Does Holocaust Memorial Need a New Site?
The terrible desecration of Baltimore's Holocaust Memorial is a very sad commentary on the disgusting ills of our society. However, this location should never have been selected.
Even without the urine and trash, this memorial has been buried amid tall buildings that diminish the stature and meaning of this well-intentioned project.
An ideal location, directly across the harbor, is Federal Hill -- a beautiful spot with ample room for a redesigned and more appropriate memorial to the Holocaust victims.
High on this hill, this memorial will be closer to God rather than being suffocated among commercial buildings.
This memorial in particular needs to give its visitors the feeling of freedom and open space to honor those millions of innocent people whose lives were taken from them during terrifying imprisonment.
Walter Boyd
Lutherville
I am a holocaust survivor.
I was born and lived in Vienna until 1941, when my parents and I were deported to the ghetto in Lodz (Litzmannstadt), and I alone was liberated in Buchenwald in 1945.
Seven years of Nazi persecution give me some qualifications to voice an opinion on the Holocaust Memorial.
When the memorial was in the planning stages, there was a meeting in a local synagogue where I met a very prominent gentleman in the Jewish community and an advocate for the memorial. I told him that the construction would result in the misuse of scarce financial resources.
I am sure the persons who organized the construction of the Holocaust Memorial had very good intentions, but the immensity of the Nazi destruction of European Jewry cannot be portrayed or made visual through a monument.
I further wonder how much has been achieved through the memorial, when purveyors of virulent hate against Jews were able to spew forth their anti-Semitic venom in city-owned buildings.
This was a deja vu for me and reminded me of the billboards in Vienna under Hitler displaying the hate messages in the infamous newspaper Der Stuermer.
The Baltimore Jewish Council, through a grant, contacted survivors to tell their stories on video tape. I believe the effort ended because of lack of funds.
This was a project which should have been continued. Jewish history has been preserved through oral transmission and written matter, not with monuments.
Today, there are Jewish teenagers who know very little or nothing about the destruction of European Jewry.
Maybe those who are on the decision-making level should ponder how much education and information could be disseminated with the funds contemplated to be spent for the monument.
Siegfried Buchwalter
Baltimore
Whining Pundits
What was inevitable has now happened. Members of the generation which -- when in school and college -- refused to be interested in history, are now today's journalists.
As a result, impatience, lack of perspective and the need for instant gratification are the predictable hallmarks of those self-styled pundits.
On foreign policy, for example, they refuse to see that the policy they so disliked a year ago is the same policy they grudgingly find acceptable today.
Foreign affairs, they don't seem to understand, is conducted by building strategies slowly and carefully over time. They seem to view the Clinton administration the way a small child views an automobile trip -- "Are we there yet, Daddy?"
Clinton's foreign policy team deserves credit not only for getting the job done, but getting it done in the face of a barrage of unending criticism from the sound bite generation who dominate the press and broadcast media.
Thank God, this same wrecking crew was not around during World War II. They could never have stuck it out for the four hard, grinding, often disappointing years it took to achieve victory.
In point of fact, U.S. foreign policy is not hard to understand. It's been articulated many times by the administration, even though the media -- which refuse to listen -- say it hasn't been.
Simply put, it is to play the hand that we have been dealt -- to be a leader in the world without being a bully; to work cooperatively with other nations; to have the courage to do the right thing because it is right; to stay out of situations where we can easily get into more trouble than we bargained for, and to be willing to compromise and cooperate -- two fine democratic principles, snidely dismissed by the captious press as "waffling" and "wishy-washy."
Apply these principles to Bosnia, Haiti, Korea and Kuwait -- and you will see that they fit in each case.
Unfortunately, even this basic expression of policy is apparently too complex for today's journalists, who whine endlessly for some non-existent -- and unapplicable -- simplistic formulation of a one-size-fits-all foreign policy which, not surprisingly, they themselves are unable to define or articulate.
The fruitless yearning for such a formula effectively handcuffs useful discussion of foreign policy by the media, who -- consciously or unconsciously -- still yearn for the easy anti-communist rationale of the Cold War era which characterized their formative years.
In short, the country would be in their debt if the current bunch of media pundits would go back to school, take some of those history courses which their generations so cavalierly ignored, and thereby pick up a perspective which is so conspicuously lacking in their present outlook.
Julian S. Stein Jr.
Union Bridge
Segregated Money
On Nov. 13, The Sun editorialized on the status of "Race-Based Scholarships," saying that the University of Maryland should appeal to the Supreme Court to overturn a federal court decision which struck down the blacks-only Banneker scholarship program.
The issue which is really at hand in the case is segregation. While there is a long list of past injustices which have been committed against African-Americans, that is no excuse for continuing to separate blacks from the rest of society.
The Banneker program is intended to provide "generous public financial aid for superior black students." Financial aid and scholarships are available to all "superior" students, regardless of race.
By specifying some aid for blacks, the actual effect of the Banneker program is to deter black students from applying for other scholarships for which they are highly qualified.
Setting aside some financial aid only for blacks is harmful. It implies that the Banneker money is there because black students would not qualify to get other scholarships. It demeans the achievements of all black students.
The federal order that "Maryland's public colleges must create enrollments more reflective of the state's black population" is now 25 years old. One generation of set-asides is enough. Today's blacks are certainly able to succeed in competition with other races. Opening the Banneker scholarships to all students is an end to segregation of financial aid.
Michael J. Lazarus
Abingdon
Thanks, Helen
Thank you Helen Bentley! The former Republican grande dame's refusal to support Ellen Sauerbrey in the gubernatorial election was instrumental in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory for Maryland's Republicans.
While most of the country is basking in the glow of a massive Republican victory and repudiation of Clintonism, Maryland settles in for another four years of big government with Parris Glendening and Kathleen Townsend calling the shots.
It is rumored that Ms. Bentley was furious over Ms. Sauerbrey's attacks in the Republican primary, but that's politics.
As a veteran campaigner, what did she expect?
It becomes apparent that Helen Bentley's closeness to Gov. William Donald Schaefer has adversely affected her stability.
Her behavior after her primary loss was Schaeferesque. After voting for Ms. Bentley six consecutive times, including the recent primary, I was appalled that she would not do what was best for the Republican party and support Ms. Sauerbrey.
Well, I hope Ms. Bentley is happy with Governor Glendening because her credibility as a Maryland Republican has vanished.
Paul D. Rogers
Rossville
What A Funny Business!
Reporter Rob Hiaasen's Nov. 16 story on the public relations convention in Baltimore was not only a delight to read but a true service to Sun readers because it revealed what pretentious affairs these conventions really are.
The all too predictable Nov. 25 letter from Public Relations Society of America chapter president David Imre confirmed what Mr. Hiaasen discovered: These people take themselves and what they do far too seriously.
Mr. Imre should chill out.
As a reporter, Mr. Hiaasen was not there to take minutes of the grandiose-sounding sessions but to let readers know what they would find if they were there. His report allowed us to feel we were there and let us eavesdrop on some revealing conversations.
Mr. Hiaasen also performed a service to the public relations profession to which I, like Mr. Imre, belong.
He showed us how silly we look and sound when we become too self-important. And he did it with a gentle humor for which we should all be grateful.
A. John Adams
Potomac
E9 The writer is president of John Adams Associates Inc.
Within three days The Sun carried two separate stories about our 47th annual conference, which was held Nov. 13 through Nov. 16 in your great city.
The first, "PR convention puts focus on change," by Timothy J. Mullaney on Nov. 13, took a serious look at our program and its focus on organizational survival.
The second, "PR convention: the art of spin, shmooze talk," by Rob Hiaasen went way out its way to be "funny."
While we enjoy a good joke as well as anyone, we don't think serious efforts to further educate professionals on the critical issues and changes in the work place are a joking matter.
So we give an "A" to Mr. Mullaney and hope Mr. Hiaasen has the opportunity to get to know us better and, frankly, learns stretching a joke doesn't do much for the credibility of his reporting.
Many of us in the public relations profession started our careers working on newspapers. Hence we have great respect for the craft and real appreciation when a job is well done.
We also know it is not good manners or good reporting to insult 2,200 visitors who came to your city to improve their professionalism.
Be that as it may, you have a wonderful city and a terrific newspaper. We enjoyed our stay.
Joseph A. Vecchione
New York
MA The writer is president, Public Relations Society of America.