Yehudit Shendar: World-leading expert in Holocaust art and Nazi art plundering at the Weisman on April 14, 2015

Yehudit Shendar 
 Retired Deputy Director and Senior Art Curator, Yad Vashem
"The Insatiable Pursuit of Art: Nazi Art Looting - Perpetrators, Victims, Provenance Researchers"

April 14, 2015
7:00 pm
Weisman Art Museum

In describing the plunder of art by the Third Reich in his book Nazi Looting, Gerald Aalders writes: "Never in history has a collection so great been amassed with so little scruple."

The massive looting continues to resound in the frequent headlines of the world press, which report on the efforts of Jewish Holocaust victims' heirs to regain possession of the property stolen from their families. In November 2013 a cache of 1400 works of art was seized by the Bavarian internal revenue authorities from the apartment of Cornelius Gurlitt, the son of one of four art dealers allowed under the Nazis to trade modern art. Yehudit Shendar, a world leading expert in Holocaust Art and Nazi art plundering, was selected as an appointee to an international task force assigned to research the provenance of these recently-discovered works.

In her lecture at the Weisman Art Museum, attended by over 180 friends and scholars in the community, Yehudit Shendar shared perspectives, insights and personal accounts of her work in what was coined by Jonathan Petropoulos, a professor of history at Claremont McKenna College, as "The most important discovery of Nazi-looted art since the Allies discovered the hoards in the salt mines and the castles."

Organized by the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies with support from the Weisman Museum of Art and the Department of Art History. Cosponsored by the Center for Austrian Studies, the Center for German and European Studies, Center for Jewish Studies, and Hillel: The Jewish Student Center.

Registration open for Holocaust and Genocide related courses

Registration for University of Minnesota's fall 2014 semester is now open with a number of courses that fall within the Center's interdisciplinary approach to the study of the Holocaust and genocide.

The following courses are designed to provide direct and comprehensive instruction on the topic of the Holocaust, as well as the social, memorial and political impact of genocides:

History 3729, Nazi Germany and Hitler's Europe
Professor Gary Cohen
Comprehensive exploration of Third Reich. Students will examine How the Nazis came to power, transformations of 1930s, imposition of racial politics against Jews/others, nature of total war. Students read historical accounts, memoirs, state documents, view films.

Global Studies 4910, "Never Again!" Memory and Politics After Genocide
Professor Alejandro Baer
This course focuses on the aftermath of large-scale political violence. How do individuals, communities and societies come to terms with these atrocities? How do successor regimes balance the demands for justice with the need for peace and reconciliation? How is public memory of the atrocities constructed?

For an extended list of multi-disciplinary courses that present contextual studies of conflicts, human rights violations, power dynamics, social memory and transformation that are mirrored in the Holocaust and other genocides, please see the Fall 2014 Courses List.pdf

To register please visit the University of Minnesota's One Stop Home.

CHGS partners with international Holocaust institutions for a major conference in Madrid

On November 24-26, 2014, a conference entitled, Bystanders, Rescuers or Perpetrators? The Neutrals and the Shoah - Facts, Myths and Countermyths, will be held at Centro Sefarad-Israel in Madrid, Spain.

This conference is supported by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) and sponsored by Centro Sefarad Israel - Madrid; Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies- University of Minnesota; Mémorial de la Shoah - Paris; History Unit of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland - Berne; Topography of Terror Foundation - Berlin; Living History Forum - Stockholm; Memoshoá/Association for the Education and Remembrance of the Holocaust - Lisbon and Tarih Vakfı/History Foundation - Istanbul.

The conveners are calling for scholarly papers on the policies of the neutral countries during the Holocaust and the public debate on them in these countries.

The conference will thus aim at addressing the following issues:

•The neutral countries' reactions to Nazi anti-Jewish policies and their own policies on Jewish refugees;
•Their response to the German ultimatum of 1943 to either repatriate Jews with citizenship from their respective countries who lived in Nazi-occupied Europe or to allow their deportation;
•The genesis and long-lasting effects of "rescue myths", the current state of the discussion regarding the neutral countries' positions during the Holocaust;
•The dealing with the history of the Jewish persecution in state fact-finding commissions and committees of historians;
•Approaches to Holocaust education in neutral countries.
•Holocaust public memory (ceremonies, memorials, museums) and memory politics in neutral countries.

Please send your proposals (up to 350 words) and brief CVs no later than May 25, 2014 to: conference2014@sefarad-israel.es

For more information, please view Call for Papers Bystanders.doc

Who will bury Erich Priebke?

Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke denied Rome funeral by church and state
10-14-2013

Germany to look into case of former Nazi-led unit commander living in Minnesota

Germany probes Karkoc, Nazi-led unit
June 24, 2013

German court rules for secrets to be kept on Adolf Eichmann.

Court dismisses bid for full access to intelligence files on Nazi Eichmann
June 27, 2013

Germany to look into case of former Nazi-led unit commander living in Minnesota

Germany probes Karkoc, Nazi-led unit
June 24, 2013

Hailed as a hero Italian official might have been a Nazi collaborator

Italian Praised for Saving Jews Is Now Seen as Nazi Collaborator
June 19, 2013

A Nazi in our Midst?

A Nazi in our midst? Pursuit of justice must persistArticle by Alejandro Baer June 17, 2013
Star Tribune

If he is connected with war crimes, he must be held accountable.

Until Friday, 94-year-old Michael Karkoc was only an immigrant living the quiet and peaceful life of a retiree in northeast Minneapolis. He was known as a loving father and grandfather, a longtime member of the Ukrainian immigrant community, a citizen who attended church regularly, always friendly and considerate toward his neighbors.

But soon Karkoc will be subject to the full force of the law, suspected of the worst imaginable of crimes. Karkoc is alleged to have been a top commander of a Nazi SS-led unit accused of burning villages filled with women and children. It seems that the evidence is strong enough for him to face deportation and to be prosecuted for war crimes in Germany or Poland.

How could this man immigrate to the United States after the war and live a normal life in Minnesota for six decades? According to an extensive investigation by the Associated Press, Karkoc fooled the American authorities in 1949, concealing his role as an officer and founding member of the infamous Ukrainian Self Defense Legion.

To read the entire article click here.

Univeristy professor on possible deportation for alleged Nazi commander

Alleged Nazi commander living in Minneapolis could face deportation
06-17-2013

Immigration to America: the 1948 Displaced Persons Act

By Jodi Elowitz June 17, 2013

The startled reaction to the news that Michael Karkoc, an alleged former Nazi is living in Northeast Minneapolis is understandable. To have a Nazi in our midst is unsettling and leads to the larger question of how it is possible for someone who (if found guilty of war crimes) could have lived in the Twin Cities for 70 years undetected.

In terms of what happens next, the United States needs to investigate Karkoc's denial of military service on the application form he filed in order to immigrate to the United States.

Karkoc was admitted into this country under the 1948 Displaced Persons Act, designed to authorize for a limited period of time the admission into the United States of certain European displaced persons for permanent residence and or other purposes.

After World War II there were more than 250,000 Jewish displaced persons between 1945 and 1952 living in DP camps throughout Germany and Austria, waiting to regain their lives after the Holocaust. At first the thought was to return them to their countries of origin but most had no homes or families to go back to, and antisemitism remained problematic. The Displaced Persons Act at first was not specific or favorable to the Jewish DP's and many Jews continued to wait to immigrate to the United States. It was not until 1950 that the act was amended and Jews had more accessibility to emigrate. By 1952 80,000 displaced Jews made it to the US with the additional aid of Jewish relief agencies. Of those 80,000 it is believed that roughly three to four hundred made Minnesota their new home.

Life in Minnesota was not easy for the new Jewish immigrants, jobs were hard to come by and the larger community did not quite understand what these refugees had experienced during the war. Most did not speak of their Holocaust experiences until much later, when people began to ask and wanted to hear about what they witnessed.

When the news of Karkoc's alleged Nazi past appeared on every Minnesota news and media outlet, local Holocaust survivors began to speak up, hoping that if he did indeed commit these crimes against his fellow Ukrainians and Poles, murdering women and children, that he would be brought to justice. Many wondered how he was able to slip into this country under the act that was designed to help people who had been victims of Nazi persecution and could not return home. As one survivor said, "The fact that he was let into the US and has lived a relatively quiet and happy life is problematic because justice has not been served."

Sources for this article: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia, University of Washington Bothel Library.

Top commander of a Nazi SS-led unit found in Minnesota

Commander in SS-led unit living in US
6-14-2013

Newly unveiled document: WWII French gov't toughened anti-Jewish laws

Leading Nazi hunter: Phillippe Petain, head of French government during Nazi era, personally penciled harsher measures onto already discriminatory legislation.

By Reuters

The head of the French government which collaborated with the Nazis during World War II personally made harsh anti-Jewish legislation even tougher, a leading Nazi hunter said on Sunday, citing a newly unveiled document.

Serge Klarsfeld, decorated for his work to bring Nazis to trial, said Philippe Petain penciled harsher measures into a Statute on Jews issued by his Vichy regime exactly 70 years ago.
First World War hero Petain signed an armistice with the Nazis in 1940 which divided the country, leaving the north in German hands. Petain created a government to the south in unoccupied France with its capital in Vichy.
According to the Statute, which Klarsfeld said had been handed over anonymously to the Holocaust Memorial in Paris and authenticated by its experts, Petain penciled in his own notes drastically worsening conditions for Jews in France.
"We didn't know until now that Petain had made changes to the text of Oct. 3 1940 and that he had made it more strict," Nazi hunter and founder of the Association of the Sons and Daughters of Jews deported from France Serge Klarsfeld told reporters on Sunday.
The Vichy government helped in deporting about 80,000 Jews to concentration camps from France between 1942 and 1944.
The amendments "completely redrafted" the nature of an already extremely anti-Semitic text, Klarsfeld added.
"It shows this was the desire of Petain himself," he said of the document, which went on display a few days earlier. The original text had excluded the descendants of French Jews born or naturalized before 1860, but the notes showed Petain had crossed this out, making all Jews targets for discrimination.
Petain also widened the exclusion for Jews in society, barring them completely from jobs in education and the justice system and preventing them from standing for elected posts.
Until now, there has been little documentation on Petain's Vichy government and his stance towards the Jews.
His defenders have always said his policies aimed to protect French Jews by assimilating them into the local culture and converting them into Catholics.
"That argument collapses with this document," said Klarsfeld, awarded the Legion of Honor by then-President Miterrand for his work seeking prosecutions for Nazi war crimes.
Petain was tried after the war and sentenced to death for treason, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment on an island off the Atlantic coast. He died in 1951.