Letter from William J. Clinton to Elie Wiesel regarding a speech and Gaza

This document is a program for a "Remembrance" event held on Wednesday, February 26, 2014, at the Fifth Avenue Synagogue in New York City, honoring the late Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The program outlines a series of tributes, musical performances, and prayers. It includes segments such as a performance of "Kaddish," words of tribute from notable figures like Ambassador Ido Aharoni and Malcolm Hoenlein, and a rendition of Natan Alterman's poem "The Silver Platter." Personal reflections are offered by Professor Elie Wiesel, Gilad Sharon (Ariel Sharon's son), and Ira Rennert. The program also features memorial prayers, including the Mourner's Kaddish, Prayer for the State of Israel, and Hatikvah. Several prominent Jewish American organizations, alongside the Consulate General of Israel in New York, are listed as participating organizations. The document concludes with an invitation to a reception sponsored by Ingeborg and Ira Rennert, celebrating Sharon's life and legacy. Full texts of "The Silver Platter" and the Hebrew prayers are provided in both English and Hebrew.

Dr. Nino deProphetis served with the U.S. Army in Europe from November, 1944 to December, 1945. He became the commanding officer of the 81st Armored Medical Battalion, part of the 11th Armored Division of General Patton’s Third Army. In April1945, he led a contingent of 30 men to Mauthausen concentration camp after the Nazis had left. He describes in detail his entry and the sight of a pyramid of approximately 6000 naked bodies in the main yard. He viewed an additional number of thousands of bodies in smaller piles in other parts of the camp and also saw two gas chambers. His unit, equipped to treat only battle casualties, was quickly reinforced with troops that brought an abundance of food. He believes that many of the subsequent deaths of surviving prisoners were caused by overfeeding. He describes in detail the terrible malnutrition and gastrointestinal disease of most prisoners, as well as the immediate disposal of dead bodies into a trench. Soon afterwards, General Patton ordered that local citizens were made to exhume the bodies and rebury them in individual graves. Dr. deProphetis also supervised the evacuation of patients for the next two weeks until he was transferred to the Gmunden area, near Salzburg. There, he was placed in charge, as Burgermeister of Attensee. He remained with the Army of Occupation for six months, in charge of all battalion vehicles until his return to the United States. This file includes photos taken at the time of liberation.

Harry Zaslow served in the 283rd Field Artillery Battalion during World War II. He describes his unit's activities on various fronts while attached to the French First Army and then the American First Army, including the Battle of the Bulge. He had never heard about any German atrocities even after he joined the U.S. Army. In April, 1945, his unit was asked to go to a camp he later learned was Dachau. He estimates they arrived about three or four hours after the Germans either fled or were driven out of the camp. No Allied forces had taken command yet. He vividly describes his shock and confusion when, as a 19 year old boy, he saw box cars filled with corpses just outside of Dachau. During his two hour stay he saw crematoria going full blast, still burning bodies. He saw rooms with bodies—some of which appeared to have been killed very recently—stacked to the ceiling. He describes how non-German SS troops were guarded, but not killed, by some remaining inmates. Mr. Zaslow reflects on how what he saw at Dachau affected him and makes further genocide more probable. He closes with two vignettes about one positive and one negative experience as a Jewish soldier in the United States Army.

Individual was a Captain in the Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) of the United States Army during World War II. He entered Dachau Concentration Camp in April 1945, a few days after liberation, to interrogate Nazis who stayed behind because they wanted to be questioned by Americans not Russians. He was taken on a tour of Dachau and describes what he saw and heard, including accounts of atrocities inflicted on the prisoners, and what he learned during the interrogation, in gruesome detail. He mentions how the experience of seeing Dachau affected him and the other men in his unit. He reported to his commanding officer in Munich. He was assigned to a Displaced Persons camp at Coburg, Germany. He describes poor conditions at the camp, nightly searches, the treatment of survivors, and briefly mentions a riot at the camp in 1946. He explains why he feels that the displaced persons could have been treated more humanely and how these experiences affect him still.

Rabbi Helmut Frank, born April 15, 1912 in Wiesbaden,Germany, talks about his early interest in Judaism, details pre-war Jewish life including religious education, relations with Gentiles and sporadic antisemitism. He describes education at the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums in Berlin from 1931 to 1937. He also studied at Berlin University and received his Ph.D. from the University of Bonn in 1935. He gives his impression of Leo Baeck and his role in the Reichsvertretung. He explains why many Jews still felt they could survive in Germany.He was ordained in 1937 and was appointed as a Rabbi in Worms. He provides a history of the synagogue. His vivid, detailed eye-witness account of Kristallnacht, November 9, 1938 includes several vignettes, the burning of his synagogue, damage to his apartment, and lack of reaction by the fire department. He was arrested, along with other Jews. They were compelled to clean the debris in the streets, then transported to Buchenwald. He describes brutality, organization of camp life, lack of medical treatment, effect of incarceration on prisoners’ physical and mental health and religious observance. He mentions Aktion Jews and Jehova’s Witnesses and that Nazis warned released prisoners never to talk about Buchenwald. He worked in a labor squad but was released after his parents got him a visa for China.Rabbi Frank returned to Worms where he opened a House of Prayer and a school with permission from the German authorities. He describes the extent of the damage in Worms and the continued persecution of the Jewish community. He left for the United States in August, 1939. He discusses the immigration process, postwar conditions in Worms, and restoration of the Worms synagogue in 1961.