News

Los Angeles Holocaust Museum Launches New Exhibit Honoring FC Bayern Munich

Wednesday, July 17, 2019

BY ALEX CRAMER - The Hollywood Reporter

FC Bayern Munich is one of the most famous and successful soccer clubs in the world, but few people are aware of their history of Nazi resistance during World War II. The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust is now honoring the Jewish members of that club through their new exhibit, "Venerated – Persecuted – Forgotten: Victims of Nazism at FC Bayern Munich."

American and German dignitaries, including California State Senator Henry Stern, Germany’s Consul General to Los Angeles Stefan Schneider, Bayern’s CEO and Executive Board Chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, and Stephen Smith, the director of the USC Shoah Foundation, gathered in the Museum’s Children’s Memorial on Tuesday afternoon, to speak to the importance of remembering the Holocaust and those who were victims of the Nazis...

Senator Stern worked with the California Jewish Caucus to bring the exhibit to the museum and he spoke to the importance of keeping Holocaust history alive. "It's an obligation for the Jewish Caucus and for all of us here who are Jews and non-Jews to not let these stories die. You are storytellers, you are winners and champions so to give your platform to this cause, I think that Mr. Landauer is smiling down today."

 

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Holocaust Museum Unveils Latest Exhibit With Help From FC Bayern Munich

Tuesday, July 16, 2019

TELEVISION - CBS LA / KCAL 9

Nearly 75 years after the end of World War II, the tragic secret of Germany’s famed soccer team is being revealed in Los Angeles for the first time.

Members of FC Bayern Munich helped welcome the Venerated-Persecuted-Forgotten exhibit at the Museum of the Holocaust Tuesday.

The exhibit tells the story of the nine players and officials who were persecuted and murdered by the Nazis during the war. It also tells the story of the bold people, including Kurt Landauer, who helped rebuild the club after the war was over.

“It’s to acknowledge their history with the Holocaust and that Kurt Landauer, way back when, survived Dachau only to rebuild this incredible sports organization,” State Sen. Henry Stern, D-Calabasas, said. “History matters, and we forget that.”

 

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‘Inscribe them on your doorposts’: California lawmakers pass ‘mezuzah bill’

Wednesday, July 10, 2019

BY GABE STUTMAN - JWeekly

A bill to enshrine the right of Californians to hang mezuzahs on their doorframes is moving through the state Legislature and is on its way to the desk of Gov. Gavin Newsom.

SB 652 bars landlords and condo associations from prohibiting “the display of religious items” of a certain size on doors and doorframes. Known to some as the “mezuzah bill” — though it also has the support of secular organizations, as well as Catholic and Hindu groups — it is sailing through the statehouse in Sacramento, where it passed the Assembly 72-0 on July 8 after being approved by the Senate on May 6.

The bill was introduced Feb. 22 by all seven state senators on the 16-member California Legislative Jewish Caucus, including Democrats Steve Glazer of Contra Costa County, Scott Wiener of San Francisco and chairman Ben Allen of Los Angeles.

 

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State Funds to Benefit Jewish Camps and L.A. Holocaust Museum

Monday, July 1, 2019

BY RYAN TOROK - Jewish Journal

The California Legislative Jewish Caucus has secured approximately $60 million in funding for Jewish camps and other priorities in California Governor Gavin Newsom’s new state budget... According to a statement released by Jewish Caucus chair and State Senator Ben Allen, the California Legislative Jewish Caucus successfully lobbied for five of its budget priorities in the state budget.

Along with state money for the camps, the budget allocates $15 million for the state’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which assists religious centers, community centers, schools and other similar locations that are at risk of hate-motivated crimes; $14.8 million for California Department of Aging’s Multipurpose Senior Services Program (MSSP), which serves frail older adults, including Holocaust survivors; $6 million for the expansion of the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust (LAMOTH) at Pan Pacific Park and $5 million for a restorative justice pilot program that the Jewish Caucus described as one of its “Tikkun Olam-Repairing the World priority bills.”

For his part, Allen said he was proud of the work the caucus did to obtain the state funds.

“This has been a successful year for the Jewish Caucus and its work improving quality of life in the Jewish community and for all Californians,” he said. “In the wake of increases in acts of anti-Semitism and bigotry of all forms, destruction caused by the state’s wildfires, and the ever-pressing need for health care in our aging Holocaust survivor population and others who have experienced trauma, we asked more of our state leaders than ever before, and they stood with us.”

The California Legislative Jewish Caucus is comprised of 16 state lawmakers that advocate in the state legislature for Jewish interests. The group has both Jewish and non-Jewish state senators and assembly members.

 

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After Poway, California Designates $15 Mil. For Religious Facilities Security

Friday, June 28, 2019

BY ALON EINHORN - Jerusalem Post

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed new formal budget additions on Thursday, designating $15 million to the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP), three months after one person was killed and a rabbi maimed in a shooting attack in Poway...

“With the stark rise in hate-motivated violence, we must do more to secure gathering places to prevent future attacks, and educate people on the dangers of antisemitism and hate of all forms," Senator Ben Allen, Chair of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus said following Newsom's announcement. Allen commented once again after signing the budget additions, saying that “This has been a successful year for the Jewish Caucus and its work improving quality of life in the Jewish community and for all Californians.”

Other than the money transferred to the NSGP, Newsom also added to the budget $6 million designated to expand the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust.

 

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California State budget includes money for destroyed Jewish camps, Holocaust museum

Friday, June 28, 2019

BY BEN SALES - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

The newly passed California state budget includes a number of priorities backed by Jewish legislators, from rebuilding summer camps burned in wildfires to the construction of a new Holocaust museum.

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the $214.8 billion budget on Thursday. The budget includes funds for health care, child care and combatting homelessness, according to the Sacramento Bee.

The budget also includes five priorities pushed by the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, a group of a dozen state senators and assembly members, along with four associate members.

 

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State Set to Allocate Funds for Decimated Jewish Summer Camps

Wednesday, June 19, 2019

BY RYAN TOROK - Jewish Journal

Following advocacy efforts by The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to sign a budget deal allocating $23.5 million in state funding to three California Jewish summer camps destroyed in the 2018 Woolsey and the 2017 Tubbs fires...

During a June 14 interview at Federation’s offices, CEO and President Jay Sanderson said his organization coordinated the efforts to secure state funding for the camps, working with Jewish California lawmakers including State Sens. Ben Allen, chairman of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, Henry Stern and Bob Hertzberg, and Assembly members Richard Bloom and Jesse Gabriel, vice chairman of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus...

Gabriel told the Journal the aim was to have the money distributed equitably among the camps. “We felt these are such important institutions for the community, both in Southern California and Northern California, and so we went to bat … [and] made it clear to our colleagues and to the legislature that this is important to the Jewish community and broader community, as well.” 

 

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San Diego Victims Mourned at L.A. Yom HaShoah Ceremony

Wednesday, May 1, 2019

BY RYAN TOROK - Jewish Journal

Gathering April 28 to commemorate the Holocaust, elected officials, rabbis and community leaders spoke of how the anti-Semitism of the Shoah reared its head at Chabad of Poway last Shabbat on the final day of Passover...

State Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica), chair of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, recalled visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau two decades ago as a college student. The “hallowed, ghost-filled grounds” of the concentration camp continues to haunt communities, from Charlottesville to Poway, he said. “I can’t quite believe the dark fire that led our people down those train tracks into those chambers still has a flicker in some of our most beautiful cities.”

 

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After Poway, California governor adds $15 million for nonprofit security

Wednesday, May 1, 2019

BY RON KAMPEAS - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

In the wake of a lethal attack on a San Diego-area synagogue, California Gov. Gavin Newsom added $15 million to his budget to help secure nonprofits...

Newsom announced the added funding at a news conference called to coincide with Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorations at the California capitol in Sacramento. Among those in attendance were members of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, whose members are backing a bill that would codify security funding for nonprofits...

“In light of the senseless act of anti-Semitic violence at the Chabad of Poway Synagogue, a strong response was necessary by the government of California to ensure that people of all faiths feel safe in their community institutions,” said Orthodox Union Executive Vice President Allen Fagin. “Today, the Jewish Caucus and Governor Newsom have shown their commitment to the safety and security of all Californians, including those most at risk of bias or hate crimes.”

The Jewish caucus organizes testimony from survivors to be heard annually in the state capitol on Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Yom Hashoah. Ten survivors spoke this year, and one alluded to the Poway attack.

 

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Editorial: Newsom’s pledge to secure ‘soft targets’ of hate is a start, but it can’t be the only answer

Tuesday, April 30, 2019

BY CHRONICLE EDITORIAL BOARD - San Francisco Chronicle

Gov. Gavin Newsom promised on Monday to spend an additional $15 million on increasing security for synagogues, mosques, women’s health organizations, LGBTQ service organizations and other institutions vulnerable to violent attacks from disgruntled bigots and other attackers...

The state Legislature’s Jewish Caucus had requested the increase, and for good reason.

Hate crimes in California involving a religion increased by 21 percent in 2017 (the most recent year for which data are available). In fact, hate crimes for nearly every vulnerable group in California increased in 2017.

It’s encouraging to see Newsom take seriously the matter of protection for all Californians. His announcement certainly draws a welcome contrast with President Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric.

 

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