| Justice Bejski (spelled with a "j" not "i,") certainly deserves much credit for guiding the Commission for the Designation of the Righteous for 25 years, and on which he left his mark to this day. At the same time, it is not fair to qualify Justice Moshe Landau, who preceded Bejski as the Commission`s head, as a man who sought the "perfect" Righteous; a man without blemishes. This is not really so, and the cases approved by the Commission during Landau`s tenure (1963-1970) testifies to this. Landau`s opposition to Schindler`s recognition stemmed from Schindler`s forceful takeover of two Jewish firms in Krakow during the initial period of the Nazi occupation, and even threatening force to bring this about. This, in Landau`s opinion, was more than a simple character blemish. Taking a hand in despoiling Jewish property disqualified the man from the Righteous honorific, in Landau`s estimation, the man who tried Adolf Eichmann. Many years later, Landau modified his position. |
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