BY FREDA MIKLIN
GOVERNMENTAL REPORTER
At the request of Council Member Earl Hoellen, Cherry Hills Village Mayor Katy Brown called a special meeting of the CHV City Council on October 13 for the sole purpose of considering a resolution in support of the State of Israel following the vicious attack by Hamas terrorists against the civilian population of Israel on October 7, resulting in the brutal murder and unspeakable desecration of bodies of over 1,200 innocent Israeli citizens, mostly women and children, including dozens of infants, and nearly all noncombatants. They also kidnapped hostages, estimated at over 200 people, including at least 14 Americans. As of this writing, none of the hostages have been accounted for.
Resolution 38 of 2023, “Standing With Israel in its Defense Against the War Launched by Hamas and Other Terrorists,” was introduced by CHV Council Member Earl Hoellen, who reported just having visited the World War II concentration camp of Mauthausen that was in operation from 1938 until 1945. Mauthausen is described in historical records as one of two concentration camps “with the harshest imprisonment conditions and the highest mortality.”
Explaining why it was important for the CHV City Council and all others responsible members of the international community to unequivocally condemn Hamas’ brutal war against Israel and to support Israel’s right to self-defense, Council Member Al Blum invoked the famous words of Martin Niemöller, a prominent Lutheran pastor in Germany who was imprisoned by the Nazis from 1937 to 1945 for speaking out against Adolf Hitler. Niemöller’s postwar quote, directed toward German citizens and the leaders of his own church, was,
“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.”
fmiklin.villager@gmail.com