SMITH'S REPORT

On the Holocaust Controversy

Serving the Revisionist Community since 1990

Contents

• Revisionism Takes Center Stage: Grandma's Ashes
• Our Stories: The Human Face of Holocaust Revisionism: Joe Bishop
• Booknotes: Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid by Jimmy Carter
• The Holocaust as Myth: Betraying the Public Trust
• The CODOH Forum: What They're Talking About
• Fragments from a Revisionist Journal
• and more!

and now... our lead story!

REVISIONISM TAKES CENTER STAGE

Grandma's Ashes

A play in seven scenes by

Stefano Giocamonte

Reviewed by Arthur R. Butz

   The greatest obstacle to the spread of revisionist ideas remains the terror, whether legally formulated as in Europe to imprison such scientists as Germar Rudolf, or extra-legally formulated, as in the USA, to e.g. ruin the business of execution expert Fred Leuchter.

   Under circumstances wherein the terror is inoperative, as when somebody reads a book in the privacy of the home, there are still obstacles. These obstacles, the principal two of which are examined here, draw their power mainly from psychology and cultural conditioning, not history. It is only fair to cite Hitler's explanation of one of the two, as set forth in one of the most frequently misrepresented passages in his Mein Kampf . In Chap. 10 he wrote that the Jews exploited

 "the principle – which is quite true in itself – that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily, and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation."

   People can see through the little lies, but big crude lies on a cultural scale are often invisible to them, regardless of how naked facts and logic may render those lies.

   It is difficult to break through this psychological barrier with the sorts of formal historical analyses that constitute the bulk of revisionist efforts. Other vehicles are more suited, e.g. cartoons or even jokes. Best, however, is fiction, and in fiction the best vehicle, as seems proved by the work under review here, is theater.

   The play Grandma's Ashes is an allegorical depiction of "Holocaust" hoax and exploitation, the author being a professional writer who has chosen a pseudonym that translates to "Steven Spielberg". The plot presents an itinerant shyster (Pa) who, accompanied by his young son (Boy), and carrying with him an urn said to contain "Grandma's ashes", arrives in a town demanding that it honor the ashes and make restitution for the crime committed against Grandma. It is never made clear whose grandma it was, but Pa eventually convinces the town that it is somehow guilty of her murder and, equally important, theft of her property. The target is of course the town's property, but the guilt is a prerequisite for accomplishing the shakedown.

   Along the way Boy forms a romantic relationship with Girl, a native of the town. The play contains no reference to the Nazis, Jews, gas chambers, etc. but, today, only a very dense viewer would not see the point.

   It is a commonplace that "Holocaust observance" amounts to a religion, but I believe more specific observations are required. Our religion is Christianity, a guilt-driven religion, as is the "Holocaust" religion. The second reason that the legend falls on our willing ears and exploits us so easily is that our commonplace idea that "we are all sinners" is so easily converted into "we are all guilty", in our case of the murder of the Jews. The shysters long ago pointed their accusing fingers far beyond the Germans. It is no accident that in the play it is the local clergyman who becomes Pa's crucial ally in his campaign to bring the town to acknowledge, if only in a foggy but nevertheless effective way, its guilt for killing and robbing Grandma. The psychological vulnerability that Hitler noted is reinforced by our conditioned propensity to assume moral guilt. The Minister is professionally qualified to dish out this imaginary guilt.

   The "Holocaust religion" is usually described as a religion for Jews, as in a recent article by Gilad Atzmon (www.counterpunch.com/atzmon03032007.html) , though even Atzmon concedes in passing that "it appeals to the Goyim as well, especially those who are engaged in merciless killing 'in the name of freedom'." While I concede that there may be a special version of the new religion for Jews, the version I am talking about is for everybody, with the Jews taking up the collection.

   On the annual "Town Day" the gleeful excitement of the townsfolk at the merriment to come is frustrated by the harping reminders of Grandma's ashes. At that point in my reading my thoughts were forced to return to Ingmar Bergman's brooding 1957 masterpiece "The Seventh Seal", a film I had not seen in many years, about a disillusioned knight returning from the Crusades. In one scene of Bergman's film the townsfolk, on what might have been the first bright sunny day of spring, are having themselves a fine and merry time when a group of flagellants appears, beating one another and bearing a huge cross depicting Jesus in his agony. The merriment ends abruptly and many fall to their knees, joyful faces becoming fearful ones, except for glares of contempt from the wise few. The group stops and its leader berates the townsfolk for their foolish notion that life has real pleasures. The common lesson is that there is nothing real in life except the fear of agony and death, or grief over Grandma's ashes, or grief over the horrors of the "Holocaust", the last category assaulting us with a frequency and a stridency that have only grown over the past 60 years.

   The play is quite perfect in depicting the intimidating sophistries, exploiting innocent gullibility and false guilt, that revisionists see clearly but are not seen by the general public. It is a minor masterpiece of cultural satire. The stupid lies advanced by institutions of power and influence are as a consequence seen as playing a game we would not fall for if accosted by it in normal life.

   In this review I am preaching to my own choir. What is needed is not only for revisionists to buy and read the printed version of this short play but, most important, performance of the play and availability of a performance on a DVD. Because of its purely allegorical character, I believe the play would be best performed with only simple, abstract scenery.

   Anybody interested out there?

Published by: Eidolon Books, Adelaide, Australia, 2005. ISBN 0 9585466 5 7, 67 pp.

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