Israeli company building malls in Ukraine
An Israeli company purchased a 2.6 acre lot in Kiev as the future home of a shopping mall.
Engel Europe is reportedly going to build a portfolio of at least 10 malls in Ukraine and then float its Ukrainian business on a European exchange, perhaps the London Stock Exchange.
Since the 2004 Orange Revolution, Ukraine has managed to attract significant investment from Israeli developers. Engel Europe is also negotiating to build malls in Volgograd in Russia and in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. — jta
Ukraine unveils Holocaust monument
A new Holocaust monument was unveiled in Ukraine last week.
The monument is in the village of Steblevo in central Ukraine, where the Nazis killed 143 Jews in August 1941. The monument’s construction was spearheaded and funded by the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress. — jta
Frank family releases 25,000 documents
Anne Frank’s cousin gave up custody Monday, June 25 of thousands of letters, photographs and documents that archivists say will reveal details about the background of the teenage diarist who became a symbol of the Holocaust.
Bernhard “Buddy” Elias, 82, had kept the materials for decades in his Swiss attic before permanently lending them to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam to mark Monday’s 60th anniversary of the first publication of “The Diary of Anne Frank.” — ap
Swiss lawmakers press government on arson
Swiss parliamentarians demanded their government respond to attacks against Jews following a recent synagogue arson in Geneva.
A coalition of 104 Parliament members from the country’s major political parties signed the petition demanding the Swiss Federal Council in Bern take stronger action to address attacks against Jews, synagogues and Jewish cemeteries.
“In some cases these attacks were fatal,” Vreni Mueller-Hemmi, one of the parliament members, wrote. “It is important the considerable increase in anti-Semitic incidents is addressed by the government and measures to fight racist assaults should be enforced.”
The petition follows an arson attack May 24 on Geneva’s Hekhal Haness Synagogue, which sent shock waves throughout the Swiss Jewish community. A Geneva police spokesman said recently that the investigation into the fire is ongoing. — jta
Canadian group picks leaders
Two new co-presidents were chosen to head the Canadian Jewish Congress.
Sylvain Abitbol of Montreal and Rabbi Reuven Bulka of Ottawa were named Sunday, June 24 to the group’s top post at its 28th national plenary assembly in Ottawa. Hundreds of delegates from throughout Canada attended the umbrella group’s event. — jta
Russian wins EJC presidency
Moshe Kantor became the first president from Eastern Europe of the European Jewish Congress.
Kantor, the president of the Russian Jewish Congress and a billionaire businessman, defeated incumbent Pierre Besnainou, president of the United Social Funds of France and a millionaire businessman, by a vote of 55-30 on Tuesday, June 26 in Brussels. There were two abstentions.
The hotly contested race had been too close to call. Kantor had campaigned on making Jewish education a higher priority, while Besnainou touted his work lobbying for Israel and decrying anti-Semitism.
The EJC has 41 member states, and votes in the election were weighted according to population. The organization was founded in 1980 as an affiliate of the World Jewish Congress.
“I am a great believer in European Jewry,” Kantor said Tuesday before the vote. “I will never ever compromise in Brussels with the security of European Jews and the security of our Jewish state.” — jta
Israeli banks seek foothold in Ukraine
One of Israel’s major banks is negotiating acquiring a Ukrainian bank with its Moscow-based parent company. Sources say Bank Leumi is close to finalizing the purchase of Vneshtorgbank Ukraine from VTB, one of Russia’s largest banks.
Leumi, together with the Israeli Bank Hapoalim, reportedly asked a European banker to screen Ukrainian mid-sized banks for the future development of retail business. Bank Hapoalim is reportedly going to buy a Kiev-based bank. Bank Hapoalim, Israel’s largest bank, earmarked $500 million for its overseas expansion, including in Russia and other post-Soviet countries. — jta
Two Australian Jews receive highest honor
Philanthropic arts patrons Victor Smorgon of Melbourne and David Gonski of Sydney were among five people made Companions of the Order of Australia on June 18.
They head a list of more than 15 Jews — including a clown — honored for their contributions to Australia. A total of 524 Australians have received awards. The Order of Australia, established in 1975, has four main grades of awards that are distributed by an independent committee twice a year. — jta
Shoah victims’ art to go on display
Paintings and drawings by Holocaust victims will be put on display in an eastern German museum in a first-of-its-kind collaboration with Israel’s Yad Vashem, the director of Dresden’s art collection said.
The art, created under conditions of extreme suffering, will be paired with older works from the Dresden State Art Collection, said museum director Martin Roth. “It’s about the dialogue between our collection of traditional art, mirroring European cultural and intellectual history, and an art that was inspired by this tradition, and shaped by the reign of barbarism.”
Many of the artists whose paintings and drawings will be displayed did not survive the Holocaust. Roth said he hoped the exhibit would underline the significance of holding onto art in the face of death, terror and inhumanity.
The idea for the exhibit came to him after visiting Yad Vashem, and the Israeli museum agreed to it. “It will be the first time Yad Vashem carries out such an exhibit in cooperation with a German museum,” Roth said.
He hopes the show will help deepen understanding of the Nazi era, an especially important issue in the economically depressed east, where Dresden is located, where the far-right party and another extremist party has representation in the state parliament.
“I want to put the art center stage and to show with it how artists who were victims of the Nazi terror used art to endure the nightmare in the death camps and to tolerate the intolerable.”
The exact location of the exhibition, scheduled to open in 2009, has not yet been determined yet. — ap
São Paulo Jews elect new president
Boris Ber was elected president of the São Paulo Jewish Community, taking the lead of half of Brazil’s Jewry.
The 53-year-old business administrator and longtime activist was elected to a 30-month term at the helm of São Paulo’s wealthy and influential 60,000-strong Jewish community.
“Among our major challenges are also strengthening our affiliated institutions through an open dialogue that helps detecting their problems and promoting and outreach work to bring inside those Jews who are apart of the yishuv,” Ber said. — jta
Jewish graves found at Czech building site
More Jewish graves were discovered at a site in the Czech Republic slated for a parking lot.
Czech Television reported that the discovery of children’s graves on the site in Pilsen, where a medieval Jewish cemetery was found last year, will mean the project by the Israeli firm Plaza Centers will have to be modified for the fifth time. The original finding included a 15th century Jewish cemetery with about eight graves.
The London-based Orthodox group, Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries in Europe, is working closely with Plaza Centers to ensure that the graves will not be disturbed by any construction, in keeping with Jewish law. — jta
Norway directly funds P.A.
Norway paid $10 million directly to the Palestinian Authority for the salaries of civil servants. The transfer makes good on Norway’s pledge in March to be the first Western nation to end the isolation of the Hamas-led P.A. government.
Jonas Gahr Stoere, the Norwegian foreign minister said he hoped the contribution would help “alleviate the current social crisis in the Palestinian Territory.” Stoere also has said that the Palestinian government cannot fight extremism without more money and encouraged other countries to follow Norway’s lead. Norway expects to donate roughly $100 million this year, including direct budget support. — jta
CopyrightJ, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California