Germans charge Demjanjuk

German prosecutors have charged retired car factory worker John Demjanjuk, 88, with 29,000 counts of being an accessory to murder during his time as a guard at the Sobibor concentration camp. They will seek his extradition from the USA.

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Italy pulls out of Durban II

Italy has pulled out of the United Nations conference on racism to be held in Geneva from April 20 to 24. Canada, Israel and the USA have already pulled out of the event, which is set to become a forum for anti-Israel rhetoric and antisemitism.

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Megillah read in Oswiecim

The Megillah has been read in the only surviving synagogue in Ozwiecim, the Polish town next to Auschwitz concentration camp, for the first time in at least 70 years.

Jewish historian Jerry Gotel read the story of Esther in the Chevra Lomdei Mishnayot synagogue, which had been destroyed by the Nazis and turned into a warehouse during the Soviet era, but which has now been recovered and restored as close as possible to the original.

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Wartime pope’s secret heroism

Documents that show the wartime pope saved tens of thousands of European Jews from the Nazis have been discovered in the Vatican’s
archives.

The 300 pages reveal that Pope Pius XII directly ordered convents, monasteries and Catholic churches to hide Jews from the Gestapo.

He also helped Jews to escape to safe countries, requesting the Brazilian government to receive 3,000 “non-Aryans” and persuading the Dominican Republic to grant visas for a further 11,000 people.

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Auschwitz plans on display

Blueprints for the Auschwitz concentration camp have gone on display in a Berlin exhibition for the first time. The 29 sketches, discovered last year in a Berlin flat and bought by the Bild newspaper, date from 1941-1942 and show plans to extend buildings in the camp.

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Canadian boycott motion

A major Canadian union has adopted a resolution supporting a university boycott of Israel. The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents some 200,000 people, will decide in May whether to cut ties between universities in Ontario and in Israel.

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‘Cleanse shuls’: Hungary

Hungarian Jews lodged an official complaint after a far-right politician called on fellow councillors to take up “sickles and hacks” and “cleanse” nearby synagogues. Attila Kiss,who sits on the Rajka city council, is also a member of the banned paramilitary Hungarian guard.

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Anger as Schroeder visits Iran

German Jewish leaders harshly criticised former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder for meeting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran. Mr Schroeder, who works for Russian energy giant Gazprom, called for direct talks between the US and Iran.

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