A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light
A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light
A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

Seeking Kin: Man hidden as baby hopes to honor father-rescuer

By Hillel Kuttler, JTA • Published January 13, 2012

1 out of 1 Other Media Karl Nurnberger sheltered a Jewish baby from the Nazis and later raised him, and now the son is searching for others aided by his adoptive father in order to get his heroism recognized by Yad Vashem. (Courtesy of Peter Nurnberger)...

Holocaust Museum exhibit examines stories of five families from German town

By David Baugher, Special to the Jewish Light • Published January 11, 2012

St. Louis attorney Michael Wetmore recalls watching his mother Trudy Hochster Wetmore quietly blessing his son in a German train station before the latter's departure to see a friend in Paris. "She turned around and said ‘The last time I was in this...

Patriot games: Is Captain America too American?

By Simcha Weinstein • Published July 20, 2011

NEW YORK - In March 1941 - nine months before the attack on Pearl Harbor impelled America to enter the Second World War - one colorful American hero already had joined the battle: Captain America.The famous front cover of "Captain America #1" showed its...

Film takes viewers on journey to New Zealand in post-WWII romance

By Cate Marquis, SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHT • Published June 22, 2011

“Bride Flight” takes us along on the journey of four attractive young people, three women and a man, leaving post-World War II Holland to restart their lives in New Zealand. The film features an appealing cast and lush photography in a romantic tale...

Fact-based ‘Habermann’ is complex tale of ethnic hatred

By Cate Marquis, SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHT • Published June 8, 2011

"Habermann" is a thought-provoking movie about the expulsion of ethnic Germans from Czechoslovakia after the end of World War II in 1945. This complex film is a disturbing drama focused on the toxic nature of ethnic hatred.  Czech director Juraj Herz...

Demjanjuk conviction hailed as long-awaited victory for justice

By Toby Axelrod, JTA, BERLIN • Published May 18, 2011

The guilty verdict pronounced May 12 against John Demjanjuk in a Munich courtroom was a long time coming.Following a trial that lasted a year and a half-capping more than three decades of legal drama-the 91-year-old former Ohio autoworker is now officially...

'Hitler's First War' by Thomas Weber

New book examines World War I’s impact on Hitler’s world view

By Arthur Gale, Special to the Jewish Light • Published May 18, 2011

Over 65 years have passed since the end of World War II. Historians continue their quest to further understand the man responsible for the war and its more than 50 million deaths. They want to know when, where, and why Adolf Hitler developed his political,...

John Demjanjuk found guilty of war crimes

JTA REPORT • Published May 12, 2011

BERLIN — A Munich court has found John Demjanjuk guilty of war crimes, and sentenced the 91-year-old former autoworker to five years in prison. Thursday's verdict came after 93 court days, including deeply affecting testimony from Dutch survivors and...

Fighters for Israel’s independence recall life-changing experience

By Tom Tugend, JTA, LOS ANGELES • Published May 11, 2011

For Ira Feinberg, what he calls the "pinnacle of my life's experiences" took place 63 years ago.Feinberg was a 17-year-old New Yorker when he joined the elite troops of the Palmach force fighting in Israel's War of Independence. "No other experience in...

WWII author pairs a hero and a monster

BY ELAINE K. ALEXANDER, SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHT • Published April 27, 2011

It is 1944 and on World War II's eastern front in Budapest, Hungary, Allied bombs are falling and the Russians are coming-because Germany is now on the losing side of the war. Two men who will become icons of the Holocaust are negotiating with one another,...

Elaine Alexander’s mother, Paula Zysling Kempinski, is shown at top right in this photo of Holocaust survivors from Klodawa, Poland. The image was taken in 1947 at the former Displaced Persons Camp in Landsberg, Germany. The sign is translated as “Memorial, 1942 to 1947 to remember 350 Jewish families — martyrs — who fell at the hands of the Nazis in Klodawa, 5702 - 22 Tevet / Jan. 11, 1942.

Children of Shoah survivors share in parents’ losses

BY ELAINE K. ALEXANDER • Published April 27, 2011

As my sisters, and I were growing up, Auschwitz - which each of our parents had survived - was a phantom presence. Auschwitz breathed our air, sat with us at supper, and shared our slumber.In the earliest years, we were witnesses to our parents' deepest...

Survivor Sarah Klein (right) lights a candle with her granddaughter, Hannah Klein, during the 2010 Yom HaShoah community commemoration at Brith Sholom Kneseth Israel. This year’s Yom HaShoah takes place Sunday, May 1 at Congregation Shaare Emeth. File photo: Lisa Mandel

Yom HaShoah event marks 70 years since Nazi forces invaded Former Soviet Union

By David Baugher, Special to the Jewish Light • Published April 27, 2011

In the predawn hours of Sunday, June 22, 1941 millions of German troops accompanied by thousands of tanks and armored vehicles swarmed over the Soviet frontier and in doing so launched one of the largest invasions in the history of combat. Codenamed Operation...

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