Nazi mass grave discovered
berlin (jta) | The remains of more than 50 people, many of them children, were discovered in a mass grave in Germany, authorities say. Experts suspect the dead in the city of Menden were victims of the Nazis’ so-called euthanasia program, in which disabled people were murdered. Two more sites are being searched for remains.
The discovery was made by workers from an agency that cares for wartime graves. Some skulls showed signs that the victims had Down Syndrome or other handicaps.
The search for the mass grave followed eyewitness reports that bodies had been transported to the site from a nearby hospital run by Hitler’s doctor, Karl Brandt, who was in charge of carrying out the euthanasia program.
It’s estimated that at least 100,000 handicapped people were murdered between fall 1939 and summer 1941. Protests by German church leaders brought the euthanasia program publicly to an end, though some parts of the program continued until the end of the war.
Sukkot returns to Polish city
warsaw (jta) | Some 300 people in a Polish city filled the first sukkah believed to have been built there in 65 years.
The sukkah at the Malczewski School of Fine Arts in Czestochowa was decorated by pupils, with help from Jewish students from around the world. A 100-foot-long mural of Jerusalem painted by the Polish students was displayed on a sukkah wall.
Guests for lunch on Tuesday, Oct. 10 included Czestochowa Jews and their descendants, who were meeting to celebrate their heritage and explore their roots.
Righteous Gentile nominated for Nobel
warsaw (jta) | Polish President Lech Kaczynski nominated a Righteous Gentile for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Irena Sandlar, 96, was a member of the Polish underground group Zegota, which was dedicated to saving Jews during the Holocaust. In 1965, she was recognized by the Yad Vashem Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority for smuggling Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto. The children were either adopted by Christian families or sent to convents, but Sandlar recorded their real names so that they could eventually be reunited with their Jewish families.
If chosen, she would become the first Righteous Gentile to receive the prize.
CopyrightJ, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California