Page 8-The Canadian Jewish News. ThiirsiJay., "July 4; 1985
Editorial
M-T
Prisoncrs-olConscience who languish in.thc;Soviet gulag andm , tht prison compounds of East Bloc nations will derive little solace irom the .recent Ineetings .ot". the Jufinan rights^ conference held 1 n Ottawa. ■ . ■■ -..'v.:
After six w'ceks of.in-canierascssions (in the fate of the 1975 Helsinki Accords, delegates could not even agree on a list of resolutions .which could be, made public.     ,'V: ■
The very fact that the deliberations .were- secret is an affront to the whole concept'of the conference. The.human rights agenda can-. not be screenc^d from public, scrutiny^ That format served nierely • . tc) reinforce the brutality and cynicisni.w'hic.h characterizes the East
Bloc's .attitude towards individual freedom. . :'     Despite Jhe closed door sessions it is understood that the Soviet Union canie under harsh criticism fronvCanadianahd U.S. delegates. for its iiiistreatment ofdisscnter.s and iriparficular forthe imprison-'rPhsSlofSoviet citizens occupied in monitoring the original Helsniki ■ ' agreements. . ^;
,     the .standard Sov.tet reply was that disciplining its: own people is a-.purely dojiiestic niatter. That is preci.stjly the po.sit.ion- which the ' Nazis took in 1933 as they proceded to eliminate through iniprison-■ f-ncnt. torture..-mu-rder and cxire those Gerhian^ citizens who stood in t.he;wayof the new barbarism. /
■A decade, after the ;promLJigation of the ambitious Helsinki Ac-cord.s. the Qtility of this brave experiment appears illusory.,
The concept of the rights of man. an idea hallowed in the Judeo-.Christiantrat!^in. is alien to a political system which subordinates the right of individuals to the dictates of the state. The Soviet Union
V and its .satellites k>ok upon human beings a.s*instruments.to be used -any way the state wishes. The assertion of hiiman rights in this con-.
Vtcxt is interpreted as ;''tre.ason^'■    v' ' .
It is no wonder that the Ottawa conference ended on such a soiir note. There can be no common ground between those who
V cherish'indiyidual freedoms and\those who define men and women as servartts of a poMtical or^er.
Rudiger Breuer (centre) looks on as Ruth Bratu andMoritz .Neumann examine fragment of Darmstiidt synagogue burned by the Nazis.in 1938. » -
Matdng amends for Crystal Night
Of the making of books, there is no end, says the Psalmist.- By this fall Canadians will be able to see a concrete expression of this dictum.as the pre.sses of this nation inundate the public with books . on the Zundel and Keegstra cases. ^ •
.    'In fact the,flobd has/already begun.
Doug Christie, Ernst Zundel's attorney, has already had.extracts of his.remarks to a Toronto court published in book form. Advertising blurbs cite the work as-a Gontributioh to the cause of free' ■ .speech..'     ,     . ,   . ■     ■ ";
This will not be the only book oh the. trial. During the proceedings half a dozen journalists and writers, were busily taking notes. Their, impressions will undoubtedly.be ventilated in book form as the fall. : season approaches. ■ •:.
There is now a wholeshelf of books in preparation, on the Keegstra case, which is still-going, on in Red Deer,.Alberta,
Jack Downey, a Calgarv' eritrepreineur, has already-cho.sen the title for his projected vvork — A Conspiracy of One. David Bercusson.; a professor at the University of Calgary and Douglas Wertheimer. are collaborating on an. arialysis of the case.. . A numberxif law prptcssors are also preparing manuscripts on the Keegstra affair. Bruce Elman, professor of law at. the University of Alberta and former CJC president Irwin Cotler have both been following the, ca.se since, its inceptidn. Cdti'er.. who will; also deal with the Zundel case in his book, has a publisher —.Toronto's Lester & Orpen Dennys.
Add to this list projected books by. Jim Green, president of the Christian Deten.se League and Gary Botting, from Red DeerCol-. ■^'^'^^ — plus "instant" books'by two Canadian Press reporters, and .the fall publishing picture cpnies into focus.   ^ - .■
Given the subject matter, this library of book.s will produce in-.stant melancholia and .little else..
-:.-V..:.By ' SHELDON KIRSHNER DARMSTADT, West Germany -
Mobs, egged on .by Nazi officials who had got their ordeirs fronri Berlin, set fire to Darmstadt's two synagogues on Nov; 9.J938;. An intrepid photographer who hap-
. pened to be oh .the scene snapped an incriminating photo showing a passive crowd watching flames consunie one of the buildings; the Bleichstrasse
.svnag'ogue. which had been built in
' -1S76, "
All over Germany that day and night, synagogues. Jewish, institutions and
.shops owned by Jews were plundered and.'or burned. .More than 100 Jews were killed in the orgy of violence, deliberately unleashed,by the National Socialists. . • . These:,notorious events.;, which ■climaxed five years of steadily-accumulating anti-Jewish harassment and legislation, came to be known as Crystaf Night:,     ; ,
Crystal Night was the prelude to the Holocaust, - which snuffed out six. million  Jewish  lives throughout
. Europe. . -
- Forty seven y^ars after the ruthless destruction of Darmstadt's Jewish houses of prayer, Darmstadt, a city of 120,000 south of Frankfurt, has
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begun the process 'of making amends, if such a thing is possible. Rudiger Breuer, a journalist, former councilman,, and Christian, has joined forces with the local Jewish community to build a synagogue for the estimated 120 Jews who live here and in the vicinity.
If all goes according to plan, the synagogue, a symbol of Jewish continuity, wiH be icompletedoji the 50th anniversary of Crystal Night. . The project is.well in hand; according to .Moritz Neumann and Ruth Bratii. the co-chairmen of the Jewish community; ■ ;
Although actual coiistruction has ycr ' to b^giri. all 21 members of city cbun-. cil voted to commit 50,.00b German marks to a planning study. They were ' encouraged to do so by Gunther Me't-' zger.the mayor, and former president of the German-Israel Friendship Society.'
"On May,8; the 40th anniversary of Nazi Germany's unconditional .surrender, Protestant and Roman Catholic churches in Darmstadt Collected funds.; for thesynagogue-tp-be. .
Breuer, the Son of a Wehrmacht officer who was killed, in action near Stalingrad, is hopefulthat Darmstadt will' receive the. bulk of its funding from the . state of Hesse  and  the federal-. government.
As Neumann, a, 37-year-Qld local , joumali.st tells the story, the project was -the brainchild of his friend. Breuer. 'After listening to a speech in 1984 by N.eumann.to.commemorate Crystal Night. Breuer asked him why the jews V were without a synagogue. Neurnann. who.se Polish-born mother .is a.sur\ iv6r o,f Auschwitz, replied that the Jewish community  lacked 'the, findncial• resources to undertake such a task.: '
Breuer. whose interest in and knowledge of Jewish.affairs was sparked-by his. friendship with Neumann, was'aghast. . ;
"I couldn't understand why the people of Darmstadt had not rebuilt a synagogue," he said. *'We were paying lip service to the suffering of the Jewish community in our town by remembering the infamy of Crystal Night. But we were doing nothing to replace the synagogue. It was hypocritical."
Breuer, a member of the Social Democratic. Party, went to work to . remedy the  situation.   He and Neumann,, a native of Fulda. launched a publicity campaign to rai.se the consciousness of councilmen to the long Jewish presence in Damstadt. .-JeWs have lived in Darmstadt, the former capitallif-the Grand Duchy of Hesse, since'atleast the 16th century. ' When Adolf Hitler rose to power in 1933, the Jevyish population numbered some 3,000, many of whom were East European immigrants. Less than 2,000
remained: when Crystal Night erupted.. On the eve of World War 11^. the community haddwindled to 258 souls:
Miist.of the Jews were-deported to conccntrationcamps in Germanv and Poland.   , ■ ■ ,   Life went on in Darmstadt, which-prcxjuced both ardent Nuzis and disillu--sioned .German officers who took part in the ill-fated July. 1944 assa.ssination plot against Hitler. .
After, the war. former Jewish residents drifted, back to, begin their , lives anew. But.they, were vastly outnumbered by displaced East European Jews who stayed on Jn,Germany. In recent year.s, Israelis and Rus.sians have also settled down here. '
'Ruth Bratu, who has been hving in Darmstadt since 1947. seems typical of the type.df Jew who came,here. Born . in Tel Aviv, she w'as raised in Prague. Before World War II, she managed to immigrate to America. After 1945,,she arrived in Darmstadt with the conquering U.S. .army., Artur^ her husband, was for many years superintendent of-, :Darmstadt's schools. •
Moritz Neumann, whose fathei-' fought in,the French army,: has been in Darmstadt for the past |5 years. He was posted here.as a correspondent by his Frankfurt newspaper, and liked it so much that he decided to stay. Today, he is e:mployed byShe Darnistadter. Echo as a feature writer.
He and his fellow Je>fs presently worship and conduct commuhai acr tivities in a spacious old house on a , quiet street; The building, which is graced by a garden, was once owned by a prosperous Jewish lawyer.
According to; Neumann, the torn-munity's present headquarters cum-sy nagogue are too cramped. aS' a quick : tour demonstrated.- The new; synagogue, he.explained. will either be located in the garden, or close to the Jjsjwish cemetery, .which .was slightly damaged during the Nazi era; A win-dowpanc . salavaged : frcvm the Bleichstrasse synagogue will be incorporated into the,design, he said. ,,
As far as he is concerned, the synagogue will be built. "I feel there is goodwill among the population." Breuer is just as confident, though he pointed out that most Darn]^ statders are probably more interested in the idea of building a new shopping centre than a synagogue. . A man imbued with idealism and high principles, Breuer finds It "morally disgusting" that money should enter into the ongoing discussions to build a synagogue. In his^ view, a project oif this magnitude and historic importance has no price tag.
But Breuer, who is physically blind, is sure that the Jews of Darm-stedt will have their synagogue by 1988. He can, metaphoricaUy^jee the light at the end of the tuniler.