JEWISH STUDIES SYMPOSIUM Speaker was prosecutor in Nazi war crimes unit

A humanitarian award will be presented to a JCC volunteer librarian.
YOUNGSTOWN -- John Loftus, a former prosecutor in the U.S. Justice Department's Nazi War Crimes Unit, will speak at 12:45 p.m. April 15 in Kilcawley Center's Chestnut Room on the Youngstown State University campus.
Loftus' address, "The Secret Intelligence Files of the Holocaust: What FDR Knew," is part of YSU's fifth Annual Jewish Studies Symposium.
The keynote speech is funded by the late Florence and Maurice Lipscher, a 1940s Ohio state senator from Youngstown. The Lipschers' trust distributes $108,000 over six years to YSU's Judaic and Holocaust Studies Program.
Revelation
Loftus, a federal prosecutor during the Carter and Reagan administrations, discovered top-secret documents that Nazis he had been assigned to prosecute were working for NATO intelligence.
After learning this, Loftus resigned from the Justice Department and exposed the scandal on an Emmy Award-winning segment of "60 Minutes."
The symposium also will include two discussions in the Ohio Room of Kilcawley Center:
UAt 9 a.m., Rafael Medoff, director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies at Gratz College in Melrose Park, Pa., will look at "A Race Against Death: How Jewish Activities Forced Roosevelt To Respond to the Holocaust," and Leonard Dinnerstein, professor of history at the University of Arizona, will discuss "FDR and The Jews during World War II." Saul Friedman, YSU's Clayman Professor in Judaic and Holocaust Studies, will moderate.
UAt 10:45 a.m., surgeon Y.T. Chiu, a former YSU trustee who experienced World War II while living in China, will discuss "FDR and the Press;" and Laurel Leff, author of "How the New York Times Muffled News of the Holocaust," will offer comments on "FDR and The Press: How Their Relationship Affected Attitudes Toward the Holocaust." Martin Berger, a YSU professor of history, will moderate.
Awards ceremony
In addition, the symposium features a luncheon and awards ceremony in the Chestnut Room.
The Janusz Korczak Humanitarian Award will be presented to Joy Elder, volunteer librarian for 30 years in the Schwartz Judaica Library at the Youngstown Jewish Community Center. The $250 Joseph Hill Award will be presented to a student in Jewish Studies.
Symposium lectures and discussions are free and open to the public. Reservations and a fee are required for the luncheon; call (330) 941-3452 by Thursday.
Symposium sponsors include the Mr. and Mrs. William B. Clayman Judaic and Holocaust Studies Endowment, YSU, the Zionist Organization of America -- Youngstown District, Frances and Lillian Schermer Charitable Trusts and Sen. Maurice and Florence Lipscher Trust.