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NEWS
CER Delegation Participates in European Memorial
Ceremonies
by Yated Ne'eman Staff
A prominent delegation from the Conference of European Rabbis
(CER) attended the Auschwitz memorial ceremonies in Cracow
and Auschwitz/Birkenau. It included the Chief Rabbi of Moscow
(Rabbi P Goldschmidt), Chief Rabbi of Ukraine (Rabbi Y
Bleich) and Cllr A Dunner, Executive Director of the CER.
An afternoon Holocaust memorial service was held at the
Temple Synagogue in Cracow. The service was run by the CER.
It was conducted by Cllr A Dunner, and speeches were given by
Chief Rabbi Goldschmidt, Chief Rabbi M Lau of Israel, a
representative of the European Jewish Student Union, and two
survivors. A special memorial prayer was recited by Chazan P
Shapiro of Tel Aviv.
During the two-day proceedings, many meetings were held
between the rabbis and European lay leaders. An important
discussion took place between Cllr A Dunner and Russian
President Vladimir Putin and President Victor Yuschenko of
Ukraine. In his discussion with President Putin, Cllr Dunner
pointed out the grave concerns being expressed by Jews not
only in Russia, but also in Western Europe at the current
antisemitic trends that had surfaced in Russia over the past
year. This culminated in a bid of 22 Russian MPs to ban all
Jewish organizations from Russia, which had been backed by
500 signatories. Cllr Dunner further pointed out that there
were continuous attacks on Jews, as well as on Jewish
buildings, with no perpetrators having been arrested.
President Putin was at pains to point out that they were
taking steps to deal with this problem and that there was no
real cause for concern. Cllr Dunner then insisted that the
CER was very much involved with the European Commission and
the European Parliament, where the issue of human rights and
antisemitism was today something that was being openly
discussed with special focus on the recent incidents in
Russia.
In discussions with President Yuschenko, Cllr Dunner
expressed the admiration that the Jewish communities had for
his stand on the issue of democracy and human rights in
Ukraine, and made it clear that Jews throughout Europe looked
at President Yuschenko as a torchbearer for these issues. At
the same time, he also wished President Yuschenko a speedy
recovery, and pointed out that he was expressing the wishes
of Jews throughout Europe that President Yuschenko enjoy many
more years in good health as a leader who fights for the
rights of the individual, wherever they are.
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