"Carolina Reb" wrote in message
news:e6bcbb0c-32e1-4922...@googlegroups.com...
>On Tuesday, February 4, 2020 at 11:21:27 PM UTC-5, Michael Ejercito wrote:
>>
>>
>> The Guardian Angels of Israel and other honorable, decent people stand
>> in the way.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>Your opinion does not count for anything, you slant-eyed
>Mongoloid bastard.
There is nothing wrong with slant eyes.
>You are insane. There is no such thing
>as "guardian angels," except perhaps in the twisted minds
>of Asiatic Gooks like you.
Guardian Angels of Israel DO exist.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/nazi-official-who-risked-life-to-save-hundreds-of-jews-posthumously-recognized/
BERLIN, Germany – Grasping the dais for support, 95-year-old Holocaust
survivor Josef Konigsberg broke into tears. He is the only living person in
Germany able to recount firsthand the bravery of Helmut Kleinicke, who was
posthumously awarded the designation of Righteous Among the Nations at the
Israeli Embassy in Berlin on January 14.
“This is one of the most beautiful days of my life,” Konigsberg said,
locking eyes with Kleinicke’s daughter, Juta Scheffzek, who was seated not
far from him. “Thank you, thank you.”
The recognition of Righteous Among the Nations is bestowed by Israel’s
Holocaust memorial center Yad Vashem to those who are verified to have
risked their lives to save Jews during World War II. Israeli Ambassador to
Germany Jeremy Issacharoff presented Scheffzek with a certificate together
with Konigsberg, which Scheffzek accepted on her father’s behalf.
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Kleinicke, a Nazi party member, was only publicly acknowledged in recent
years as the savior of perhaps hundreds of Jews at the height of the
Holocaust. He is just the 628th German to be given the recognition, and one
of the only recipients who was also a member of the Nazi party.
Israeli Ambassador to Germany Jeremy Issacharoff, left, Julia Scheffzek, and
Josef Konigsberg, at the ceremony honoring Helmut Kleinicke at the Israeli
Embassy in Berlin, January 14, 2020. (Yaakov Schwartz/ Times of Israel)
For reasons not entirely clear — perhaps out of modesty, or possibly to
avoid standing out for what was then a controversial distinction in postwar
Germany — Kleinicke kept quiet about his heroism until his death in 1979 at
the age of 72. He said little to his daughter about his wartime activities,
and sent no reply to the three survivors who wrote him after the war’s
conclusion.
Three years ago, a report by Israel’s Kan national broadcaster cast light on
Kleinicke’s actions, captured testimony from numerous people saved by
Kleinicke during the war, and united Scheffzek with some of the survivors in
Israel. It also caused Scheffzek to do some more digging of her own.
At the ceremony, Scheffzek said that looking into her father’s story, as
well as visiting Israel three years ago, has significantly changed her life.
“It verified what my father said to me in very few words — and I never knew
if he had been telling the truth,” she said.
Juta Scheffzek speaks at the ceremony at which her father, Helmut Kleinicke,
is honored as Righteous Among the Nations for risking his life to save Jews
during the Holocaust, at the Israeli Embassy in Berlin, January 14, 2020.
(Yaakov Schwartz/ Times of Israel)
According to the survivor testimony given to Kan in 2017, Kleinicke, who had
joined the Nazi party in 1933, took advantage of his position as a senior
official in charge of construction in Chrzanow, Upper Silesia, to “claim”
Jews as workers. His intervention rescued them from transport to Auschwitz,
located just 20 kilometers (12 miles) away.
“Those of us who worked for Kleinicke were like VIPs,” one survivor told the
network. “We had a certificate that we worked for him, and that was our
insurance policy.”
Kleinicke also reportedly sheltered many Jews in his basement — especially
those who were weakened and at risk of deportation to Auschwitz — and
alerted Jews about upcoming roundups.
Jewish work details under the authority of Helmut Kleinicke benefited from
much better conditions; he helped many of his workers escape deportation and
certain death. (Juta Scheffzek/ Jewish Welfare Board of Germany)
It came to the Nazis’ attention that many Jews were going missing under
Kleinicke’s command, Scheffzek told those gathered at the event, which led
to his reassignment to military training as punishment in 1943.
Kleinicke didn’t keep records of the number of Jews he saved, but survivors
estimate it to be at least in the hundreds.
Addressing the audience at the January 14 event, Konigsberg said that
Kleinicke personally came and snatched him out of the transport line to
Auschwitz when he was 16.
“I owe him my life,” Konigsberg said. “My mother came and begged him to
rescue me. Kleinicke grabbed me and said that I was his best worker.”
Josef Konigsberg speaks at an event posthumously honoring his savior, Helmut
Kleinicke, as Righteous Among the Nations, at the Israeli Embassy in Berlin,
January 14, 2020. (Yaakov Schwartz/ Times of Israel)
Konigsberg’s mother and sister were transported to Auschwitz shortly after.
Neither survived.
At the time, the young Konigsberg gave Kleinicke his treasured stamp
collection for safekeeping. According to Konigsberg, Kleinicke said that if
they both managed to survive the war, he would return the stamps. Three
years ago, Konigsberg finally got the stamp collection back. It was
presented to him by Scheffzek.
Helmut Kleinicke walks with daughter Juta Scheffzek. (Juta Scheffzek/ Jewish
Welfare Board of Germany)
“I feel like this is the closing of a circle,” Scheffzek told The Times of
Israel following the ceremony. “It was a very long and emotional search to
discover the truth about my father, and I hope that people in America, the
UK, and Israel will hear about it.”
“When you’re in the context of Germany, you’re never free of the historical
dimension of the Holocaust, and it’s a very heavy burden to bear for the
Germans, and also obviously for the Jewish people, and it’s always there,”
said Issacharoff. “And I think it’s really important that this type of
ceremony also recognizes that there were a few really important people who
did the right thing. And that, to me, is the main message that should come
out of this.”