In the September 19th issue of the New York Post
a loud headline reads, "Jewish writer condemned as a 'traitor'".
The Jewish writer is
Norman Finkelstein,
author of the book The Holocaust Industry.
Elan Steinberg of the World Jewish Council was quoted as
saying, "This book is bull_ _ _ _." Abraham Foxman of the
Anti-Defamation League regards Finkelstein's charges of
using the Holocaust to gain victim status as "blasphemy."
Since when is a political debate blasphemous? Is Finkelstein
challenging special interests groups or self-appointed deities?
For grown men who travel the world preaching tolerance,
these individuals aren't exactly practicing what they preach.
Anyone who questions any aspect of the Holocaust is quickly
shouted down. I know first hand. I am one of those who,
not too long ago, would have agreed that Finkelstein's book
is "bull_ _ _ _", although I would not have used that exact
term. I have since, however, joined a growing number of
people, like Finkelstein, who are getting fed up with the
Holocaust taboo and have begun to ask questions.
In October of 1977 I was fortunate enough to be spending
a year in Europe. A group of us from the Loyola of Chicago,
Rome Center, decided to attend the Oktoberfest in Munich.
We planned our trip and made our way by train through the
Italian, Swiss, and German countryside, singing songs and
looking forward to our visit. When we arrived in Munich
we were thrilled with everything from the architecture and
music, to the delicious German sausages, to the remarkable
down comforters that looked useless but could cook a goose
on the coldest night.
We joined the revelers at Oktoberfest, delighting in
talking with our hosts and joining in the "oompah" songs,
long benches of happy folks singing and swaying to the music.
We went to see the Glockenspiel and while I was filming
a small orchestra playing in the mall the conductor invited
me to trade places with him. He gave me his baton, I gave
him my 8mm camera, and he filmed me leading the band. We
were having a marvelous time in Germany-until we went to
Dachau.
I was not completely ignorant of WWII history in 1977,
but I had grown up happily on the same block with the Webers,
the Hintergardts and the Spencers, and around the corner
from the Yamamotos, so I assumed that the war was over for
everyone and that it was a part of history. However, after
spending a few hours in Dachau none of us could get out
of Germany fast enough.
I was depressed for days, if not weeks, by the images
of the corpses, emaciated internees, the tyranny of books
being burned in the dark of night, and the memory of the
Dachau crematoria. I watched a filmed re-enactment of children
being taken for an outing, and then dissolved into sobs
as they were locked into a gas van to die on their way "home."
I remember specifically that the children were escorted
by German Shepherds which were one minute playing with the
children and the next minute lunging and snarling at the
children to get them back into the van.
I honestly don't remember if a guide told us about the
gas "showers" at Dachau or if it was one of my friends on
the tour who had heard about them, but I was sickened, nonetheless.
The meadow across the street was identified as the site
of the "experimental" hospital, which had since been torn
down. And throughout the tour there were the whispers about
the German citizens of Nazi Germany who claimed to not know
what was happening just miles from their homes. I didn't
believe that they couldn't have known and that made them
just as culpable, in my mind, as Hitler himself.
That evening three of us co-eds were attempting to cross
a very busy Munich boulevard. A great big, good-looking
young man gave us a smile and offered to escort us across
the street. The day before we would have been pleased to
take his arm. On that evening, I am saddened to say, we
were so terrified by what he represented that we refused
his help and practically bolted out into the traffic. Multiply
that fear and disgust by millions and we have a slight idea
of how ordinary German people have been demonized for more
than half a century.
In recent years I became aware of the revisionist quest
for an open debate on the Holocaust. Prompted mostly by
the loud outbursts of such people as Abraham Foxman, I became
curious. What if I had passed judgment on an entire nation
and their descendents, based on false information? What
exactly did the revisionist historians have to say that
was so horrific that to even admit to reading revisionist
material could find one labeled anti-Semitic?
I began reading books by these infamous authors, initially
with the expectation that a few chapters into each one I
would be able to toss the author into the same mental recycle
bin as the Salem witch hunters. One after another I picked
up books by Irving, Crowell, Porter, Zündel, Butz and others.
Rather than finding racist filth, I found well-researched,
meticulously footnoted, responsible writing. I was floored
to see archive photos of healthy concentration camp inmates,
taken by our liberating troops. I read excerpts of the war
crimes trials and was appalled. I read quotes from such
people as President John F. Kennedy, Edgar Eisenhower (General
Eisenhower's brother), Supreme Court Justice William O.
Douglas and others-all of them condemning the trials as
immoral and illegal.
And now another scholar, Norman Finkelstein, is being
trashed by his peers, rather than reviewed. He isn't even
a revisionist, but he has stepped out of the corner and
into the ring to take on the Holocaust Industry. I dearly
hope that Professor Finkelstein sells a zillion books. He
thinks it is a good book or he wouldn't have written it.
I think it is a good book. Foxman and Steinberg think it
is blasphemy and bull_ _ _ _.
Isn't it nice to live in a free country where we can
all read the book and judge it for ourselves?
Bradley R. Smith, Publisher 