CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER 03.15.00

METRO EDITORIAL LETTERS
SURVIVORS WON'T ALLOW RACISTS TO DISTORT TRUTH ABOUT HOLOCAUST
03/15/2000
The Plain Dealer Cleveland, OH

We would like to commend The Plain Dealer and, particularly, reporter Clint 
O'Connor, for researching and exposing the expanding recruitment efforts of 
the neo-Nazi, white-supremacist group known as the National Alliance 
("Sounds of hate," March 5).

This article clearly describes the connection between Resistance Records 
and the goals of the National Alliance, which uses rock music as a medium 
for propagating its message among our youth. How horrifying to discover 
that even as noted Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt is made to defend 
herself in London's Royal Courts of Justice against those who would claim 
that the Holocaust never occurred, the National Alliance's Cleveland 
chapter, under the direction of Erich Gliebe, is contending as much right 
here in our own back yard.

The Face to Face Holocaust Education Initiative, operated out of 
Congregation Shaarey Tikvah in Beachwood, works with parochial- and 
public-school students in grades eight through 12 in an attempt to combat 
the rhetoric of groups like the National Alliance. Face to Face brings 
students together with survivors of the Holocaust in order that they hear 
first-hand testimony from those who experienced it. As they do so, students 
strengthen their factual and personal knowledge of the horrors of Nazi 
Germany.

Since 1994, Face to Face has empowered approximately 8,000 young people to 
resist the propaganda of groups like the National Alliance. Our program 
arms students with the necessary intellectual and emotional tools to become 
active agents in creating caring communities.

The goals of Face to Face stand in stark contrast to those of the National 
Alliance and other neo-Nazi organizations. As leaders of Face to Face and 
on behalf of the survivor community, we regard it as terribly important 
that no one either deny the existence of or minimize the work of these hate 
groups. Accordingly, we urge all parents and educators to work with our 
youth to increase their sense of security and belonging, and to emphasize 
our mutual responsibility in building a culture in our country of tolerance 
and respect for those of differing races and creeds.

RABBI GARY J. ROBUCK

SHARON S. FAGIN

Beachwood

Robuck is founder of the Face to Face Holocaust Education Initiative, and 
Fagin is its executive director.

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