MORE ON UNMENTIONABLES IN BEIJING

I mean the North Korean human rights violations . The name Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Deputy Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, brought to my mind the only time I met him. It was in Beijing at the opening of the first ever holocaust exhibit in China. It was a very festive affair filled with Chinese, American and Israeli diplomats.

My husband and I were teaching at the time at the Foreign Affairs College in Beijing. We were mingling when approached by a Chinese diplomat. “Could you do me a favor,” he asked. “Could you tell me if this quote is supposed to be good or bad?” We went to look for the quote. It turned out to be one by Himmler to the effect that Jews were superior, able people. “Bad”, we said in unison before proceeding to give the confused Chinese a lesson in modern anti-Semitism.
posted by Judith