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Two of three pages of the Lodz Ghetto document. (Yaron Kaminsky) Last update - 12:23 28/01/2008 Zionism in the Holocaust: Lodz Ghetto Jew dreams of statehood By Eli Ashkenazi, Haaretz Correspondent Tags: Judenrat, Jewish state  "A Jewish nation is something the world needs, and that is the reason it will be formed. If only one man thought so, one could call it an insane notion, but the idea of a Jewish state is certainly acceptable and feasible. It will become reality without special difficulty. In the Jewish state, the young generation will discover a future of light, freedom and dignity." This passage appears in a previously unreleased document from the Lodz Ghetto in 1941 outlining the formation of a future Jewish state. The document, which predates Israel's Declaration of Independence by seven years, will soon be shown to the public at the Kibbutz Lohamei HaGetaot museum in the western Galilee. The author is anonymous, but the Polish-language declaration is written on the official stationery of the Lodz Ghetto Judenrat, the Jewish administrative body. Signed at the bottom is Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski, head of the Lodz Ghetto Judenrat. The document is dated May 18 and 19, 1941. Advertisement "We will form a single legion based on the example of the French Legion d'honneur and we will name it Jewish Honor. Its symbol will be a yellow ribbon, thus transforming the symbol of our shame to our new emblem of newfound pride," reads the ninth and final clause in the three-page document. The museum announced the document yesterday, International Holocaust Memorial Day. According to the museum's director general, Simcha Stein, the handwritten document includes detailed plans for the formation of a Jewish state. Stein says it also lists the reasons such a state was needed and names the bodies responsible for its establishment. It also contains suggested sanctions for people who violate the state's basic laws. The declaration was written on the back of papers that listed the people eligible to receive clothes and food, alongside people who were taken off that list. Being on the list could make all the difference between life and death at the Lodz Ghetto, which was the second largest ghetto after the Warsaw Ghetto for Jews and Roma in German-occupied Poland. About 200,000 people vied for survival on the ghetto's area of four square kilometers. Some 43,500 of them died of starvation, hypothermia and disease. Anyone who approached the ghetto's walls risked being shot by the Nazi German guards. Originally intended as a temporary gathering point for Jews, the ghetto became an industrial center of sorts, providing supplies for Nazi Germany. Its remarkable productivity allowed the ghetto to survive until August 1944. The ghetto became the last ghetto in Poland to be liquidated when its remaining prisoners were transported to Auschwitz, along with Rumkowski and his family. They were eventually deported to Auschwitz, where they died on August 28, 1944. "Even if we have long, aquiline noses in our promised land, even if we grow black or red beards and walk on crooked legs, we shall not be the object of ridicule and scorn," the document reads. "At last, we will live there as free men and women, and we would die in our homeland in peace. There we will receive recognition for our tremendous achievements." The declaration, which the museum's archive manager Yossi Shavit says might have been a draft, goes on to say: "We will live there with the consent of the world at large. Our emancipation will in turn serve to emancipate the world. Our richness will enrich the world, and our greatness will lend itself to the world. The word zyd [zhid] which was used as an insulting and humiliating term, will become a source of pride, as other people pride themselves in being called German, English or French." Shavit says that any piece of paper in the Lodz Ghetto was a valuable possession, let alone the list that appeared on the other side of the "declaration of independence." Paper, he said, was valuable for heating, padding, insulation and shoes. The writing style makes Shavit suspect that the author was Oskar Singer, who often wrote during his stay at the Lodz Ghetto. Some of his signed works can be found in the records of the museum, The Ghetto Fighters' House- Itzhak Katzenelson Holocaust and Jewish Resistance Heritage Museum. Oskar Singer died after the ghetto was liquidated. "This is a man of extraordinary stature and vision. I would call him a second Herzl," says Shavit. "He had to struggle to survive by then. Food was scarce, and everyone was trying to get their hands on a crumb of bread, or a piece of wood for fire to keep warm. And here this man was able to retain his humanity, create and think clearly." Stein, the museum's director, says what impressed him most about the document was that as the Jewish people of Poland and Europe were being rounded up and murdered en masse, "there were still those who believed in the triumph of the Jewish people in their own land. Releasing this hopeful and optimistic document on the 60th year of Israel's existence carries a special significance." Related articles: Pre-war Jewish cemetery found under Polish apartment building Doom on an epic scale In remembrance of Holocaust, UN chief Ban says 'never again' For more Jewish World news and features Bookmark to del.icio.us   'British Oskar Schindler' Nicholas Winton, who saved 669 Jewish children during the Holocaust, is up for the Nobel. Pride of Israel Tennis: Shahar Peer beats Russia's Dinara Safina to give Israel 1-0 lead in the Fed Cup.   1.   Telling it like it was 10:43  |  Ree Pete 28/01/08   2.   Joe`s "Palestinian" response 11:11  |  DK 28/01/08   3.   DK - you are 100% right. 11:24  |  Shlomo from Tel-Aviv 28/01/08   4.   #4 DK 11:53  |  Joe 28/01/08   5.   And a second point DK 12:04  |  Joe 28/01/08   6.   Creating new ghettos 12:05  |  Marlene N. 28/01/08   7.   The Truth about Arab Palestine 12:23  |  The Truth Sayer 28/01/08   8.   Joe,nobody`s asking you.Arabs lost Spain and Iran too 12:46  |  Absolute Sweden 28/01/08   9.   To JOe: Darfur refugees are here too 13:32  |  DK 28/01/08   10.   The Balestinians Beoble are not a distinct arab ethnicity 13:46  |  Joseph . E 28/01/08   11.   The Lodz Ghetto Documents.No heaven on earth. 13:54  |  Akram Zekaria 28/01/08   12.   Oskar Singer 13:59  |  K 28/01/08   13.   #6 Marlene`s "dispossessing other people" 13:59  |  Hastaroth 28/01/08   14.   1# Ree Peter. The truth is you blamed the 14:16  |  Akram Zekaria 28/01/08   15.   #6 Marlene N 14:18  |  Sol 28/01/08   16.   Joe - You should be happy to know 14:18  |  DK 28/01/08   17.   emancipation 16:52  |  hollingsworth 28/01/08   18.   A sad and touching dream 18:02  |  Rowan Berkeley 28/01/08   19.   DK - not that this will mean anything to you 20:36  |  Joe 28/01/08   20.   Luckily he didn`t know how wrong he was 22:28  |  John 28/01/08   21.   Hitler declared a "Thousand Year Reich"... 11:07  |  Michael A. Shoemaker 29/01/08   22.   to michael 20:12  |  hollingsworth 29/01/08   23.   The Arabs` Claims on Land of Israel 10:47  |  DK 03/02/08

Today Online Egypt seals final gap in its breached Gaza Strip frontier Responses: 33 IDF commander gets 15 months in prison for W. Bank rampage Responses: 20 Al-Qaida claims attack on Israeli Embassy in Mauritania Send response For all the excitement, very little has changed in the Gaza Strip Responses: 16 Rosner's Domain Obama, Clinton and Iran: The vote that made the difference Not despite Iraq - because of Iraq Super Tuesday: Counting the Jewish votes (WTR) Poll: Is there a "constant virulent campaign" against Obama? The campaign for Darfur has achieved all its goals - but one More Headlines 10:56 Barak: I'll stay in government despite 'harsh' war report 11:09 Egyptian troops seal final gap in breached frontier with Gaza 10:22 Al-Qaida claims responsibility for shooting attack on Israeli Embassy in Mauritania 10:33 U.S. Methodist Church renews drive for divestment from Israel 03:48 IDF commander gets 15 months in prison for W. Bank rampage 04:58 Orthodox man improves amidst life support battle with doctors 10:49 Ministers to meet again on relaxing criteria for freeing Palestinian prisoners 03:33 Lebanon seeks arrest of 17 soldiers, civilians after deadly clashes 06:27 For all the excitement, very little has changed in the Gaza Strip 02:54 Blair: Middle East peace agreement is possible by end of 2008 01:43 Palestinian tries to sneak lion, monkey into Gaza from Sinai 05:59 Troubled high-schoolers realizing potential as policemen Previous Editions Select Day 01 feb 31 jan 30 jan 29 jan 28 jan 27 jan 25 jan 24 jan 23 jan 22 jan 21 jan 20 jan

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