International Journalism Exchange: Profiles and Features

Human tragedy

It took me longer that usual to write this as I just did not know how to begin.
But I then decided the best way to describe my visit to the Holocaust Museum in Houston was to start at the end - the impact it had on me.
The permanent exhibit at the Morgan Family Center depicts the horror that Holocaust victims were subjected to during the Second World War (WW2).
The cruelty that those in power could inflict on another human being was simply unbelievable! What the Nazis did to the Jews during WW2 was just insane. No matter what the reason, there is no excuse for such barbaric acts.
The film footage, artefacts, photographs and documents at the museum transport you back in time - to when Hitler and the Nazis went on the path of the 'Final Solution'.
Among the museum's jewels is the outdoor exhibit of a 1942 rail car - the type that was used to ferry millions of Jews to their deaths.
I was told that based on the fact that this particular rail car had a step welded onto it and a domed roof could mean it was actually used to ferry Jews to concentration camps!
The museum also has two films - Voices and Voices II - in which survivors tell of their Holocaust experiences -including the extermination of their loved ones.
These are the voices of horror and terror but we who hear them must not let them remain narrations of despair.
Actually this paragraph on the home page of the museum (http://www.hmh.org/) could not have summed it better.
It reads: "A living testimonial to those who died. A place to honour those who survived, and a source of education for present and future generations".
The Holocaust must indeed serve as a reminder to mankind to steer clear of the path of cruelty and destruction.

JOSEPH RAJ

Posted at 05:49 PM in Profiles and Features | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Seeing America through garnet-and-gold-colored glasses

You can not afford to miss this story:

http://www.tallahassee.com/special/blogs/bgabordi/2007/10/seeing-america-through-garnet-and-gold.html

Regards,

MARK

Posted at 09:10 AM in Profiles and Features | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Voice of love

Jeanne and Joseph Samuels have been running the Jewish Herald-Voice in Houston for more than 35 years now and the fire to keep on going still burns strongly in their hearts.
Jeanne, who is a sprightly 84-year-old great grandmother, and Joe, who is eight years her senior, bought the Jewish community weekly newspaper in 1973.
Lately, the couple's daughter Vicki and her son, Michael C. Duke, have begun to play a bigger role in the running of the newspaper.
Jeanne and Joe, however, are not taking things easy although they Memories_3 have been working without drawing a salary for the past few years.
While she interviewed me for a news article, Joe was busy on the line with someone who was running for political office.
"We (the newspaper) are barely breaking even. Joe's military pension and our social security benefits are enough to pay our bills," Jeanne told me when I was at the Jewish Herald-Voice on Wednesday (Oct 24) as part of my Daniel Pearl Fellowship programme.
The Jewish Herald-Voice, which sells at US$1, Couple_3 has a circulation of about 6,000 but is read by about 65% of the 45,000-odd Jewish community in Houston.
Jeanne said the newspaper was open to "all faces of the Jewish community in Houston" - be they orthodox, ultra or otherwise.
When asked what was the biggest challenge facing the community in the United States, she confided that anti-Semitism was on the rise in universities throughout the country.
This is mainly due to the negative perception of Israel among foreign students, especially those from the Middle East.
As for the challenges facing her newspaper, which will turn 100 next year (it was first set up in 1908), she said it was to make it relevant to the younger Jewish community as most of its readers were the older generation.
I came away from my day at the Jewish Herald-Voice highly impressed by its operation, which I felt was built on the family values of love and respect for everyone.
Jeanne actually told me that some of the newspaper's employees have been working there for almost 30 years.
But what left a bigger impression on me was the love and respect that Jeanne and Joe have for each other. They have been married for 64 years now and it seems that their feelings for other keeps growing stronger with each passing day.
It was just a wonderful thing being with these two wonderful people, who met while in college.
While the lady of the manor said the "Herald-Voice binds the Jewish community together", I feel the love that Jeanne and Joe have for each other has rubbed off on the newspaper.
I do believe this is the reason why the thousands of words in the Jewish Herald-Voice have worked their magic to bring a message of love, wich has indeed brought together the Jewish community in Houston.