Home

The Danube River Massacre

In the article "Survivor Mandel on the controversial Kasztner Train" (The Jewish State, April 24), in which Janet Hughes reports on a lecture by Manny Mandel, a survivor and volunteer for the Speaker's Bureau of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, we are told the following:

"Mandel began by telling the audience about his childhood trip at age 6, visiting relatives in Yugoslavia, when policemen entered the residence and ordered everyone to go outside and walk toward the Danube River -- supposedly so a census could be conducted. Mandel learned later that everyone who was ordered to turn left at the river bank was shot; he and his family turned right and escaped certain death" (italics are mine). First of all, based on this account, a reader might conclude that the massacre on the Danube River took place in Yugoslavia, and was conducted by Yugoslavian policemen. In fact, this massacre, known as the "Novi Sad Razzia," took place in Novi Sad Jan. 21-23, 1942, at which time Yugoslavia did not exist any longer, and Novi Sad, the capital city in the Bacska province, had become part of Hungary.

Similar massacres were also conducted in a dozen other Bacska places. According to Golubovics in Razzia in South Bacska 1942, the total number of victims was 3,809; while the number in Novi Sad alone was 1,246 (415 Serbs and 880 Jews, including 415 women, 165 children, and 177 elderly).

Second, the alleged reason for the three-day raid, during which time the entire city and all the residences were on lockdown and house-to-house searches were conducted, was to look for Communists, partisans, suspicious elements, and weapons. Needless to say, no census was ever mentioned: this would have been much too stupid and hard to believe as an excuse for transporting citizens to the Danube.

Others were marched or herded by truck to the Danube by heavily armed forces and were lined up outside the beach, and then taken in groups of four into the beach. There they were ordered to take off their coats, then march over planks, which were placed on top of the ice, to holes that were already broken in the frozen Danube for that purpose, and then were shot into the hole. No left or right. At 3 p.m., an order came from Budapest to stop the massacre and those still alive were taken to the Cultural Center, and a few hours later were allowed to go home.

I am from Novi Sad and was 16 at that time. First, soldiers took away my mother and grandparents, allegedly saying that they had to take them to the police station because they didn't have Hungarian-language I.D.'s; that was the last we saw of my mother and grandparents. A few hours later, another patrol came and took me and the rest of the family to what turned out to be the Danube beach. The massacre was stopped before our turn came.

As time goes on, remembrances become less and less accurate, especially after more than 60 years have passed. Therefore, the readers should make it their responsibility to see that corrections are made whenever an inaccuracy of accounts is found in writings dealing with the Holocaust. On the other hand, the writers should be more careful with both the facts and how the facts are presented.

Anna Beck
Highland Park

Politically naive

I did not support Obama for the presidency and urged Jews to vote against him. He received approximately 70 percent of the Jewish vote. In his address in Cairo he declared, "the United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements." This only perpetuates the myth that the misery of the Palestinians is the fault of Israel and the settlements.

President Obama is politically naive regarding dealing with Israel and the Muslim world. He used loaded words regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict by talking about Israeli "occupation" and omitting the word "terrorism" when referring to the Muslim world. As one whose parents were in Auschwitz and whose grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and siblings were killed by the Nazis, I find it insulting that President Obama compared the killing of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust to the suffering of the Palestinians. As a Jew, I reject the division of Jerusalem and support Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

It is very disturbing that President Obama continually apologizes for America. Why does no other country apologize to the world for their actions, including Arab countries who attacked Israel in 1948 and allied themselves with the Nazis during World War II? I am proud of America and do not need my president constantly apologizing for our actions.

Rabbi Dr. Bernhard Rosenberg
Congregation Beth-El, Edison

Bike path bigger picture

Perhaps Malcom Greenberg (Letters, June 5) did not see the map that describes the location and direction of the bike path. The path starts at city hall, municipal complex.

The issue is not connecting two religious neighborhoods. I would applaud that if this was the extent of the bike path. The major and bigger picture which will significantly affect this neighborhood surrounding Schenkmeyer Park and the tennis courts on North Eighth is the fact that bike riders from many distant neighborhoods will come in to use our local small facilities. They will also see the lovely small park and relatively empty tennis courts. Therefore, they will now come with their cars into our neighborhood to use the park and tennis courts. The point of neighborhood parks and facilities is to serve the people who live in walking distance. That is why they are not built with restrooms. Our park is very small.

I have been a resident living off North Eighth for 20 years. In that time I have used the park and tennis courts with my four children and now, my grandchildren. I am there frequently on Shabbat. Just last week, on a beautiful Shabbat, the park was packed with Sabbath observant young families. I was there to observe traffic. In the two hours I spent there, not one car parked at the tennis courts. Only several cars even came down North Eighth to turn onto Celler. Obviously, Mr. Greenberg and I see this with different eyes. The other people cited in his letter are my neighbors who have lived in this neighborhood even longer than I have.

We are also concerned that strangers will be frequenting our neighborhood and disturbing the safety and peace of our streets. In the past, bicycles have been stolen, homes robbed, cars broken into and people have been accosted. If the bike path connects our neighborhood with the municipal complex and we see increased traffic and crime, please do not say you were not warned.

By the way, in the past I have served as a park commissioner in the township and am responsible for building the fence around the park as well as renovating the park many years ago.

Rabbi Dr. Bernhard Rosenberg
Congregation Beth-El, Edison