Having been read his rights, an Ohio teen now must read about the rights of Jews.
The unnamed 13-year-old, who was arrested last week and accused of sharing a “detailed plan” to attack Temple Israel, a Reform congregation in Canton, reached a plea agreement on Friday with a juvenile court. He had been due in court on Dec. 20.
Under the agreement, the teen—who served 10 days—had the other 170 days to which he was sentenced suspended. He will now reportedly be on probation for a year and must undergo counseling and pen a book report about Carl Lutz, a Swiss diplomat who saved thousands of Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust.
The latter must be submitted to the probation department.
Yad Vashem, which recognized Lutz among the “Righteous Among the Nations” on March 24, 1964, states that the diplomat risked his life and “brought thousands of Hungarian Jews under Swiss protection, thus saving them from deportations to Nazi death camps.”
“It is impossible for the human brain to comprehend the impact of Lutz’s efforts. How many artists would never have existed if he had not saved their father? How many doctors would not have been born if Lutz had not saved their grandmother? How many farmers, scientists, teachers, mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers would have been lost to history without the efforts of this one individual?” said David Pressman, U.S. ambassador to Hungary, on Sept. 8, 2022, during a U.S. Embassy reception honoring Lutz.
“A single life can ripple through time like a pebble dropped in a lake,” he added. “One single life can change everything. And Carl Lutz saved thousands. He changed the world in ways we will never understand. We can’t understand.”
