Charges filed for attack against French Jew
French authorities have filed preliminary charges against two suspects over the beating of a Jewish teenager in Paris.
A judicial official said last week that two suspects are being investigated for attempted murder with anti-Semitic motives. They are suspected of taking part in the attack June 21 on 17-year-old Rudy Haddad.
After waking from a medically induced coma, Haddad said he has no memory of the incident.
A third suspect is suspected of taking part in other clashes between Jewish and black youths the same day.
One of the attempted-murder suspects is a corporal in the French Air Force. — ap/jta
Aussie official wants Holocaust education
An education official in Australia’s largest state has called for Holocaust studies to become a mandatory part of the curriculum.
Michael Coutts-Trotter, the director-general of the New South Wales education department, said he was appalled to discover that some students did not know about the genocide of the Jews of Europe.
“To live life, you need to know the Holocaust happened,” he told a conference of school principals last week.
A spokesperson for the New South Wales Board of Studies denied that students do not learn about the Holocaust. However, the selection of genocide and racism as part of the history curriculum depends on individual school policies and requires special initiative from the teacher. German history ends in 1939 for older students; an opportunity to study the Holocaust arises in English classes, but only if teachers choose texts that contain Holocaust themes. — jta
Holocaust aid to increase by $23 million next year
The Claims Conference will increase its allocations in 2009 by $23 million.
The decision by the conference’s board of directors at its annual meeting last week brings the overall allocation for next year to $193 million.
“Increasing Claims Conference allocations is essential to addressing the growing needs of Nazi victims as they age,” said Julius Berman, the conference chairman. “These funds are for home care, hunger relief, medical care, winter supplies, emergency cash grants and other vital services to Nazi victims worldwide.”
The funds mostly represent the proceeds from the sale of unclaimed Jewish property in the former East Germany. The conference also will fund $18 million in Holocaust education and remembrance projects. — jta
St. Petersburg JCC wins architecture prize
The city of St. Petersburg recognized Russia’s newest Jewish community center for preserving the unique appearance of the city.
The World Club of Petersburgers presented the award to the JCC for “modern architecture in the context of the historic city environment” at a recent ceremony.
The $10 million building was erected in 2005.
The preservation of St. Petersburg’s historical aesthetic has been a source of controversy in recent years as Russia’s gas monopoly, Gazprom, plans to build a towering headquarters on the banks of the Neva River. — jta
CopyrightJ, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California