On January 30, 1933 President von Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler Chancellor of Germany. This act sounded the death knell of European Jewry. The Fuhrer once boasted, "With us the Jews will be destroyed." This proclamation was to become the infamous reality— "The Final Solution". On September 1, 1939 Germany invaded Poland and in a few short weeks overran the country. No sooner after their conquest the Nazi storm troopers then proceeded to imprison all Jewish citizens in a ghetto in Warsaw and sealed it to prevent escape. The confinement over many years took its toll in unspeakable devastation of the population from disease, starvation, thirst and forced deportations to death camps. On April 19, 1943, the eve of Passover, the decimated remnants in the ghetto, knowing the fate that awaited them, rose up in defiant rebellion and gave battle to the mighty German army. And so began the heroic organized resistance history bequeathed to the legacy of the Jewish People-the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Armed with a pittance of weapons and vastly outnumbered, the undaunted men and women gave punishment to the murderous Nazi horde. Ultimately their valiant stand was doomed by sheer force of arms of the enemy. On May 16 resistance ended with the capture of the surviving defenders who were shot at once or sent to the death camps. On that ill-fated day General Stroop, who commanded the ghetto suppression sent a dispatch to headquarters, "The former Jewish quarter in Warsaw is no longer in existence." At its capacity and until its destruction, the Warsaw Ghetto had imprisoned 500,000 Jews. On May 16, 1943 there were none.

Hyman Auslander

Flushing

Eject United Nations

Once again, the "Law of the Sea Treaty" has come up. If this treaty is passed it would give the UN absolute control over all the vast wealth of [the] earth’s oceans. As with any treaty, and especially one that involves such untold wealth, careful consideration should be given to whom such powers are to be given. 

Sadly, the UN’s record since it began is very dismal. Over the years, various UN officials and agencies have been exposed for gross mismanagement of huge sums of money. It wasn’t that long ago that they rioted at their New York headquarters, and whatever they didn’t destroy they stole. Then we are told by former UN General Dallaire how the UN refused to allow his troops to stop the massacre of at least 800,000 men, women and children in Rwanda. And we now know that Kofi Annan was involved with Saddam in an UN–Iraqi Oil for Food scandal.

By and large, many of the UN members consistently spew out hatred of America. In addition, the majority of its members represent repressive dictatorships. Freedom such as we have in America is completely beyond their comprehension.

It is U.S. taxpayers who have been forced to support this failed farce. Under no circumstances should our Senate vote for this treaty. We should get [out] of the UN and then get the UN out of the USA. Send it to one of those dictatorships who don’t even pay their way. Contact www.getusout.org.

A Fed Up American,

Frank S. Ferrari

Bayside

Speed Bumps

I was at the horrific scene of the hit and run on Francis Lewis Boulevard on the night that it happened, Thursday, April 8, and the following afternoon Friday, April 9.

I got so agitated when listening to the local politicians pay lip service to doing something about the drag racing. When a city councilman who has been in power for a number of years starts clamoring for "surveys and studies," or "traffic lights and speed cameras," I cannot help but ask "Then why hasn’t he done something about it already?"

Perhaps the worst part about this is that the politicians’ lame and tired solutions miss the boat entirely. Speed cameras and traffic lights do not deter teenagers, intent on proving their manhood, from drag racing. The only things that would put a stop to this gamesmanship are speed bumps. There should have been a couple of speed bumps placed on that strip years ago, especially because there were past incidents! In addition, St. Francis Prep is right on the corner. The proposed legislation that would place speed bumps in the vicinity of most schools should be passed by the City Council.

David Di Padova

Fresh Meadows

‘Doubting Thomas’

To The Editor:

John Favicchio [wrote a letter to the editor] in your April 7 edition, relates an interesting miracle as reported by a reporter on Good Morning America [with Diane Sawyer] , in which a father who had just seen "The Passion of The Christ," prays Jesus style over his child who was under the bed and not breathing, and suddenly the child is breathing again. A miracle; and the skeptical reporter had thus found God. Chalk up a convert and give me a break.

How can one not ask themselves, "Was it also a miracle that stopped the child from breathing in the first place?" Jesus and/or God and/or the Holy Ghost or whatever, has /have one of the best jobs in the world. They get credited and thanked for everything that goes well and never blamed for anything that is bad. What a deal; sounds like the game plan of our current administration and it gives that time worn explanation of "mysterious," a quizzical significance.

A volcano erupts or earthquake quakes and kills 3,000 men women and children but a school is spared. Thank God! A genocide is taking place in a country and 800,000 men women and children are hacked to pieces but the UN finally intervenes stopping the death toll from being even greater. Thank God!

Maybe I’m just jealous because I haven’t been able to con my wife into believing that I am only responsible for the good things that have taken place in our many years of marital bliss and blitz.

I also saw "The Passion of The Christ" and my feelings can be summed up best by something I read in the week prior edition of your Gazette. It was a Letter by a Nicholas Zizelis of Bayside. He was impressed to hear that "The Dawn of the Living Dead" had overtaken "The Passion of The Christ" at the box office and that finally honest gratuitous gore had unseated pretentious gratuitous gore and how refreshing was that bit of Hollywood honesty. How incisive and concise of him.

Gibson’s quasi literal/visual depiction of a happening, is presented as somewhat of a documentary right down to a pontifical Aramaic dialog for dramatic effect. We then see in this historical chronicle, the Christ character complemented by a full musical accompaniment replete with proper crescendos, struggle up and down and up the Via Dolorosa, and as a courtesy to the surrounding, angry, drooling hoard, does a slow motion retake to help fill in the half hour of ostentatious gore. A little ketchup on the camera lens was the only theatrical gimmick missing. If this film was not gratuitous then that awful person we all saw on our television sets, Gibson’s father, espousing his rabid biased hatred was not a bigot. It seems the apple does not fall far from the tree.

Zack Pal

Bayside

Curb Teen Drinking

April is national Alcohol Awareness Month and the focus is on underage drinking. Alcohol is the drug most frequently used by high school seniors, and its use is increasing. Boys usually try alcohol for the first time at just 11 years old, while the average age for American girls’ first drink is 13. Underage drinking is a factor in nearly half of all teen automobile crashes and contributes to youth suicides, homicides and fatal injuries. Additionally, alcohol abuse is linked to as many as two-thirds of all sexual assaults and date rapes of teens and college students and is a major factor in unprotected sex among youth, increasing their risk of contracting HIV or other transmitted diseases.

Sadly, however, high school students lack essential knowledge about alcohol and its effects. Nationwide, an estimated 5.6 million junior and senior high school students are unsure of the legal age to purchase alcohol; one third do not understand the intoxicating effects of alcohol; and more than 2.6 million do not know a person can die from an overdose of alcohol.

While the issue of underage drinking is a complex problem, one that can only be solved through a sustained and cooperative effort between parents, schools, community leaders, and the children themselves, there are three areas which have proven to be effective in prevention of underage drinking: curtailing the availability of alcohol, consistent enforcement of existing laws and regulations and changing cultural misconceptions and behaviors through education. Let’s all wake up to this problem and get started on the solution. We can’t afford to wait any longer.

Sincerely,

Martin H. Levinson

Madeline Rodriguez

Drug Prevention Directors, Region 4,

New York City Department

of Education