Jerusalem Working Group
for Recognition of Major Jewish Rescuers during the Shoah
POB 23718 Jerusalem 91236
lpfeffer@actcom.co.il


Recent Event - January 17, 2005


International Rescuer Day 2005 Program - January 17, 2005
Jerusalem event at Merkaz Hatarbuyot Theater - Rechov Hillel 27
Program was mostly in English

Press Releases and Event Summaries

JWG post-event press release
Budapest event organizers' summary (in Hungarian)
New York Sun article and NY event organizer's post-event summary 

Pre-event press release - M. C. Luckman


International Rescuer Day events were held in Jerusalem and internationally in Hungary, USA and China on or near the sixtieth anniversary of Raoul Wallenberg's abduction by the Soviet Union. This will be an annual international event to assure he is not forgotten, to ask the Russian government to disclose any remaining information about Raoul Wallenberg, to remember and honor other Holocaust era rescuers, both Jews and non-Jews, who are important and authentic role models and to assure that important lessons are learned.

So far Jewish rescuers received no appropriate recognition by major
Holocaust Centers. This must change without further delay.

Event themes were "Beacons in the Dark", truth in history and the importance of non-egocentric individualism

The event’s purposes were to:

1) without further delay remember with gratitude Jews and non-Jews who did so much to save us during the Shoah

 

2) learn important lessons from the positive deeds of Jewish and non-Jewish Rescuers and also from great failures of important rescue opportunities

 

3) teach by the major rescuers' example the great value of non-egocentric individualism, which characterized many of the Rescuers

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Contact: Larry Pfeffer at lpfeffer@actcom.co.il

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CD OF THE EVENT'S SONGS, MUSIC AND POEMS AVAILABLE FOR A LIMITED TIME AFTER THE EVENT. ORDER INFORMATION VIA: lpfeffer@actcom.co.il

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PROGRAM

2 PM AFTERNOON MOSTLY VIDEO PROGRAM

"Life Line" – The Jewish Youth Rescue Movement in Budapest (documentary)

Bob Kimmel’s "Searching for Wallenberg" (documentary)

Gershon Kingsley’s opera "Raoul" (opera workshop video taped in New York)

(Each about 70 minutes, short breaks)

 

Long break

 

7 PM EVENING PROGRAM

Shortly before event start the following was played and projected:

Music written for January 17 by Ben Olander in Sweden,
Art work about "Beacons in the Dark" (Yitzchak Greenfield, Ava Schonberg)

Part I: Chaired by Prof. Becky Kook

Short Break

Part II: Chaired by William Mehlman and Toby Willig

  1. Hillel Kook and the Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe (Prof. Becky Kook)
  2. Recha Sternbuch, Solomon Schonfeld, George Mantello, Rabbi Weissmandl and Gizi Fleischmann (David Kranzler, four recorded historical capsules)
  3.  Rifka and Joseph Bau who saved many Jews in ghettos and camps. Their wedding was shown on Schindler’s List (presented by their daughters Hadassa and Clila Bau)

Photos of some participants

Dr. Andras Gyenge
Ambassador of Hungary to Israel

Martin Rodan
Slovak Honorary Consul

Robert Rydberg
Ambassador of Sweden to Israel

Susanna Gun de Hasenson
Ambassador of El Salvador to Israel

Thomas Oertle
Swiss diplomat

Adelina Klein
Poetess

Agnes Hirschi
Carl Lutz' daughter (Switzerland)

Anna Segal, Composer
Jerusalem
Dr. Becky Kook with Chairpersons 
Toby Willig and William Mehlman 
( to the right)
David Ben Reuven
Author, song writer and singer
Rabbi David Rosen
American Jewish Committee
Eli Joseph
Tnuat Reut
Ensemble Viva
Israel

Professor Emeritus Joseph Agassi
Tel Aviv University

Joseph Marton
Musicologist, singer

Larry Pfeffer
Event initiator

Louise von Dardel
Raoul Wallenberg's niece - Paris

Dr. Mario Ablin
International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation
Max Grunberg
Raoul Wallenberg Honorary Citizens Committee
Nissim Barouch
Jerusalem

Dr./Rabbi Norman Lamm, Chancellor Yeshiva University
New York

Rina Levinzon
Ruth Levin
Sandy Cash
Prof. Sevach Weiss
Chairman, Yad Vashem's Board of Directors
Rabbi Yonah Metzger
Chief Rabbi of Israel

Jan 28, 2005