60th Anniversary for Israel's Holocaust Survivors Convention

L-R: Local Holocaust survivor Hannah Davidson Pankowsky sharing her story and signing her book, "End of the Storm," @ St. Gregory the Great Catholic church in Balcones Heights, June 10th, 2007

Int'l Holocaust survivors' convention planned for Israel's 60th anniversary
By Anshel Pfeffer

An international convention of Holocaust survivors is being planned for Autumn 2008 in honor of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel. The Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel announced the gathering, expected to be the largest of its kind, after a meeting yesterday with President Shimon Peres, who agreed to sponsor the convention.

Conference organizers said that programming will emphasize the survivors' stories as individuals and as a collective, as well as the justification for the State of Israel's existence in the face of recent anti-Israel statements by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and by Arab leaders.

In addition to informing Peres about the conference and asking him to serve as its chairman, the COHSI representatives briefed the president on the ongoing negotiations with the government over pension allowances for survivors living in Israel.

Peres agreed to chair the gathering but suggested that the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, author Elie Wiesel, was "more suitable" for the position.

Peres said the conference was "very important, especially in light of the attacks [on Israel] by the wicked Ahmadinejad." Tens of thousands of survivors from Israel and the Diaspora as well as leaders from around the world will be invited to the convention, which was the brainchild of COHSI Secretary General Noach Flug.

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel is being considered as a conference guest, but the organizers say they have not yet decided on official German participation in the event.

The representatives told Peres that no solution has been found yet for 80,000 "second-circle" survivors, people who fled from areas under Nazi occupation, and are living in Israel and suffering from economic distress.