The Army has rejected an appeal by the family of Abraham Klausner, a leading advocate for Holocaust survivors, to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. ...
The family was told Monday that Klausner's cremated remains may be stored at the cemetery, but that his brief service as an Army chaplain did not qualify him to receive full burial honors.
The decision drew protests from Jewish groups and a prominent congressional Democrat, who said a man with his reputation and who witnessed the horrors of a Nazi prison camp should be exempt from the cremation rule.
Klausner, a rabbi, was the first Jewish chaplain from the Army to enter the Dachau concentration camp after it was liberated in 1945. After the war, Klausner became an advocate for survivors of the Holocaust, trying to reconnect families and writing a book about their experiences.
He died Thursday night at the age of 92 in his home in Sante Fe, N.M.
'It's just unbelievable to me he would be denied being buried at Arlington cemetery,' said Marvin Hier, founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, an international Jewish human rights organization based in Los Angeles. 'It's a rule that violates religious principles. So I want to know who made the rule and why it wasn't challenged.'
Army officials on Monday attributed the decision to a regulation adopted in 1967 that very narrowly restricted ground burials at the popular cemetery to conserve space. In general, the regulation allows burial only of active-duty members, retirees after lengthy service and veterans who have won special awards or medals.
According to Army spokesman Paul Boyce, Klausner qualifies for ground burial at any veterans' cemetery, but not at Arlington....
Jess Hordes, Washington director of the Anti-Defamation League, said Klausner should be made an exception primarily because of his work with Holocaust survivors.
"It was really exceptional work at an exceptional time," said Hordes, who noted he was calling officials at the White House and Defense Department, hoping they would intervene. "To offer cremation is not an option for a rabbi."
While the story does not make this entirely clear, cremation is not a permissible option for a religiously-observant Jew.
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