Open Letter To Oskar Deutsch : TSUNAMI OF VOICES FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD

 

o.deutsch@ikg-wien.at

office@ikg-wien.at

Dear Mr Deutsch,

Reading about your background and many achievements, it is obvious you are a man who has accomplished much during your career, both in the Jewish and the wider community. You have also won the respect of many, and as a leader would have had to deal with many conflicts, hearing diverse opinions and having to make difficult decisions.

Perhaps none is more challenging than the situation that Beth finds herself in, deprived of the boys she loves for their entire childhood. Miscarriages of justice happen, and mostly we are powerless to do anything about them. Recently however, the amount of people who have become aware of this particular miscarriage within the Viennese Jewish community has grown into a tsunami of voices from all over the world.

There is certainly power in numbers, but even more power resides in the President of the Vienna Jewish community. This is your Churchill moment: you can rise to the challenge and use your influence to restore the boys to their loving, caring and highly intelligent Jewish mother, or you can choose to stand idly by.

By rising to the challenge, you will redress a terrible wrong, which contravenes all the tenets of Judaism, where the woman has a vital role in the upbringing of the children of the marriage. Undoubtedly the father is important, but children brought up without a mother often suffer life-long problems, especially if they are lead to believe that the mother was uncaring or unfit. Both parents are important, and no just person would deny them a part in the nurturing of their children.

Even more devastating is that two innocent boys, Sammy and Benji, have been torn away from the woman most connected to them, their mother, and their human rights denied.

 Please, Mr Deutsch, take courage, step up and let your voice be heard. Not only will you restore justice to Beth, but your action  may well ameliorate  the plight of anguished parents everywhere who have been unfairly alienated from their children.

Rarely does the opportunity arise to be a hero. This is your moment!

Pam Hopf