Personal Origins of Holocaust Symposium

Michael Bazyler grew up a child of the Holocaust. His father escaped his native Poland on his own as a teenager in 1939, Bazyler says, “literally as the Nazi bombs were falling.”

Like many other escaping Jews, his father spent the next six years in a prison labor camp in Siberia. Bazyler’s only knowledge of his paternal grandparents is that they perished in the Holocaust. No other details. A single picture of his grandfather survived.

Even after Bazyler moved with his parents as a child to the United States, he says, “I was surrounded in our home by books and pictures about the Holocaust. It was a part of me.”

That’s one reason why Bazyler, who teaches international law at the new Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, is so deeply committed to the symposium he is co-chairing on its campus Sunday. It’s titled “Nazi Gold, and Other Assets from the Holocaust: The Search for Justice.” There’s quite a lineup of heavy hitters on the subject coming too.

Jewish organizations worldwide have been disturbed--especially with new evidence surfacing last year--that Nazis stole gold in various forms from Jewish victims. They robbed them of gold teeth, jewelry and other private property, as well as gold in bank accounts. The Nazis then laundered the gold through Swiss banks to help finance their war efforts.

The law school symposium will delve into two other subjects as well. One is dormant accounts deposited in Swiss banks by Jews on the eve of the Holocaust. Many Jews who saw trouble ahead had deemed Switzerland a haven for their assets. Swiss officials only in recent months have admitted the existence of more than 5,000 such accounts. The third topic: European insurance companies that failed to pay off policies taken out by Jewish Holocaust victims before the war.

The keynote speaker on Sunday will be Lord Janner of Braunstone, who organized a 41-nation conference on Nazi gold in London last year. The luncheon speaker will be Christoph Meili, the Swiss bank guard who lost his job last year for stopping bank officials from shredding evidence of Holocaust victims’ accounts.

“He’s a real hero,” Bazyler said.

Also speaking on one of the panels will be some of the lawyers who have filed a class-action lawsuit to regain part of the money from the Swiss banks. Another speaker scheduled is Hector Feliciano, author of “The Lost Museum: The Nazi Conspiracy to Steal the World’s Greatest Works of Art.” (Perhaps you caught the recent “60 Minutes” TV segment on that issue.)

Also listed to speak is Isabel Vincent, author of “Hitler’s Silent Partners: Swiss Banks, Nazi Gold and the Pursuit of Justice.” Gives you a good idea where they got the title for the symposium.

“It is extremely difficult to track down all of this information more than 50 years later,” Bazyler said. “We hope our symposium will help increase awareness of these issues.”

Though lawyers have generally made up the audience at previous symposiums Bazyler has put together for the law school, he expects a wide range of community interest for this one.

You can buy your ticket at the law school, located on Harbor Boulevard just two blocks north of the San Diego Freeway. Prices range from $25 (students) to $40 (seniors) to $95 for general admission. The symposium runs from the 8 a.m. registration through the end of the final panel at 6 p.m.

Included in the ticket price is a Saturday night airing at the law school of an Arts & Entertainment television documentary, “Switzerland’s Nazi Gold.” The film’s producer, Steve Crisman, will also be on hand to talk with those who attend the 7 p.m. showing.

It will be a busy weekend for Bazyler, but you know he will be thinking about his father, Ben. The symposium will be dedicated in his father’s honor.

Gospel Hour: The Tustin area is getting some highly touted out-of-country gospel singing guests this weekend:

If you were planning on attending the free band concert Saturday at the Salvation Army Tustin Ranch (Jamboree and Pioneer roads), you might want to call ahead for tickets. Officials there say seating is limited. You can call (714) 832-7100 to reserve seats.

Featured will be the Moss Gospel Company from Norway, as well as the Salvation Army’s own 35-piece band. I’ve had the occasion to hear the Salvation Army band several times and recommend it highly.

Also: The African Children’s Choir will perform at 6 p.m. Sunday at the Main Place Christian Fellowship at 13841 Red Hill Ave. in Tustin. The 26 youngsters, mainly from Rwanda and Uganda, range in age from 5 to 12 and travel worldwide. The church had originally scheduled the group last month, to time the visit with Black History month. But it took the group longer to line up visas than expected.

Wrap-Up: My daughter Becky turns 6 today. Wow. What a flood of memories of our past year with her. The other day we went out for breakfast and she said with enthusiasm: “This hot chocolate makes me feel warm all over, like a lion was sitting on me.”

And a few weeks back, she told me with a hug: “Daddy, when I grow up, I want to marry someone just like you . . . only skinnier.”

A reader last year sent me a poem by A.A. Milne (Winnie the Pooh’s creator) and suggested I pull it out for this occasion. Those of you with 6-year-olds can likely identify with it:

When I was One, I had just begun.

When I was Two, I was nearly new.

When I was Three, I was hardly me.

When I was Four, I was not much more.

When I was Five, I was just alive.

But Now I am Six. I’m as clever as clever. So I think I’ll be six now for ever and ever.

*

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling the Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823 or by fax to (714) 966-7711, or e-mail to jerry.hicks@latimes.com