Open Letter To Oskar Deutsch : HONOUR AND DIGNITY OF THE VIENNA JEWISH COMMUNITY AND YOUR OWN

 

o.deutsch@ikg-wien.at

office@ikg-wien.at

Dear Sir,

I read with much interest, your posts on facebook about the Shoah in conjunction with International Holocaust Day. I saw your empathy for the suffering that took place at that time. I am always especially upset by accounts of the separation of children from their parents and parents from their children, tragically in most cases, never to be rectified. You cannot reverse death.

And yet, in your community of 7,000 Jewish souls, no one does anything to help a mother separated from her children and them from her, as a result of lies and legal manipulation. I don't expect every one of your members to have the know-how or the clout to make much of a difference.

But you are their leader. You are a man of high position and they look to you for example. We cannot fathom this lack of action in the face of injustice. ("We" are fellow Jews from all over the world who are astounded by the lack of support from a Jewish community for a mother and two young boys who have been shamefully wronged.)

I beg you to take some of the empathy you so eloquently expressed for victims of the Shoah and think about one mother and her children who you could actually help today. During the Nazi era, so many Europeans felt helpless to do anything. However, there were also Righteous Gentiles who risked their lives to save children and parents so that they could eventually be reunited. Who do we revere?

You may think it insensitive to equate the plight of Beth Alexander with mothers in the Shoah, so let's take it down a notch. No one is asking you to risk your life or endanger your family. Beth is alive and available for her boys, but no one is allowing her to have any meaningful contact or relationship with them. What has Beth done to make you and the Vienna Jewish Community, including Chabad, turn your backs on her? Why do you justify this tearing apart of a loving mother from her children?

I strongly urge you to address this matter for the sake of the honour and dignity of the Vienna Jewish Community and your own.

Rachel Selby

Jerusalem