Bergen Recognizes Comfort Women With Memorial by Ann Piccirillo

http://paramus.patch.com/groups/around-town/p/bergen-recognizes-comfort-women-with-memorial

Bergen Recognizes Comfort Women With Memorial
Memorial now sits in front of the Hackensack Bergen County courthouse which is dedicated to those women who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese during World War II.

Posted by Ann Piccirillo , March 11, 2013 at 05:45 PM
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Despite the fact that the weather moved the dedication of the Comfort Women Memorial indoors, it did not prevent people from coming out to the ceremony on Friday.

The memorial, sponsored by the Comfort Women Memorial Committee, takes its place in front of Hackensack's Bergen County Justice Center (Courthouse) beside monuments commemorating the Holocaust, Armenian Genocide, the Irish Great Hunger and African American Slavery.

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County Executive Kathleen Donovan, calling this memorial "a long time coming," said it was dedicated to comfort women not only from Korea, but from all of the countries so affected.

Comfort women were those who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Armed Forces. According to the Comfort Women Memorial Committee, the monument honors approximately 200,000 enslaved women.

Donovan, speaking of her trip to South Korea last fall where she visited former comfort women at the Sharing House, said, "I cannot imagine the agony and the suffering that those women went through in the years of World War Two, but the dignity and grace of them now would astonish all of us."

When Donovan asked their permission to tell their story in a monument, they all said yes. They wanted the world to know their story.

"In some small way we are able to do that today with the unveiling and dedication of the Comfort Women Memorial," Donovan said.

Also speaking at the ceremony was Congressman Bill Pascrell. He, too, had the opportunity to meet with former comfort women when they visited Washington, D.C. He told the audience that the stories the women told of their ordeal "strengthen our commitment to the preservation of human rights."

Dongchan Kim, President of Korean American Civic Empowerment, which organized the campaign for the Comfort Women Memorial in Palisades Park, said, "By having the memorial at this location, the Bergen County government is officially recognizing the Comfort Women issue as the same kind of international human rights violation as the other four human rights abuses remembered by Bergen County in front of the Bergen County Courthouse."

Bergen County is home to the largest population of Korean-Americans. In 2012, election ballots were printed in Korean.

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JJ August 27, 2013 at 06:13 PM
Tom, What's going on at GUS BECKERS PLACE/ RAMBO'S SALOON ? I WENT BY THE OTHER DAY AND THERE WAS A RENTED CHAIN LINK FENCE AROUND THE FRONT OF THE PROPERTY ?? DID MAYOR AND CONS NAGG ,ON THE DEAL WHEN THEY THOUGHT EVERYONE WAS ON VACATION ?? AND YET ANOTHER SOON TO BE NEW TWO FAMILY HOUSE ??
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Tom Meyers August 28, 2013 at 01:24 PM
The construction fencing has been around the building for months. The fact is last Thursday night the Fort Lee Mayor & Council voted unanimously in favor of an ordinance that will allow the Fort Lee Housing Authority purchase the house, via funds from developers, and restore it for the creation of two affordable units. We are on top of this and much in favor of the purchase that will enable this historic building / site to survive. The fencing will be removed shortly. The Fort Lee Film Commission has sent a letter to the Fort Lee Housing Authority requesting a meeting where we can pitch the idea of placement of a historic marker on the site and access to the front room which was the old saloon for creation of a small display area to include large archival photos of the site when it was used as a movie location - this would be open to the public during our bi-annual historic jitney tours, for our historic jitney tours for Fort Lee Public School students and we hope once a year for a celebration of the history of the site and a screening of a film shot at the site.
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William Mays August 29, 2013 at 02:07 AM
Perhaps it would be possible to restore the front room to the way it was in the old days?
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Tom Meyers August 29, 2013 at 03:22 PM
We are working on that in terms of our pitch to the Fort Lee Housing Authority as there would still be plenty of room for the 2 affordable units and to me that would be a win win.
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JJ August 30, 2013 at 10:01 AM
Tom, It sounds all good on what you wrote, And hopefully everyone got a memo on it including the wrecking company coming on one of the days no one is present, And taking down the house before anyone notice's that it shouldn't be done ! That's nice a historic marker. In Hackensack you have the Zabriskie House and many other Historical Landmark's, I haven't noticed if there are any Vacant apartment's in the Bergen county area at Historical Site's. It's not you Tom, It's Fort Lee looking to make a buck off the Building that they though no one looked at anymore of forgot about !
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JJ August 30, 2013 at 10:08 AM
Tom, As willie stated, Keep the two front rooms as the Original Bar, And when you have the Jitney rides or every other weekend, Sell soda pop an Lite sandwiches to Help Fort Lee Film Commission, Advertise in many Publications about Ramboo's Saloon/ Gus Becker's Place and why it has Historical Value.Get Volunteers to work as bar keep ect...
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