Holocaust news stories on Newser

Obama: Use Tech to Abuse Rebels, We'll Sanction You

Mark Russell — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:23:22 CDT

If you use technology to help a repressive regime commit human rights abuses, you'll find yourself slapped with US sanctions. That's the message from President Obama, who this morning announced a new executive order specifically targeting those backing Iran and Syria via technology, though it could be expanded to other...

Smoking Law Like Nazis' Jewish Star: GOP Candidate

Rob Quinn — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 03:51:34 CDT

Smokers are getting treated like Jews did in Nazi Germany, according to West Virginia Republican John Raese. "I have to put a huge sticker on my buildings to say this is a smoke-free environment. This is brought to you by the government of Monongalia County, " complained Raese at an event...

Mormons Baptize Anne Frank

Kevin Spak — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:52:05 CST

The Mormon Church last weekend appears to have once again baptized Anne Frank, defying an agreement with Jewish leaders to refrain from posthumously baptizing Jews in general and Holocaust figures in particular. Former Mormon Church member Helen Radkey discovered the baptism on a Mormons-only database used to chart genealogy and...

Mormons Baptized Parents of Nazi-Hunter Wiesenthal

Mary Papenfuss — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 06:41:00 CST

In a ritual that doesn't sit well with many, Mormons last month baptized the deceased parents of Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal. Now they're sorry. Asher and Rosa Rapp Wiesenthal were baptized in proxy ceremonies by church members in Arizona and Utah, reports the BBC . "We are outraged that such insensitive actions...

Death Camp Sketches Published

Mary Papenfuss — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 04:25:00 CST

The Auschwitz Memorial Museum has published a collection of death camp sketches by a mystery inmate of Birkenau that was found stuffed in a bottle. The chilling pencil sketches of the camp, by a prisoner who signed them "MM," show children being torn from the arms of their parents, and...

Record 1.4M Visited Auschwitz Last Year

Matt Cantor — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:00:05 CST

Auschwitz had a record number of visitors last year, with more than 1.4 million people visiting the onetime Nazi death camp. Most visitors were from Poland, but the site also saw many American, British, Italian, Israeli, German, and French tourists. Auschwitz-Birkenau is one of the most-visited Holocaust memorials in...

Ultra-Orthodox Don Holocaust Garb for Protest

Mary Papenfuss — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 04:48:00 CST

Israelis are fuming after an ultra-Orthodox group dressed in concentration camp garb to protest their treatment by the public for promoting segregation of the sexes. Thousands of the extremists gathered in Jerusalem with their children dressed in the striped black-and-white uniforms of Jews imprisoned in World War II. They were...

Diary of Teen Who Survived Auschwitz to Be Published

Dustin Lushing — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 11:00:05 CDT

Anne Frank was not the only teen to record her harrowing Holocaust account in a diary—or to have the chronicle of her ordeal published. Helga Weiss, now an artist in her 80s, kept her journal as a young girl, beginning in 1939. Her family's Prague apartment was taken by...

Paris Mosque Saved Jews From Nazis

Matt Cantor — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 14:49:05 CDT

A touching but little-known Holocaust story: Paris’ Grand Mosque rescued Jews from the Nazis by providing them with Muslim identities. It wasn’t a straightforward movement, the New York Times reports. Instead, Jews were helped case by case, and no one knows for sure how many were saved—figures range from...