Josef Burg, 97; author wrote about Jewish life during WWII Oct 9, 2009
His last book, A Piece of Dry Bread, told of a survivor of the Babi Yar massacre of more than 33,000 Jews outside of Kiev in 1941. Israel awarded Mr. Burg its Segal Prize for Yiddish writing in 1992. (Boston Globe)
Kiev scraps hotel on Nazi killing site Sep 30, 2009
30,000-plus Jews were slain at site of infamous 1941 Babi Yar massacre ... KIEV, Ukraine - Kiev authorities, facing withering criticism, have reversed a decision to build a hotel on a killing field used by Nazis during the infamous 1941 Babi Yar massacre, officials said Monday. (MSNBC -- International)
* World News Quick Take Sep 30, 2009
Kiev authorities say they have scrapped a widely criticized plan to build a hotel near what experts say is a killing field in the Babi Yar massacre. Mayor Leonid Chernovetskys office said on Monday he had vetoed the decision taken by the Kiev city council earlier this month. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World Business)
Book review: 'The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews 1939-1945,' by Saul Friedlander Sep 1, 2009
Consider this account of the handful of survivors from the Babi Yar massacre during 1941 in Russia, where tens of thousands of Jewish men, women and children were gunned down and buried in mass graves. a few elderly Jews (witnesses mention that there were nine of them) returned to Kiev and sat by the Old Synagogue. (Mattoon Journal-Gazette, IL)
IN MY LIBRARY: CHRISTOPHER DURANG Apr 5, 2009
" Neither the Index nor the nuns at Our Lady of Peace parochial school kept Durang from reading widely as a child --and writing wildly ever after. The award-winning Yale School of Drama grad has trained his absurdist eye on everything from dogma ("Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It all For You") to dysfunctional family saga ("The Marriage of Bette and Boo") and film-noir satire ("Adrift in Macao"). His latest, a tale of homeland insecurity titled "Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love... (New York Post -- Opinions)
