Kerry Relatives Killed in Holocaust

[kskiska]

Since Sen. John Kerry discovered a year ago that his father's father was Jewish-born, he has struggled over whether and how to talk about his Jewish background.

The roots are surprising for a Massachusetts politician with an Irish name and Catholic upbringing. Kerry did not know the extent of his Jewish roots until a year ago when a genealogist in Vienna, hired by The Boston Globe, discovered that Kerry's paternal grandfather, Frederick Kerry, a converted Catholic, was actually born Fritz Kohn to Jewish parents in what was Austria-Hungary, now part of the Czech Republic. Kerry, 60, has known for about 16 years that his paternal grandmother was born Jewish as Ida Lowe and converted to Catholicism.

Sunday, the Vienna genealogist, Felix Gundacker, posted new findings on his Web site that the Nazis killed two of Ida Lowe's siblings -- a sister in the Treblinka concentration camp, and a brother in Theresienstadt, a Czechoslovakian ghetto that held Jews before they were taken to camps.

"I'm very touched by the knowledge that one of my relatives was in the Holocaust," Kerry said in an interview last night. "It gives an even greater personal sense of connection that is very real and very touching. It makes you wonder how horrible their lives must have been."

Kerry initially embraced his grandfather's Jewish roots when they were discovered a year ago. Two days after the Globe published a long front-page story disclosing his grandfather's background, Kerry talked about it to a Jewish group in Florida to assert a personal connection to Israel. Kerry brought up his grandparents' heritage again in November, speaking to Jewish Democrats in Des Moines.

more…
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usroot0301,0,2821800.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-headlines

[mobuto]

1. Not at all surprising

If you're Jewish, relatives of yours died in the Holocaust. Its really simple. My grandmother's siblings died alongside John Kerry's.

[aquart]

2. I don't know where my grandmother's siblings died.

They were rounded up and taken away. A neighbor who survived said one brother fought, and was killed on the spot. The others never returned. The siblings, their wives and children, my great grandfather and his wife.

When my grandmother died, we put Daughter of David Weiner on her stone, so that my great grandfather would have his name on a grave somewhere.

[slack]

20. I feel ashamed to be german

and my other half (father) is boer from south-africa. my mother is from berlin, my father from natal, rsa (republic of south africa). That's really a heavy burden and I'am grown up international. But I try my best not to repeat the mistakes of history.
Fighting against hate is a daily business.

[MikeGalos]

65. You have no need to

Slack, anyone who learns from history and rejects old hatreds has no need to feel ashamed of those hatreds.

[MikeGalos]

32. And you know more than we do

In my family, there were 30 relatives alive before the Nazis and their Arrow Cross allies rounded up all the Jews they could find and sent them to Auschwitz/Birkinau for extermination. 2 of the 30 didn't get caught. None of the 28 came back.

As you can imagine, G.H.W. Bush's hiring one of the Arrow Cross leaders who organized massacring my family as a fund raiser for his election campaign doesn't exactly sit well with us.

[MikeGalos]

37. As an FYI

Bush Senior hired Laszlo Pastor and Yaroslav Stetsko for his Eastern European Outreach program in his campaign.

Pastor was the Arrow Cross (Hungarian Nazi affiliate group) liason to Berlin. Stetsko was Ukrainian Prime Minister under the Nazis.

Pastor's group organized the rounding up for extermination of 600,000 Jews in Hungary (including almost all of my father's family).

Stetsko's government executed over 100,000 Jews during his short administration.

[mobuto]

38. Charming

Reminds me of Reagan paying homage to that unknown SS officer.

[MikeGalos]

40. Well, the SS were...

after all, (at least according to Reagan) just as much victims as anyone else.

BTW: It's important to note (and rarely is) that on that same trip, Reagan was asked to tour one of the death camps and place a wreath there. He refused, saying that he didn't want to bring up the past.

[Just Me]

55. Paul Weyrich + Laszlo Pasztor + Scaife = Dark Doers

Paul Wyrich recently appeared on CSPAN apparently to advance his "Free Congress Foundation" which has had the convicted Nazi collaborator, Laszlo Pasztor, on its staff; a man who was forced to resign from the 1988 Bush campaign when his past became public knowledge.

Laszlo Pasztor actually served a prison term for being, during WWII, part of a Hungarian pro-Nazi group, the Arrow Cross (like the German Nazi Party, only in Hungary). His prison term also related to Pasztor's, during WWII, being a member of a Hungarian diplomatic delegation to Berlin after the Nazis installed the pro-Nazi Arrow Cross as the government of Hungary.

http://www.politicalamazon.com/fcf.html

Paul Weyrich also helped to form "The Heritage Foundation" and the "Council on National Policy".

Richard Mellon Scaife has been a major contributor to this organizations!!! They are very Dark Doers.

[MikeGalos]

58. Yep

There's not exactly a shortage of Nazi connections to the Bush Republicans.

Prescott funded them.
G.H.W. hired them.
G.W. was funded by them.

Kind of makes you wonder whether we really won that war or whether the Nazis just went to a less public, less violent and longer term strategy...

[legin]

60. A few years ago

I was trawling around Croatian Ustache talkboards and they were talking about somebody with Ustache connections being an advisor to a Presidential Candidate, by deduction is got to be either Bush I or Reagan. (it could have been tinfoil)

This 'Eastern European Outreach program' sounds kinda like where he might turn up. If there was a Croatian exile involved with this group you might find he was a bit dubious too.

[mobuto]

61. Franjo Tudjman

the late-great President-for-life of Croatia was a Nazi par-excellance.

[legin]

63. This could(?) be the guy

<<snip>>

Bush and Quayle's advisers in 1988 included several European fascist
activists, including Nazi collaborator Laszlo Pasztor, who had served
as junior envoy in Berlin for the Arrow Cross regime in his native
Hungary; Florian Goldau, who had been recruiter for the Romanian Iron
Guard; Bohdan Fedorak, who had headed a Ukranian pro-Nazi group
involved in wartime pogroms; and Croatian-born agitator Jerome
Brentar, a fixture on the Holocaust denial circuit.

<<snip>>

http://www.voy.com/42611/24.html

[JPZenger]

67. Read this Uplifting Story

I am not Jewish, but I become very depressed whenever I read more about the Holocaust. However there were some heroes amidst that evil, that can help us see the good in people.

I encourage everyone to read about Raoul Wallenberg - a Swedish diplomat who was personally responsible for saving the lives of 80,000 to 100,000 Jewish people in Hungary. This was 40 times more people than Schindler saved, but fewer people have heard of Wallenberg. Wallenberg was sent into Hungary with the assistance of the Roosevelt Administration and American Jewish leaders. Wallenberg died in a Soviet prison sometime after the war.

http://www.raoul-wallenberg.org.ar/english/clarin9ing2.html

[MikeGalos]

68. And Many, Many More!

Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial Center in Israel also documents non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews in the Holocaust. When Yad Vashem was created by an act of the Israeli parliament, their legal mandate included documenting these heros.

Their list now numbers over 20,000 (20,205 as of 1/1/04). They are commemorated in eight separate exhibits at the center including the Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations (and exhibits specifically on Wallenberg and Oskar Schindler).

The section on their website dedicated to "The Righteous Among the Nations" is at http://www.yad-vashem.org.il/righteous/index_righteous.html

Yad Vashem's homepage is at http://www.yad-vashem.org.il

[JI7]

3. i worked on a project

with some friends on jewish history. and it involved talking to just anyone who is jewish about their personal history, mostly older people. but it's not uncommon to hear stories such as the one about john kerry's family. also, some younger jewish people were asked and they talked to some of their older relatives and heard things they had never heard before. for some older people especially those who were old enough to remember the holocaust it's still very tough to talk about what happened and in many cases they will die without ever telling what happened.

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[Forkboy]

62. As Jim himself would,and has, proclaimed

"It's a war zone.Shit happens!"

[Media_Lies_Daily]

19. IMHO, that was really an idiotic thing to say.

[bushisanidiot]

28. Prescott Bush May Have Funded The Nazis Who Killed Kerry's Relatives

we do know that evil man funded the nazis and we know what the nazis did with their power.

Funny how the Bush's have supported dictators all these years..

[MikeGalos]

64. Really?

Your relatives were a part of the state-run genocidal death camps run as part of a racial extermination project in the Thirty Years War? You got a lot of close relatives around from 1648?

[Jim Sagle]

71. I'd welcome you to DU, but I'd be lying.

[Cassandra]

79. Wow! Do you have relatives still alive from 1648?

If not, perhaps you're the one who needs to stop living in the past.

[nolabels]

8. I am just waiting for that really sarcastic thread to pop up

Then again, they might not think they are being that way . You know the thread, let me spell it out. It will go like this >>> Now we are really DOOMED, Kerry was an undercover Jew, working for PNAC all along :argh:

[Voltaire99]

9. What's really noble is how he isn't politicizing it.

Two days after the Globe published a long front-page story disclosing his grandfather's background, Kerry talked about it to a Jewish group in Florida to assert a personal connection to Israel.

I just have to admire his restraint.

(P.S. Palestinians: don't worry, you'll get a completely fair shake in our next, er, "road map.")

[Democat]

12. Thank god Bush is giving the Palestinians a fair shake now!

The entire world, Palestinians included, will be better off when Bush is no longer in the White House.

[MikeGalos]

34. Gee

you'd prefer that having a Jewish ancestor is something he should hide in the closet?

Why is that?

[Jim Sagle]

72. I's called campaigning. Check ino it.

[anarchy1999]

10. Straw breaking this camel's back.

I am sorry, can not and will not go with ABB from this point forward.

This is outrageous. Why are we even going here. Anything and everything that matters is all about the Mid-East?

Stop now,
what's that sound,
Everybody look
what's going round.

[Democat]

11. You won't vote for anyone whose relatives were killed in the holocaust?

That's an interesting stand to take.

[anarchy1999]

14. Paul Findley, "They Dare To Speak Out"

Republican Representative, Illinois

1989 edition

USS Liberty, I want the Truth.

[mobuto]

25. What does the USS Liberty have to do with

the Holocaust and why you won't vote for John Kerry?

[MikeGalos]

33. Let's be honest here

No need to be coy. Anarchy1999 is saying that (s)he would rather vote for George Bush than someone with any Jewish blood.

[legin]

46. I didn't read it like that at all

Over doing the melodrama a bit aren't we ?

[MikeGalos]

48. Really?

How DID you read it?

Tell us all how you read a posting saying that Kerry's having a great-aunt and great-uncle killed by the Nazis was a good reason to vote for Bush.

Really.

We're all curious. (Well, at least some of us are)

[NNN0LHI]

49. Put me on that curious too list n/t

[mobuto]

52. I'm also curious

I'd also like to know what this has to do with Israel or any other country.

[legin]

53. Where does he say he is going to vote Bush in the two posts ? n/t

[MikeGalos]

57. You know which post

since you were the one defending it.

[GabysPoppy]

23. Makes you wonder Democrat, doesn't it?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

21. So, you'll vote for Junior in 2004?

[mobuto]

24. This has WHAT to do with the Middle East?

Kerry's grandparents siblings died in Poland, not Petra.

[Jim Sagle]

73. What do YOU think is going round?

[Darranar]

74. What does this have to do with the Mideast?

Why should Kerry having Jewish ancestors stop you from voting for him?

[GabysPoppy]

77. Do you need a roadmap?

[Archae]

13. This says a lot about Kerry and Bush.

Kerry's relatives died in the Holocaust.

Bush's relatives profited from it.

[leetrisck]

15. Reporter's can find Kerry's ancestors

but not bush's National Guard records - Amazing

[JI7]

16. well, if something never existed

then it would be pretty hard to impossible to find it.

[MikeGalos]

66. Fair enough

Reporter's can find Kerry's ancestors in Nazi death camps but not Bush's ancestors funding those camps.

Since that exists and others have found them, that should be easier...

[WitchWay]

18. Yeah and both have relatives who

...profitted from the opium trade.

Kerry had immigrant Jewish relatives, but his other side of his family is a different story.

http://www.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/johnforbes.html
http://www.ctrl.org/essay1/ESB5.html

[JNelson6563]

17. Very interesting

In light of the rise of fascism in this country the last three years...

[slack]

22. but this is another kind of fascism

it's a new world order type or make my rich friends richer.
not the german fascist type. this type was only to terminate people who think different. communist, leftist, gays, gipsy, jews.
there is a differnce, still.

[JNelson6563]

26. really?

So amassing wealth and world domination wasn't in the big picture for the old fashioned fascists?

If that is your assertion here I disagree.

Julie

[JoFerret]

27. Interesting how this thread

is bringing out so many fritflies and nutjobs with their hostility, over-reaction, wormwood and gall. What's that about?

[Nevernose]

30. It's the word "Jew" (n/t)

[JoFerret]

31. Seems like it

and this is not even about Israel (which of course is a different kettle of fruitflies all together.

[MikeGalos]

45. It isn't

They're around in the other threads as well. They're just a little less blatent about it and most people give them the benefit of the doubt with a "no, they didn't mean it that way." response.

Here, however, it's harder to pretend they didn't really mean what they obviously meant.

[lebkuchen]

29. CNNI did a brief news feature on Kerry's relatives last week

It was very interesting, and something I had not heard before. I was hoping to see it again to catch all the info, but from what I recall, his grandfather was Jewish and realized that, due to political times, it was time to change last names and go Catholic. So, they took a globe, spun it and closed their eyes. Where they landed would be their last name, and it landed on Kerry, in Ireland.

The Czech town is very simple, typical eastern bloc town, impoverished. They showed the house where Kerry's grandfather had lived. I don't recall his original business, but a section of it has been converted into a sauna.

The villagers are hoping that Kerry wins so that he will visit the town. I don't remember the name of the village, but it would be wonderful if he did visit and bring recognition to the area.

The way the story was presented on CNNI was matter-of-fact and touching. I don't remember the clip mentioning the holocaust at all.

[MikeGalos]

35. Judging from some of the replies to this thread

I think it's fair to say that anti-Semitism is hardly a non-issue. Maybe it is time we stopped pretending it was and stop the automatic lie of "no, they don't hate Jews, they just hate Sharon's policies".

For some people that's true. For some people it's just a fashionable way to voice their bigotry and it's long past time we admitted that and dealt fairly with this kind of racist hatred rather than giving it a free pass.

This article and this thread are unrelated to the Middle East and the out and out anti-Semtism voiced by some in this thread shows that it isn't Israel thats the issue for some people. It's Jews. And THAT has no place in what is supposed to be a progressive website.

[legin]

42. Are Democratic candidates

rushing around, digging through their past, to prove they are of Palestinian heritage, and then standing up at public meetings to announce it to the world ?

No they are not. And why ? Because they would become instantly un-electable.

[MikeGalos]

47. A few little questions for you...

Kerry isn't claiming to be Israeli. Do you think all Jews are Israelis? Or that there's no difference?

Secondly, do you really think a small Jewish background helps Kerry? Are you claiming that Kerry dug around to find a Jewish background so that he'd get that secret Jewish power base?

You really think there are LESS anti-Semites in the US than there are Jewish voters sitting on the fence about supporting Bush or Kerry?

Gee. Being a life-long Christian with one Jewish grandparent means you're really a Jew and part of some vast Jewish conspiracy. Where have I heard that one before?

[mobuto]

51. Aha!

Kerry has TWO Jewish grandparents, not one. I tell you, they're taking over! LOL.

[MikeGalos]

54. Don't panic

The two you're probably thinking of were Kerry's grandmother's siblings.

It's only one of Kerry's grandparents who was Jewish (and who converted to Catholicism). So it's not like people are being asked to vote for a life-long Christian with two life-long Christian parents with HALF Jewish blood. This country's not ready for that!

(Oh, as an FYI, LOL noted and reply is meant the same way - wanted to make sure to be clear since there are a lot of serious posts on this thread that I'd have never believed were really meant that way until now)

[mobuto]

56. Kerry's grandmother

was Ida Lowe, whom Kerry has known for 16 years was Jewish.

What he just learned this past year was that her husband, his grandfather, Frederick Kerry, was also born Jewish - as Fritz Kohn.

I think all of this is amusing (well, not the anti-Semitism or the Holocaust part) but it doesn't make me more likely to vote for Kerry; I would have done so regardless of his heritage.

[MikeGalos]

59. OK.

You can panic now...
:-)

[MikeGalos]

70. Still waiting

for a reply from legin although one from anarchy1999 would certainly be appropriate and welcome as well.

[mobuto]

50. Democratic candidates aren't rushing around

proving that they're of Palestinian heritage because they're not of Palestinian heritage. That also explains why Kerry has not said a word about being descended from Japanese, Namibians or Peruvians.

Kerry has not been exploiting this politically because there isn't anything to exploit. Jews will vote for him and contribute to his campaign overwhelmingly regardless of his background.

You think Al Gore, who won 79% of the Jewish vote (Bush got 19%), benefited from his Jewish heritage? He didn't have any!

[legin]

43. Dupe

[gorrister]

36. but Mel Gibson's dad

said the Holocaust never happened, and Mel said he never lied to him in his life. :shrug:

[MikeGalos]

39. Factual error

The article lists Thereseienstadt as "a Czechoslovakian ghetto that held Jews before they were taken to camps".

While this is partly true, it isn't really an accurate description. Thereseienstadt was set up as a "Model Camp" by the Nazis as a showplace to take the Red Cross for inspections. The Red Cross would ask to inspect the concentration camps, the Nazis would take them for a tour of Thereseienstadt which, while miserable, was not in violation of international war crimes rules. The Nazis would pretend it was a typical camp and the Red Cross would pretend to believe them and not ask to see Bergen-Belsen, or Treblinka or Auschwitz/Birkinau or Sobibor, or, or, or.

[mobuto]

41. Only part of the story

Theresienstadt was indeed the "model" prison camp for Red Cross inspections, but it was also a holding depot for over a hundred thousand Jews who were later sent to the death camps in the East.

And lots of people - at least 33,000 - died there. It was no party. If I recall correctly, the Red Cross only visited once or twice, so the description of Theresienstadt as a Czechoslovakian Ghetto-turned holding camp would be accurate.

[MikeGalos]

44. As I said, it's only partly true

To leave out one of Theresienstadt's functions for the Nazis is to only tell part of the story.

[nolabels]

69. I just knew this thread would go on and on, they will probably lock it

Saying someone was or is Jewish or German does not make that group responsible for any singular or subgroup, does it? The reason I see this as some kind Fake huts-pa or what ever they call it, is because they have nothing to stand behind as an accomplishment their selfs. In other words they are bankrupt morally and in debt to income ratio probably financially

The New Reich has been looking for the smallest of edges they can grab hold of and crawl back up from their abyss. These effing corporatist built the freaking third Reich, how much more of a clue do you need? These folks are trying to buy every sensible thing that they can find that the US government is in their ownership. They want to do it with the money they stole in from and by it in the first place. It's time to change the equation

It's time for another Bush/Nazis thread
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=199853

[nolabels]

81. Echo:Maybe someone should get a clue

I often find it funny checking out other places. Not being from here gives others a better vantage point. Suffering the propaganda but not to the same degree as the people of the US they seem to come condense what they see. They don't suffer from losing face or needing to propel an agenda, so without further ado from my limited writing abilities I post this

http://germany.indymedia.org/2004/02/73621.shtml
Slaying The Beast Before The Election Is Canc

von gdy - 04.02.2004 01:11

The Bush administration is guilty of so many crimes that they don?t dare give up the grips of power. The seriousness of their crimes rivals those brought to trial at Nuremberg. Every single senior member of this administration is guilty of war crimes, war mongering and crimes against humanity.
February 3, 2004

From the Streets of Little Beirut

By Glen Yeadon


With the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary behind us the presidential election year cycle is about to kick into full gear. The torrent of campaign ads, photo ops, handshaking and flag waving events are about to be unleashed on the public. Ordinary given the current dismal economic state and the high unemployment the incumbent could count on being unceremoniously boot out of office with his party taking a drubbing in congressional and statehouse races.

However, this is no ordinary time or election cycle. There are dark storm clouds already gathering on the horizon. A storm of epic proportions is about to occur, a storm so violent that it could destroy the citadel of democracy and freedom. This storm does not come from foreign terrorist. Rather the threat comes from within by a regime that has already demonstrated that it has nothing but contempt for democracy, the election process and justice.

The Bush administration is guilty of so many crimes that they don?t dare give up the grips of power. The seriousness of their crimes rivals those brought to trial at Nuremberg. Every single senior member of this administration is guilty of war crimes, war mongering and crimes against humanity. Moreover, they are guilty of other crimes ranging from mass murder, influence peddling, self-enrichment, and a myriad of other crimes. Conviction on any one of numerous charges would result in a death sentence or at the very least life in prison. Thus as Bush continues to slip in the polls the likelihood of the election being canceled increases.

Never in over 200 years of history has an election faced a greater danger of being canceled by the incumbent in a desperate move to maintain power. However, this coup has been carefully planned and executed thus far. If the election looks increasing out of Bush?s grasp, all he needs do is declare a red alert before election day. The red alert could be in response to an attack provoked by the Bush administration such as a violation of North Korea?s air space to provoke them into lobbing a nuclear device at the west coast or just another politically motivated alert with no real threat eminent.

Under a red alert everyone is confined to their homes. Anyone caught outside their homes is considered a terrorist and a threat to national security. Under such conditions it would be easy for the Bush administration to round up opposition leaders and send them to concentration camps that already exist. Bush?s daddy signed the bill creating additional concentration camps while he was president. As indicated earlier, this plot has been well planned. The orange alerts in the past have served as trial runs in preparation just as the threat to close the Canadian border at Christmas time was a trial balloon to gage the opposition to such a move.
(snip)

[MendedFence]

75. And why does he bring this up now?

I hope Kerry does not even attempt to wedge the Jewish vote with this sudden revelation and opportune usage of the Holocaust for election purpose. I will lose all respect for the man if he lowers himself to this stunt.

[MikeGalos]

76. Well,

Seeing how it was only discovered on Sunday I'd say that's a pretty good reason for waiting.

Funny thing. In this same thread we've had Kerry criticized for waiting so long to discuss this and we've had Kerry criticized for not waiting long enough to discuss this.

[Name removed]

78. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Sing]

80. I heard that Savage was repeatedly calling Kerry a "German Jew"

the other day. I wonder if this is a precursor to how low they will take this debate -- to pander to the hard right christian jew-hating vote.

[mobuto]

83. Most likely

I think a lot of people have no idea just how much anti-Semitism there is in certain sections of this country. We saw in 2000 just how dirty Rove can fight - when the Bush campaign made hundreds of thousands of automated calls before the SC primary that accused John McCain of being a Vietnamese spy and of fathering a black child. I would be genuinely surprised if they didn't try something like that in 2004.

And welcome to the DU.

[JI7]

82. Senator Kerry's late father

john kerry's late father passed away just in the last few years (i think sometime in the last 2 or 3 years). so did he die never having learned about his own father ? if john kerry himself didn't know i assume his father didn't either.

[Moderator]

84. Locking.

This thread has outlived its usefulness in the LBN Forum, and has also, sadly, degenerated into an inflammatory, and embarrassing, discussion.

DU Moderator