Drawings by Miriam Isaacs to go along with her memoir about Mengele
30 Dec
History, Jewish World, Latest, Moment Memoir

Moment Memoir | Shame, Names and the Mengele Tractor Factory

I learned about the Mengele tractor factory in 1981 when I was trying to get from Denmark to Italy by rail. I simply could not avoid Germany, so I decided to book a sleeper car and sleep my way through. It was my very first time there since my parents and I left the Displaced Persons camp when I was a toddler. I woke up and I went out to the corridor to look out the window and see where I was, really hoping to be in Italy. But I could tell I was still in Germany, for in the middle of a bucolic meadow stood a tractor with “MENGELE” printed in large letters. My heart almost stopped. I couldn’t breathe. The conductor stood beside me and smiled. Mengele. I remember the name from my childhood....

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04 Sep
Latest, Misc

This Week's Links

Indiana Jones, err, archaeologists discovered a 2,600 year-old bulla bearing the name "Gedaliah ben Pashur" in the City of David. It may or may not be the key to a secret compartment with killer mummies.  You're my hero! Israeli firefighters, during what was obviously a very effective training exercise in France, saved a girl from drowning. Israeli had a shot at Nazi doctor Josef Mengele, but chose to nab Adolf Eichmann. How did Jews feel about slavery in America? Some vandals in Pennsylvania were planning on lighting a swastika of flames in the driveway of Congregation Beth Am Israel in Penn Valley, PA. The Reform movement has accepted the Hekhsher Tzedek, an initiative Conservative Jews passed in response to the ongoing AgriProcessors saga. "We were freaking out about whether we’d be able to return for...

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