ZAGREB ZAGREB, Jan 25(Hina) - An exhibition of photographs which a German soldier, Joe Heydecker, secretly took in the Warsaw Ghetto in March 1941, was opened by the exhibition's author, Mara Kraus, in the Jewish Community's offices
in Zagreb on Sunday.
ZAGREB, Jan 25(Hina) - An exhibition of photographs which a German
soldier, Joe Heydecker, secretly took in the Warsaw Ghetto in March
1941, was opened by the exhibition's author, Mara Kraus, in the Jewish
Community's offices in Zagreb on Sunday.#L#
Thirty out of about 100 photos from the collection were put on display
in Zagreb for the first time. Heydecker, a professional photographer
and German soldier at the time, secretly took the photos in the Warsaw
Ghetto, as he was not allowed to enter the Ghetto as a soldier of the
Wermacht in 1941.
The tragedy of the Warsaw Ghetto is a unique example of the defiance
and proudness of the Jewish people and a symbol of our struggle
against Nazi-socialist terror, the head of the Jewish community in
Croatia, Ognjen Kraus, said at the opening ceremony in Zagreb.
Through this event, Zagreb Jews join in preparations for the
commemoration of the 59th anniversary of the liberation of the
Auschwitz concentration camp.
Kraus pointed out the arrival of top Croatian officials at today's
event as an important fact, adding that President Stjepan Mesic was a
frequent guest in the offices of the Jewish Community. Kraus was also
glad to welcome Prime Minister Ivo Sanader who visited the Jewish
Community as the start of his term.
The exhibition was organised by the Jewish cultural centre 'Bejahad',
a nongovernmental and nonprofit association, in cooperation with the
Austrian and German embassies, the Goethe Institute and the Austrian
Cultural Forum from Zagreb. The southern island of Hvar was the first
Croatian town to host this exhibition last year.
The German Ambassador to Croatia, Gebhardt Weiss, who gave a speech at
the ceremony, said that on the occasion of this exhibition and ahead
of the 59th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, he wanted to
renounce diplomatic courteousness.
We who belong to post-war generations are not responsible for the
criminal German policy, which, after the collapse of the Weimar
democracy, transformed into a state crime, and the road towards that
horror had started much before Hitler's formal coming into power on 30
January 1933, the ambassador said. However, today we are responsible
for how we treat this part of German and European history, he added.
That's why tolerance is the form of international relations without
which an integrated Europe would not be stable and could not be
permanently respected, Weiss said, adding that the appeal of the new
Croatian parliament presidency for tolerance was important for
Croatia's European path.
Historian Ivo Goldstein gave a lecture on the history of the Warsaw
Ghetto.
The exhibition will be open for the next two weeks and students of
Zagreb secondary schools will visit it each day.
(Hina) ms