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Friday April 18, 2008

Shorts: World

Bones in Belarus to be reburied

Bones from an ancient Jewish cemetery found during the reconstruction of a sports stadium in Belarus will be reburied at another cemetery.

The stadium in Gomel was built soon after World War II on the site of an ancient Jewish cemetery. Some of the bones were reinterred during the original construction, while others remained under the stadium. Workers recently found those bones.

According to the Associated Press, workers considered bringing the bones to the city dump. — jta

Ukraine looks to fight hate crime

Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko has asked his ministers to create a set of measures to counteract racial intolerance and xenophobia.

One of every five hate crimes in Ukraine since the start of last year was against the Jewish community, the country’s security police recently reported. Approximately 100 hate crimes were committed since January 2007. — jta

Warsaw Ghetto revolt remembered

Holocaust survivors and world dignitaries convened April 15 to mark the 65th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski hosted commemorations of the 1943 revolt by the city’s doomed Jews against Nazi German occupiers.

The day began with a candlelighting ceremony at the Warsaw square where 300,000 Jews were shipped to concentration camps. A separate commemoration was held at the ghetto bunker where uprising leader Mordechai Anilewicz and his comrades fought to the death. — jta

German leader spurns Vatican

Charlotte Knobluch, the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, says she will not resume interfaith dialogue until the Vatican revises its Good Friday prayer.

She said in an interview April 14 in the news magazine Der Spiegel that many Jews see the current prayer as a call to convert them.

An explanation delivered April 4 by the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone has not allayed Knobloch’s worries, having made no mention of changing the prayer. — jta

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