Rabbi Weiss Says No to the Monument in Belzec

www.FORUM-znak,org.pl

Rabbi Avi Weiss arrived to Poland in order to protest against the memorial-monument located the former concentration camp in Belzec. "The American Jewish Committee and the Polish government bear full responsibility for the desacralization of the place where the remains of Jews lie," stated the rabbi on Wednesday during a press conference in Warsaw.

The AJC in cooperation with the Polish government intends to build the memorial of the victims of the Belzec camp. The joint project assumes the digging of a ditch 180 meters long and 3,5 meters wide. The ditch was planned already ten years ago.
Avi Weiss demands the discontinuation of the works, which he calls "one of the greatest desacralizations of remains of Jews in history". He announced he would sue the Polish government unless the works were immediately halted. In the US he already undertook such steps against the AJC.

The suit was ridiculed by David Harris, the managing director of the AJC. "This is not a serious issue. We are quite certain the New York court shall dismiss the case as unjustified", he said. He added that the plans of the memorial were accepted by Jewish religious authorities, the victims and survivors of the Holocaust.

The AJC rejected Weiss' accusations and claimed that the planned path should stay away from the 33 mass graves found so far, and it would prevent visitors from walking on the ground. "For years this place was neglected. Now the memorial has a chance of finally explaining the history of the camp, of protecting the mass graves. It would pay homage to its victims, so that we would never forget them", state the leaders of the committee.

From 1942 until the first half of 1943 in Belzec over 500,000 people had been murdered - mainly Jews from Galicja and European countries such as Germany, Belgium, Holland and Norway. The victims were usually sent to gas chambers straight from the railroad cars. The camp was completely liquidated in 1943 and the Germans planted a forest.

This was not rabbi Weiss's first trip to Poland. A few years ago he was one of the most active participants of the dispute regarding the Carmelite convent. In 1989 he entered the convent twice stating the nuns should leave the area where Jews had died. He also opposed the presence of a cross in the Oswiecim zwirowisko claiming that no Christian symbols should be placed where the extermination of Jews took place - even if Christians also died there.