Action Reconciliation Service For Peace

The Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center in Skokie is celebrating their grand opening for the new exhibition : MANDELA on February 18th at 7pm central time, ($). Learn more at: https://www.ilholocaustmuseum.org/mandela/

ARSP Around the World A letter from Amsterdam from Mona Gnan, 18, ASF-volunteer from Southern Germany at the Verzetsmuseum Amsterdam (Resistancemuseum Amsterdam) Learning new languages does not only broaden our mind externally through travelling and experiencing new cultures while connecting to new people, but also broadens our very own individual identity and character.... Learn more https://www.actionreconciliation.org//a-letter-from-amste/

"If I don't speak up who else's gonna do it" sings Jehmir Nixon, a student at Hill-Freedman World Academy in Mt. Airy. He wrote and produced a song that promotes speaking out against racial injustices. Creative, timely, and encouraging - and a big applause to Jehmir! https://youtu.be/YCceOd3w7v8 https://billypenn.com//mlk-music-video-philadelphia-stude/

ARSP wishes to celebrate Black History Month! One way to learn about the incredible stories of individuals is through the PBS documentary featuring "28 Black History Makers in 28 Days" https://www.pbs.org//02/28-black-history-makers-in-28-days/ But how did we come to celebrate Black History Month? Its story is linked to Frederick August Washington Bailey - born as a slave in February 1818. Frederick was raised by his grandmother. He said his mother called him during her few... visits my little valentine. Therefore, not knowing his day of birth, he chose February 14th. When he fled slavery and ran north he changed his name to Frederick Douglass. He believed in the equality of all people, be they black, white, female, Native American or Asian. President Lincoln's birthday was on February 12. The birthday of those two men inspired the Association for Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) to sponsor a national Negro Week on the second week of February in 1926. President Gerald Ford officially recognized Black History Month in 1976. READ MORE: The Man Behind Black History Month https://www.history.com//the-man-behind-black-history-month PBS - celebrates Black History Month https://www.pbs.org//02/celebrate-black-history-month-2021/

You may have seen our Sunday post with Iryna, an ARSP/ASF volunteer in Krakow, Poland. If you want to find out what Iryna enjoys most about volunteering with ASF/ARSP, watch her video: https://youtu.be/2QaUlhOji8M

Senator Sarah McBride has a moving story that we'd like to share. She is Delaware's first transgender senator. In the article, senator McBride talks about the Victory Fund, an LGTBQ organization that our volunteer Katharina featured in the fall on your website. Senator McBride is a shining example of optimism, courage, and determination. https://www.thecut.com//01/sarah-mcbrides-neighborhood.html

ARSP around the World: from Amsterdam to Praha Even though no volunteers are expected in the US until September 2021, ARSP/ASF has sent out close to 130 volunteers to countries in Europe and Israel. As our important work continues and young people are serving in local projects, we’d like to share with you some of their stories. Today: a video message from Krakow ... Iryna from Ukraine who volunteers in Krakow, Poland told us a little bit about herself and how she is doing. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Iryna! https://youtu.be/qhhVs7hF7Oc

Our Facebook post from October 16 told the story that with the help of Holocaust survivors who created #NoDenyingIt, Facebook finally updated their hate speech policy to include Holocaust deniers. The American Jewish Committee (AJC) offers for you to listen to the conversation between David Harris (AJC Ceo) and Monika Bickert, (Head of Global Policy Management at Facebook). Wednesday October 28, 2020 12 PM ET (For our friends living in Germany the time would be 17 hours.) Please register here https://zoom.us//r/6716034638890/WN_hIhG_ZxXQ-ahf6iZ05CM3A

We are happy to share good news from ARSP volunteers in Poland ... This is how it looks like to being a volunteer in Covid times! We will post more of Iryna's videos in the next days. Keep up your good work, Iryna! https://www.facebook.com/asf.de/posts/10157391689206721

The Shared History project tells the story of Jews in central Europe using 58 objects, beginning with an edict from Constantine the Great in 321 C.E. that granted the Jews of Cologne the right to hold public office and concluding with a contemporary artifact in 2021. Each object will illustrate how German-Jewish history is deeply interwoven with the peoples and countries in this region. The 58 objects and their stories will be researched in depth and posted in chronological order (one object each week starting in January 2021) on a Shared History website, both in German and English. For more information please visit: https://sharedhistoryproject.org/

The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, also known as The Claims Conference, distributed 4.3 million dollars emergency funds to agencies providing care for Holocaust survivors last spring. Executive Vice President of the Claims Conference Greg Schneider said in a phone interview with The Associated Press: Many (Holocaust Survivors) are already on the poverty line and the additional cost of masks and protective gear, delivery of groceries and other pandemic related expenses has been crushing for many. Germany agreed to give additional $653 million in aid to Holocaust Survivors struggling under the burden of Covid-19 pandemic. http://www.claimscon.org//negotiations-between-the-claims/

We at ARSP wishing all our friends and supporters a Hanukkah Sameach, we send our love and wish you peace and light during this holiday season.

Do Austrian GenZ and Millennials have a better knowledge of the Holocaust? Some wider general awareness exists but the gaps in awareness of historical and geographical facts are troubling. The Claims Conference study was conducted globally in 4 countries: Austria, France, Canada, and the US. Some noteworthy findings of the AUSTRIAN STUDY that polled GenZ and Millennials: 58% believe something like the Holocaust could happen again in other European countries 30% believe t...hat one million or fewer Jews were murdered 68% say that Austria was BOTH a victim and a perpetrator of the Holocaust There is a general consensus that Austrians did not actively resist the Nazis, with 45% of respondents stating that Austrians took no action when Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany, while 32% said the annexation was met with wide support from Austrians 28% believe a great deal or many Austrians acted to rescue Jewish people. For historical context, 109 Austrians are recognized as having acted to help Jews during the Holocaust 42% of Austrians could not name Austria’s concentration camp Mauthausen, located merely 100 km away from Vienna while 51% were familiar with Austrian Adolf Eichmann, the administrator and organizer of Hitler’s Final Solution, only 14% knew that Eichmann was Austrian WE ARE SEEING DISTURBING TRENDS POINTING TO THE LACK OF HOLOCAUST KNOWLEDGE. WITHOUT EDUCATION, WE RISK THE HISTORY OF THE HOLOCAUST BEING DISTORTED AND OTHERWISE DENIED AND THOSE WHO WERE MURDERED BEING FORGOTTEN. EFFECTIVE EDUCATION IS PARAMOUNT TOWARDS ENSURING THAT WHAT HAPPENED IN THE PAST DOES NOT REPEAT ITSELF. Julius Berman about the global survey conducted among GenZ and Millennials https://vimeo.com/333662430

Every year around this time, the Goethe Institute publishes the "Adventskalender" that has become a beloved tradition. For those who want to learn more about German Christmas traditions or hone their cultural skills check it out: https://www.goethe.de/prj/adv/en/adv.html... We'd like encourage everyone learning German to check our website if interested in the "Germany International Program" with ARSP/ASF. We will post further information soon!

My last post shared the news that Facebook finally reacted to the Claims conference campaign #NoDenyingIt and vowed to remove Holocaust deniers from their platform. A long overdue demand! Forcing Facebook to act now has to do as well with shocking findings from a Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness Study that reveals a lack of elementary knowledge and basic facts about the Holocaust among Millennial and GenZ. The most disconcerting findings from polling US Millenial and GenZ:... 48% could not name one single concentration camp or ghetto 63% did not know that 6 million Jews were murdered 11% believe that Jews caused the Holocaust 49% have seen Holocaust denial or distortion posts on social media 30% have seen Nazi symbols on social media SUPPORT HOLOCAUST EDUCATION on a state, national, and international level, in schools, museums, and all those institutions dedicated to raising awareness about Genocide prevention. Support our partners who allow ARSP volunteers to directly speak, interact, and serve their peace service with Holocaust survivors: #SelfhelpCommunityServices, Dorot NY, ProjectEzra NY, #selfhelphome, #IHMEC, #USHMM, #hebrewseniorlife http://www.claimscon.org/millennial-study/

ARSP welcomes our new board members, who are old friends and have been with us for a long time in different capacities. Ellen Lederman and Debra Linick who are long time hosts to an endless number of volunteers in the Washington DC area. Britta Faust-Burak has been a host for our New York volunteers. Bob Byrne, who also works for Philadelphia Interfaith Hospitality Network and has guided and supported our volunteers. And last but not least Mark McGuigan, former US program director of ARSP. We are very excited about our new members and thank our current long standing board members for all their effort and time spent to make our mission possible. The mission is to vigorously oppose the self justification, the bitterness and hate to seek forgiveness and to practice reconciliation, as Lothar Kreyssig wrote in 1958.

Recently, the Claims Conference produced a survivor-driven campaign #NoDenyingIt addressed to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg with the demand to remove Holocaust Deniers from its platform. "Holocaust denial is not ignorance; it is intentional, antisemitic and hateful." They succeeded! Facebook has agreed to update their hate speech policy to include Holocaust denial. This means that it will remove Holocaust denial and distortion from its platform. We applaud the efforts of the... Claims Conference and support our partner #selfhelpcommunityservices. Their client Henry M. participated in this campaign. Let's be clear: HOLOCAUST DENIAL IS A CRIME, DEPRIVING THOSE WHO SUFFERED THROUGH THESE HORRIFIC EXPERIENCES HUMANITY AND CREDIBILITY. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=685378075653859

Time to honor those fighting hunger, which has become an increasing problem during the Covid-19 pandemic * World Food Programme (WFP), this year's winner of the Nobel Peace Prize * #foodheroes; small holder farmers around the world, many of them women who live in poverty * all agencies and organizations delivering meals, preparing and delivering food in our neighborhoods ... * our partners, ie #christuslutheranchurch in Camden with a "Food Bank Day" every third Wednesday of the month See more

On World Mental Health Day, we remember May Ayim, an Afro-German poet and writer who died at the age of 36 through suicide. Her physical ailments were intensified by everyday racism that she encountered in post-war German culture, where Black Germans had no place. Her German-ness was constantly challenged and she was confronted every day by the internalized racism of her surroundings. TAKE MENTAL HEALTH SERIOUSLY - FIGHT DISCRIMINATION AND RACISM! https://www.aaihs.org/remembering-afro-german-intellectual/

We survivors of the great Jewish catastrophe of the 20th century, which is now called the Shoah or Holocaust, are, so to speak, a thing of the past. There are still very few of us left and these few, of which I belong, were children back then " Wir Überlebende der großen jüdischen Katastrophe des 20. Jahrhunderts, die heutzutage Shoah oder Holocaust genannt wird, sind sozusagen ein Auslaufmodell. Noch ganz wenige von uns gibt es noch und diese wenigen, zu denen ich gehöre, ...waren damals Kinder" Ruth Klüger * October 30, 1931-October 6, 2020 Ruth Klüger - Austrian Jew, Holocaust survivor, professor, writer - has passed away in her home in California. Her memoir "Weiter leben" (1992) was a literary sensation in Europe putting her in a row with Primo Levi and Elie Wiesel. 2001 appeared her "parallel book" or cultural translation in English, that she personally wrote "Still Alive: A Holocaust Girlhood Remembered." In the US, her work found an ambiguous reception. Her subjective narrative about her survival in the concentration camps Auschwitz and Theresienstadt was perceived as irritating as it struggles with questions about memory, historic horrific incidents, and unsettling mother-daughter conflicts. With Ruth Klüger we have lost a unique, critical voice and one of the few child survivors! https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/klueger-ruth

Thank you pastor Dr. Norbert Jahn from #immanuelphilly, pastor Miriam Gross #stpaulyny, pastor Christian Göbel #dkgny, pastor Katja Albrecht #theunitedchurch, pastor Karl Josef Rieger #kathde, pastor Dr. Martin Eberle #glcwashington, and military chaplain pastor Rüdiger Scholz * for featuring ARSP prominently in your Sunday service * for supporting our mission. For 52 years, ARSP has worked in the US to promote reconciliation, peace, and understanding. While rooted in the Lutheran Church, we cooperate with people of all faiths. We have close ties to Synagogues, and to our Quaker hosts in the Friends Center Philadelphia #friendsCenterPHL * for financial support

What does 30 years of German Unity mean for me? Growing up in a communist (un-democratic) state, namely Romania in the 1970s-1990s, I deeply appreciate the freedom to travel, to choose what I want to study, and to VOTE! Yet, celebration is impossible when reading the headlines about the rise of right wing radicals, the infiltration of right wing ideology in the German police force, or the recent attack on a Synagogue in Hamburg. ... What gives me hope? That many people are able to listen to Zilli Schmidt's story. She is a German Romani Auschwitz survivor speaking about her family's persecution during the Nazi period. It boosts my understanding that we need to extend our precious freedoms to all individuals and groups & end the persistent discrimination of Sinti and Roma in Germany https://www.dw.com//auschwitz-survivor-zilli-sc/a-55124766

October 3 is Day of German Unity! For those wanting to know more join Ambassador Emily Haber virtually at 1pm EST for a German-American tour. https://www.germany.info/us-en/aktuelles/tde-2020/2386160

We wish our Jewish friends and partners Chag Sameach Happy Holidays. Sukkot will be celebrated from October 2 to October 9. Last year, some of our former volunteers wrote about building a Sukkah and being invited to take a meal in a Sukkah. They were overjoyed by all wonderful, new experiences. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our Jewish friends for opening their houses of worship and their homes to our volunteers and introducing them to their culture, their lives and their holidays. All irreplaceable memories for our German volunteers.

In the evening of September 27 the highest holy day Yom Kippur will be held in the Jewish communities all over the world. Yom Kippur is also known as the atonement day. We wish our Jewish friends and partners G’mar Hatima Tova . Atonement has a profound meaning in our organisation as well which was founded to atone for the crimes committed during World War II. The term reconciliation stands for the symbolic acceptance of responsibility for the consequences of National Soc...ialism, including the Shoah. To learn more about ASF/ARSP beginnings please visit further information about our organisation’s German and American history. https://www.actionreconciliation.org/about/history/germany/ https://www.actionreconciliation.org//histo/united-states/

Located in the East Side of New York City is Project Ezra NYC. Founded in 1972, it was the first Jewish organization that partnered with ARSP in 1984. Since then we have every year a volunteer who is part of the Ezra Team and they love it. Project Ezra provides hundreds of elderly with activities and services. In a conversation between Monika Moyrer and Stephanie Grioryants-Iskhakov, Project Coordinator at Project Ezra, we learned about the challenges an organization like Ezra faces when the Covid 19 outbreak started. Listen in to the video teaser or connect to our webpage for the full interview. https://drive.google.com//19MLz91EW2N3OV0-NJl15rhvs7/view ARSP Webpage: https://www.actionreconciliation.org//news-from-our-proje/