Pope Benedict condemns Holocaust

rome (jta) | Pope Benedict XVI condemned the Holocaust this week.

Addressing pilgrims Wednesday, Nov. 30 in the Vatican, Benedict recalled biblical passages about the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the Babylonian exile of the Jews.

“It was almost a symbolic foretelling of the extermination camps that the Jewish people were subjected to as part of an infamous project of death, which remains an indelible shame on the history of humanity,” he said.

The remarks were the strongest yet about the Nazi genocide by Benedict, 78.

Lithuania accused of helping Nazis

vilnius (jta) | A Lithuanian man suspected of helping Nazis round up Jews during World War II will stand trial in a Vilnius court, the prosecutor general’s office said last week.

Algimantas Dailide, 84, who moved to the United States in 1955 and lived there until he was deported in 2003 for lying about his wartime past, is accused of being a member of the Nazi-sponsored Lithuanian Security Police, known as the Saugumas, which took part in the arrests of Jews during the war.

Slovakia pays Holocaust compensation

prague (jta) | Slovakia has begun issuing compensation payments to Jews for property confiscated between 1938-45.

Out of 1,400 applications, most from heirs in the United States and Israel, 350 were accepted, 400 were rejected and the rest are still pending.

Compensation ranges from $1,117 to $3,100 per claim and is limited in accordance with a Holocaust compensation fund set up by the government in 2002.

Russian bill causes alarm

moscow (jta) | Some Russian Jewish activists voiced concern that a new Russian bill on nonprofit organizations would harm Jewish groups.

The bill that passed the Russian Duma last week would place nonprofits under greater state scrutiny.

The measure could also prevent foreign nonprofits from operating branches in the country and force Russian nonprofits to reject money from abroad.

The bill now requires two more readings in the Parliament, expected to take place by the end of the year, before President Vladimir Putin can sign it into law.