- Since the late 1970s, "Holocaust
Remembrance" has become ever more important in the United States and
many other countries. The campaign to remember the Holocaust -- often defined
as the genocidal killing of six million Jews in Europe during the Second
World War includes numerous commemorative events, education courses
in many schools, and a stream of motion pictures, television specials,
books and magazine articles.
-
- Across the United States, prominent political
and civic leaders participate in annual Holocaust commemoration ceremonies.
A number of countries, including Britain, Germany and Italy, officially
observe a yearly Holocaust Remembrance Day. In November 2005 the United
Nations General Assembly approved a resolution introduced by Israel to
designate January 27 as an international Holocaust remembrance day.
-
- Every major American city has at least
one Holocaust museum or memorial. Worldwide there are more than 250 Holocaust
museums and memorials, most of them in the US and Europe. / 1 The
largest is the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, which is
run by a taxpayer-funded federal government agency, and draws some two
million visitors yearly.
-
- The public is continually reminded of
Jewish suffering during World War II. Between 1989 and 2003 alone, more
than 170 films with Holocaust themes were made. / 2 In many American
and European schools, and in all Israeli classrooms, a focus on the wartime
suffering of Europe's Jews is obligatory. / 3
-
- Yehuda Bauer, a prominent Holocaust specialist
who is a professor at Hebrew University in Israel, observed in 1992: "Whether
presented authentically or inauthentically, in accordance with the historical
facts or in contradiction to them, with em-pathy and understanding or as
monumental kitsch, the Holocaust has become a ruling symbol of our culture
Hardly a month passes without a new TV production, a new film, a number
of new books of prose or poetry dealing with the subject, and the flood
is increasing rather than abating." / 4
-
- Tim Cole, a history professor and prominent
specialist of Holocaust studies, writes in his book Selling the Holocaust:
"From a relatively slow start, we have now come to the point where
Jewish culture in particular, and Western culture more generally, are saturated
with the 'Holocaust'." Indeed, the 'Holocaust' has saturated
Western culture to such an extent that it appears not only centre stage,
but also lurks in the background. This can be seen in the remarkable number
of contemporary movies which include the 'Holocaust' as plot or sub-plot."
/ 5
-
- How did the Holocaust come to play such
a large role in America? "A good part of the answer," writes
Jewish scholar Peter Novick, "is the fact that Jews play an important
and influential role in Hollywood, the television industry, and the newspaper,
magazine and book publishing worlds." Anyone who denies that this
is major factor behind the "massive attention" given to the Holocaust
in the US media, he adds, "is being naïve or disingenuous."
/ 6
-
- Exploiting the Holocaust
-
- What's behind the Holocaust remembrance
campaign? Whose interests does it serve?
- It is, of course, fitting and proper
to remember victims of genocide, war and oppression. But Holocaust remembrance
is not, as its supporters claim, a noble effort motivated by sincere concern
for humanity. Instead, this relentless campaign is an expression of Jewish-Zionist
power, and is designed to further Jewish-Zionist interests.
-
- On the occasion of the opening of the
US Holocaust Memorial Museum on the Mall in Washington, noted Jewish author
Melvin Jules Bukiet called the Museum a "statement of raw power,"
and added: "It's not Jewish tragedy that's remembered on the Mall
this week; it's Jewish power to which homage is paid." / 7
-
- The Holocaust Remembrance campaign encourages
sympathy and support for Jews and Israel. It helps to justify America's
massive and on-going support for Israel, and to excuse otherwise inexcusable
policies of the Zionist state. Among Jews it strengthens a feeling of group
solidarity and promotes a sense of community purpose.
-
- Norman Finkelstein, a Jewish scholar
who teaches at DePaul University Chicago, writes in his bestselling book,
The Holocaust Industry, that "invoking The Holocaust" is "a
ploy to delegitimize all criticism of Jews." He adds: "By conferring
total blamelessness on Jews, the Holocaust dogma immunizes Israel and American
Jewry from legitimate censure... Organized American Jewry has ex-ploited
the Nazi holocaust to deflect criticism of Israel's and its own morally
indefensible policies." / 8
-
- Paula Hyman, a professor of modern Jewish
history at Yale University, has observed: "With regard to Israel,
the Holocaust may be used to forestall political criticism and suppress
debate; it reinforces the sense of Jews as an eternally beleaguered people
who can rely for their defense only upon themselves. The invocation of
the suffering endured by the Jews under the Nazis often takes the place
of rational argument, and is expected to convince doubters of the legitimacy
of current Israeli government policy." / 9
-
- This view is echoed by another Jewish
scholar, Tony Judt, who is director of the Remarque Institute at New York
University: / 10
-
- "The Shoah [Hebrew term for Holocaust]
is frequently exploited in America and Israel to deflect and forbid any
criticism of Israel. Indeed, the Holocaust of Europe's Jews is nowadays
exploited thrice over: It gives American Jews in particular a unique, retrospective
'victim identity'; it allows Israel to trump any other nation's sufferings
(and justify its own excesses) with the claim that the Jewish catastrophe
was unique and incompa-rable; and (in contradiction to the first two) it
is adduced as an all-purpose metaphor for evil -- anywhere, everywhere
and always -- and taught to schoolchildren all over America and Europe
without any reference to context or cause. This modern instrumentalization
of the Holocaust for political advantage is ethically disreputable and
politically imprudent."
-
- In Israel, says Tom Segev, a prominent
Israeli journalist and author, the Holocaust has become "an object
of worship." Moreover, he writes, "the 'heritage of the Holocaust,'
as it is taught in [Israel's] schools and fostered in national memorial
ceremonies, often encourages insular chauvinism and a sense that the Nazi
extermination of the Jews justifies any act that seems to contribute to
Israel's security, including the oppression of the population in the territories
occupied by Israel in the Six-Day War." / 11
-
- Amira Hass, an award-winning Israeli
journalist and author, is even more blunt. Writing in a leading Israeli
daily paper, she says: / 12
-
- " Israel has turned the liquidation
of Europe's Jews into an asset. Our murdered relatives are being enlisted
to enable Israel to continue not giving a damn about international decisions
against the occupation. The suffering our parents endured in the ghettoes
and concentration camps that filled Europe, the physical and mental anguish
and torment that our parents were subjected to every single day since the
`liberation,' are used as weapons to thwart any international criticism
of the society we are creating here. This is a society with built-in discrimination
on the basis of nationality, and the discrimination is spreading on either
side of the Green Line. This is a society that is systematically continuing
to banish the Palestinian nation from its land and usurp its rights as
a nation and its chances for a humane future."
-
- The great lesson of the Holocaust, says
Israel prime minister Ariel Sharon, is that Jews must "always remain
vigilant and trust no one but ourselves. Jews can only rely on themselves."
Young Jews, he adds, "have the duty to bequeath the lesson, memories
and stories, to underscore the importance of the existence of the Jewish
state." / 13
-
- No Similar Remembrance of Non-Jews
-
- Non-Jewish victims of genocide, oppression
and war do not merit the same consideration as do Jewish victims of the
Holocaust. There are no comparable museums, memorials or solemn ceremonies
to commemorate, for example, the vastly greater number of victims of Soviet
and Chinese Communism.
-
- As historians acknowledge, the non-Jewish
victims of Soviet Russian dictator Joseph Stalin greatly outnumber the
Jews who perished as a result of Hitler's policies. Robert Conquest, a
prominent scholar of twentieth century Russian history, estimates the number
of those who lost their lives as a consequence of Stalin's policies as
"no fewer than 20 million." / 14 Authoritative estimates
of the number of Chinese who perished as victims of killings, repression,
starvation and forced labor under the Communist regime of Mao Zedong range
from about 30 million to more than 60 million. / 15
-
- Americans are trained and encouraged
to "know" that six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis in
World War II. But few Americans, even well-educated ones, have any idea
of how many Russians, Poles, Chinese or even Americans lost their lives
in that global conflict. Estimates of the number of Chinese who lost their
lives as direct and indirect victims of Japanese aggression and occupation
during the 1930s and 1940s range from about ten million to more than twice
that number. The Chinese government has put the figure at 35 million. /
16
-
- During the years 1885 through 1908, an
estimated five to eight million Africans perished in the Congo as direct
and indirect victims of the brutal policies of the Belgian colonial authorities.
These deaths were the result of widespread killings, starvation, exhaustion
and exposure. / 17
-
- 'Holocaust Denial' Laws
-
- In some countries special "Holocaust
denial" laws stifle free and objective discussion of the Holocaust
issue. In Israel, Germany, France, Austria and a few other nations, it
is a crime publicly to "play down," dispute, "whitewash,"
or "deny" the Holocaust. No other chapter of history is protected
by law in this way. Even factually accurate statements that violate "Holocaust
denial" laws are punished. Over the years, many individuals in those
countries have been fined, imprisoned or forced into exile for disputing
Holocaust claims.
-
- 'God's Chosen'
-
- The Holocaust is often treated with reverence,
and as a central event of world history. For many Jews, says Rabbi Michael
Goldberg, a Jewish author and religious leader, the "veneration"
of the Holocaust has become a new religion. "And as with any organized
church," he adds, "this Holocaust cult has its own tenets of
faith, rites, and shrines." / 18
-
- The Holocaust remembrance campaign
reflects an arrogant view of Jews as a special and superior people. Abraham
Foxman, head of the Anti-Defamation League -- one of the most influential
Zionist groups - has declared: "...The Holocaust is something
different. It is a singular event. It is not simply one example of genocide
but a near successful attempt on the life of God's chosen children and,
thus, on God himself. It is an event that is the antithesis of Creation
as recorded in the Bible; and like its direct op posite, which is relived
weekly with the Sabbath and yearly with the Torah, it must be remembered
from generation to gen-eration." / 19
-
- Jewish death and suffering do not deserve
to be venerated more than the death and suffering of non-Jews. The Holocaust
remembrance campaign deserves scorn, not support, because it is a one-sided
effort that serves narrow Jewish and Israeli interests and bolsters Jewish-Zionist
power.
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-
- Notes
-
-
- 1. A. Barkat, "Yad Vashem Was the
First, And Now It's The Latest," Haaretz (Israel), March 15,
2005
-
- ( http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/552062.html
).
-
-
- 2. D. Sterritt, "The one serious
subject Hollywood doesn't avoid," The Christian Science Monitor, Nov.
22, 2002 ( http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1122/p13s01-almo.html ).
-
-
- 3. Peter Novick, The Holocaust in American
Life (Boston: 1999), p. 207.
-
-
- 4. Quoted in: David Cesarani, ed., The
Final Solution: Origins and Implementation (Routledge, 1994), pp. 305,
306.
-
-
- 5. Tim Cole, Selling the Holocaust (Routledge,
2000), p. 2.
-
-
- 6. P. Novick, The Holocaust in American
Life (1999), p. 207. See also pp. 11-12, 208.
-
-
- 7. Melvin Jules Bukiet, "The Museum
vs. Memory: The Taming of the Holocaust," The Washington Post, Sunday,
April 18, 1993, p. C3. Quoted in: P. Novick, The Holocaust in American
Life (1999), p. 330, n. 104.
-
-
- 8. Norman G. Finkelstein, The Holocaust
Industry (Verso, 2003), pp. 37, 52, 149.
-
-
- 9. Paula E. Hyman, "New Debate on
the Holocaust," The New York Times Magazine, Sept. 14, 1980, p. 79.
-
-
- 10. Tony Judt, "Goodbye To All That?,"
The Nation (New York), Jan. 3, 2005, p. 17.
-
-
- 11. Tom Segev, The Seventh Million: The
Israelis and the Holocaust (New York: 1993), pp. 513, 517.
-
-
- 12. Amira Hass, "Using the Holocaust
to ward off criticism," Haaretz (Israel), March 16 (or 21?), 2005.
-
-
- 13. Leonard Fein, "Too Young to
March?," Forward (New York), May 13, 2005, p. 8; " Israel
marks Auschwitz liberation," BBC News, Jan. 27, 2005 ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4212079.stm
);
-
- " Sharon : Never Forget Nazi Killers,"
CNN News, May 6, 2005
-
- ( http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/05/05/holocaust.day/
).
-
-
- 14. R. Conquest, The Great Terror: A
Reassessment (Oxford Univ. Press, 1990), p. 48.
-
-
- 15. S. Courtois, and others, The Black
Book of Communism (Harvard Univ. Press, 1999), pp. 4, 463-464; D.
Southerland, "Repression's Higher Toll," The Washington
Post, July 17, 1994, pp. A1, A22, A 23; Richard L. Walker, The Human Cost
of Communism in China. A study of the Committee on the Judiciary, US Senate
(1971).
-
-
- 16. "Dispute over mission stalls
Japanese war museum," The Palm Beach Post, May 21, 1995, p. 22A (from
The New York Times); Sam Jameson, "WWII Apology Fails to Find a Voice
in Japan ," Los Angeles Times, June 10, 1995, p. A12.
-
-
- 17. Adam Hochschild, "In the
Heart of Darkness," The New York Review of Books, October 6, 2005,
pp.
-
- 39-42; Adam Hochschild, King Leopold's
Ghost (Houghton Mifflin, 1999); A. Roxburgh, "Belgians Confront Colonial
Past," BBC News, March 9, 2005 ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4332605.stm
).
-
-
- 18. Michael Goldberg , Why Should Jews
Survive? : Looking Past the Holocaust Toward a Jewish Future (Oxford Univ.
Press, 1996), p. 41.
-
-
- 19. A. Foxman, "Schindler's List
The Meaning of Spielberg's Film," ADL On the Frontline, January
1994, p. 2.
-
-
-
- About the Author
-
- Mark Weber is director of the Institute
for Historical Review (http://www.ihr.org/ ). He studied history at the
University of Illinois (Chicago), the University of Munich, Portland State
University and Indiana University (M.A., 1977). In March 1988 he testified
for five days in Toronto District Court as a recognized expert witness
on Germany's wartime Jewish policy and the Holocaust issue.
-
- http://www.ihr.org/leaflets/holocaust_remembrance.shtml
|
