The Amsterdam municipality fined hundreds of Jewish Holocaust survivors for not paying taxes while they were in hiding or held in Nazi concentration camps, the Dutch newspaper Het Parool has exposed. The city's policy led to the confiscation of a number of Jewish homes, many of which were used by members of the Dutch Nazi party while the Jewish owners were away. The report said Amsterdam continued pursuing the survivors as late as 1947, while other Dutch municipalities waived such debts. The next year, Amsterdam agreed to reimburse half of what it had charged to some Jews it had taxed in absentia. According to the report, there are 342 requests for reimbursement in the municipality's archives. A spokesperson for the municipality said the matter would be investigated. Meanwhile, Israel has begun preparing for the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day. The official opening ceremony will commence at 8 p.m. Sunday at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. The theme this year will be "Defiance and Rebellion During the Holocaust: 70 Years Since the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising." At the ceremony, President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will deliver speeches and Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev will light the memorial torch. Aliza Vitis-Shomron will speak on behalf of Holocaust survivors. During the ceremony, Holocaust survivors will light six torches. The first torch was supposed to be lit by Peretz Hochman, who fought against the Nazis in Poland. However, he died several days ago, and his widow, Sima, will take his place. Other torches will be lit by Otto Dov Pressburger, Dina Ostrover, Eliezer Eizenschmidt, Miriam Liptcher and Baruch Kopold. Yad Vashem is calling on the public to fill out Pages of Testimony to commemorate Jews murdered in the Holocaust, and volunteers are available to help those who need assistance doing this. Yad Vashem is also continuing its Gathering the Fragments campaign, through which it is collecting Holocaust-related documents, artifacts, photographs and art. More information is available at http://www.yadvashem.org.
