Holocaust – Evil Reporter Chick

He was known in my native India as the hero of the Bangladesh war.

In Israel, he was known as the highest-ranking Jew in the Indian Army.

Lieutenant General Farj Rafael Jacob died Wednesday morning. He was 92.

Jacob said in interviews that he was drawn to the then-British Indian Army in 1942 because of the massacre of Jews in the Holocaust. He fought on several fronts in World War II and went on to a storied military career. In 1971, he negotiated Pakistan’s surrender in the war that led to the independence of Bangladesh.

Notable Indians paid their tributes on social media after learning of Jacob’s passing:

RIP Lt Gen JFR Jacob. India will always remain grateful to him for his impeccable service to the nation at the most crucial moments.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 13, 2016

I read in Indian newspapers that Jacob died at the Army Hospital in Delhi. He had no family in India anymore. That made me think about two things: that few people know about Jewish contributions to India and even fewer probably know that the Jewish community in India has sadly, for a variety of reasons, shriveled up.

Jacob’s family came to India from Iraq and he was born in my hometown of Kolkata, where there was once a thriving Jewish community. Now there are only 30 or so Jews left in a city of millions.

Here is a link to a story I reported in 2010. I felt sad writing it because the city that I love so much was poorer for the loss of the Jewish community. In writing it, I realized that a big part of Kolkata’s history was vanishing. Jacob’s death was another stark reminder.

Go to the story here: Twilight comes for India’s fading Jewish community

Buddy and Gerti Elias in Atlanta in 2011.

I hadn’t heard the sad news until my friend Lee sent me an email this morning with the New York Times obituary. Immediately, I went to the Anne Frank Foundation website and read the announcement . Her cousin, Buddy Elias, died March 16 shortly before his 90th birthday at his home in Basel, Switzerland.

The reason Lee sent me the obit was because the New York Times cited a story I wrote on Elias in 2012.

I met Elias and his wife, Gerti, at an uptown Atlanta hotel. He was touring the United States to promote a book, “Anne Frank’s Family,” which told the story of the entire Frank family. Many of the details in the book were not known until an amazing discovery more than a decade ago. You’ll have to read the story on CNN.com to find out what that was.

I felt a sadness come over me this morning when I learned of Elias’ death.

Like millions of others, I was deeply influenced by “The Diary of Anne Frank.” I was in the seventh grade in India when my father bought me the book. It was fascinating to hear Elias talk about his days with Anne. I felt I got to know her all over again, in happier days,

My CNN story begins like this:

If the curves of Buddy Elias’ 86-year-old face look familiar, it’s because he is the closest surviving relative of the girl whose diary gave an early glimpse into the Holocaust. It’s not difficult to see that Elias is Anne Frank’s first cousin. He has the same soulful eyes and smile in the photographs that accompanied Anne’s famous diary, written while hiding from the Nazis.

He was my closest personal encounter with a girl who opened my eyes to the cruelty of this world. It was the goodness of Anne that amazes every reader of her diary, despite it all.

In Elias, I had seen that same goodness.

Rest in peace.

Tag: Holocaust

War hero, Indian and Jewish

Anne Frank’s cousin dies

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