What Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero learned in Israel

Georgiana Vines
Special to USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee

UPDATE: This story has been corrected to reflect the proper spelling of Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum.

Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero knew she was going to a Holocaust museum while in Israel recently and, while at McGhee Tyson Airport getting ready to depart, she had a chance meeting with a Baptist minister that ended up tying the trip together for her.

Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum in Jerusalem, where Roddie Edmonds, a World War II soldier from Knoxville, is honored in the Garden of the Righteous as "Righteous Among Nations." The honor recognizes non-Jews who took risks to save Jews during the Holocaust.

The Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum in Jerusalem is where a World War II soldier from South Knoxville, Roddie Edmonds, was honored as “Righteous Among Nations” in 2015. “Righteous Among Nations” recognizes non-Jews who took risks to save Jews during the Holocaust.

Georgiana Vines

Edmond’s son, the Rev. Chris Edmonds of Maryville, was at the airport at the same time, recognized her and introduced himself. She told him about the nearly week-long trip on which she was about to embark. She said he was traveling to speak to a Jewish group.

Serendipity

“It was serendipitous that I met him,” she said in a phone interview Wednesday.

Rogero said the visit to the World Holocaust Remembrance Center features a Garden of the Righteous, where the names of the Righteous Among Nations are engraved on the walls of honor. The visit was on the final day of the trip.

Roddie Edmonds, a World War II soldier from Knoxville, is honored in the Garden of the Righteous as "Righteous Among Nations" at the Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum in Jerusalem. Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero visited the museum. The honor recognizes non-Jews who took risks to save Jews during the Holocaust.

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“We searched and found the name of Master Sergeant Edmonds on a wall of honor. It was a very special and moving moment,” she wrote in an email to elaborate on comments she made in the interview.

The trip was sponsored by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) Project Interchange programs, which has taken some 6,000 people on similar tours over the past 35 years. No city funds were used, she stressed.

Rogero’s tour included seven other mayors from across the country with John Giles of Mesa, Arizona, serving as chairman of the trip. She said the group was bipartisan. Mayors of Tampa and West Palm Beach were unable to go because of the impending Hurricane Irma, an AJC spokeswoman said.

The itinerary included lectures and tours throughout the country, some by helicopter. They visited Tel Aviv, Sderot, Akko, Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Rogero said she felt safe the entire time.

“There was extra security sometimes, around the old city of Jerusalem, where there had been problems previously,” she said.

Rogero said the mayors met with Jews, Muslims, Israelis and Palestinians. The group was briefed by Israeli military on security issues and by journalists who had covered politics, wars and culture for decades.

“It’s very complicated,” she said. The group heard “all different kinds of overviews from different perspectives” on Israeli-Palestinian conflicts, and met hospitalized Syrians fighting their own country’s regime in a rebel army. They were being treated in Ziv Medical Center in Akko, a short distance north of Tel Aviv. The center treats Syrian war victims, both military and civilians, she said.

“One of them begged for help from the U.S. to help fight the regime (of Bashar Al-Assad) there. We just listened and acknowledged (hearing the plea). There is not much you can say. It was touching, a plea for help,” Rogero said.

The mayor said throughout the week, she kept thinking about her Jewish friends and their family tragedies during the Holocaust and the historical and ongoing anti-Semitism; Christian Palestinian friends who emigrated from Ramallah to Knoxville years ago, and Muslim Palestinian friends who came from Al-Bireh, near Ramallah in the West Bank, whose citizenship was revoked by Israel after the 1967 Six Day War.

“It was a joy to visit the Holy Land, which is sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, but sad to know that the divisions and conflict remain with no end in sight,” she said. 

Georgiana Vines is a retired News Sentinel associate editor. She may be reached at gvpolitics@hotmail.com.