of the Conference of Presidents have just returned from a trip to Morocco to show solidarity with the Jewish community of Morocco.

For more information, contact the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations at (212) 318-6111.

Simon Wiesenthal becomes a sir

los angeles (jta) | Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II awarded an honorary knighthood to Simon Wiesenthal, the legendary Nazi-hunter who tracked down more than 1,000 war criminals, including Adolf Eichmann.

“An honorary knighthood is a rare honor for the Queen to bestow, a special award for a very special man,” said John Macgregor, Britain’s ambassador to Austria, where Wiesenthal lives.

Announcing the award on Feb. 19, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw praised Wiesenthal’s “untiring service to the Jewish communities in the U.K. and elsewhere by helping to right at least some of the awful wrongs of the Holocaust.”

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