The Holocaust Industry (31 page)
the 'holocaust survivors' ; the natural attrition
rate over the last 55 years would have presumably
decreased our number of the living genuine holocaust
survivors, to 70-80.000, as of today.I would also
venture to submit that the number of people involved
and remunerated in the various associations,
congresses, conferences, committees,
commissions,congregations, memorials,focus groups, chairs,
museums, centers, consultants,counsels,
litigators,task forces, institutes, restitution
organizations,all of them with their staff and their
boards,directors, secretaries,chairmans, fellows,
interns ; their cumulative number probably exceeds the
present number of the living Graduates of the
Holocaust. This huge contingent of unmandated salary
drawers thrive for half a century on restitutions
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earmarked for the actual survivors. While the size of
the holocaust graduates is rapidly diminishing, that
amorphous unaudited body is in constant expansion, as
if to validate again one of ParkinsonÃs laws :"Work
expands to fill the time available for its
completion", except that in this case the "time
available for completion " has been cannily omitted and
"the completion" is never in sight, nor envisaged. In
the very near future we, the 70.000, shall all
disappear, but fear not, with each passing day, new
survivors are discovered, baptized as such and
incorporated, so that the machinery can perpetuate its
own existence and its unstoppable expansion. And then
there will be a 'second' and 'third' generation of
survivors.
In this context, it is interesting to
note today that Ed Fagan has claimed - on ABC's 20/20 -
that he alone represents 82.000 'survivors' and as you
mentioned in your book, the Israeli Prime Minister's
Office reports 860.000 survivors in 2000 !
It seems that the burden is on us to correct without
further delay this outrageous misnomer which is at the
very foundation of what cannot be avoided to be called
a major historical deceit.
Would you help, Dr. Finkelstein, and could you kindly
ask a distinguished linguist like Noam Chomsky and a
distiguished holocaust historian like Raul Hilberg for
their scholarly assistance in this endeavor ? It seems
imperative to stop the proliferation ,the
misuse and
the abuse of the term 'holocaust survivor'.
Sincerely
[name withheld at request of author]
______________________________________________________________________
To: FINKELSTEIN <
[email protected]
>
Subject: Your book
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2000 18:22:59 -0400
Dear Mr. Finkelstein;
In many aspects your book hit the mark.
This is how we feel.
September 19, 2000
To The Editor
The New York Times
On September 8, 2000, you published an article; ("Lawyer in Holocaust
Case Faces Litany of Complaints") that surprised us in its specificity
about Mr. Edward Fagan who is only one of twenty six (26) attorneys or
law firms that have treated the victims of the Holocaust as terribly as
what your article accuses Mr. Fagan of.
At the outset, to those of us who understood the situation in the Swiss
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Settlement case while Senator D'Amato was holding his hearings, it
quickly became apparent that between the lawyers and the organizations
this affair has become a feeding frenzy or cleptocracy. These parties
were all determined from the outset to appropriate the moneys from the
settlement for themselves leaving the victims with promises and false
hopes.
From the beginning it was glaringly apparent how any due process that
respected the victims rights was missing from these proceedings. We
were not consulted on settlement issues. We were deliberately excluded
by one of the most prominent participants, the World Jewish Congress,
from having our say in the settlement discussions or final agreement.
Mr. Bert Neuborne specifically denied me access to be heard by the
negotiators and arrogantly declared "I am representing you". Early on
rumors began to circulate that the organizations, like the World Jewish
Congress and the Claims Conference had influenced Judge Edward R. Korman
to render a decision in the settlement's distribution that favors the
organizations as opposed to the victims. His final decision in the
case, the behind the scene maneuvering by Mr. Bert Neuborne, Mr. Stuart
Eizenstat of the State Depart, the 26 lawyers and the organizations show
just how greedily these parties have manipulated the case in their own
favor.
As your article correctly states our hopes were gotten up and in the end
we were told that we "just didn't matter". You needed to add however
that Mr. Fagan is only one of the shameful assembly who is doing this to
us.
If this settlement survives its nauseating stench of collusion, conflict
of interest, impropriety and theft, the money from it will mostly go to
those who have appointed themselves as beneficiaries and to some who
were lucky enough to know Judge Korman personally. This cleptocracy
deprives survivors of concentration camps of appropriate representation
and compensation.
THE LIBERATED [name changed at author's request]
(Auscvhwitz, Buchenwald, Zeitz, Berga-Elster Concentration camps)
______________________________________________________________________
From:
Dear Norman,
I read your book
The Holocaust Industry
and found it intelligent, insightful, and hard to argue against. Of course,
there will be those who argue vehemently against it, who insist upon believing a lie rather than the truth; they will
never be satisfied with your writings or beliefs. I know that they do everything they can to suppress and attack
those, such as your self, who have the courage to not merely articulate your beliefs but to rigorously research
your information in support of those beliefs.
Being a Jew, I wanted to share with you my understanding of the spiritual undercurrents in this obvious war
between the people of the Lie and those who cherish the Truth above all else, such as your self. There are two
different kinds of people in this world, the Good and the Evil, and this ontological reality clearly transcends race,
religion, nationalism, and ethnicity. How could those such as Bronfman and son, who have "won the game" in life,
and have all that money can buy, be so committed to untruth, deception, and the exploitation of their fellow Jews?
How can they exploit the suffering of their fellow man?
The answer is that those they exploit are not their fellow man, because Bronfman and son, and all the rest of the
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exploiters of the innocent (just like the Nazis they happen to target) are ontologically Evil. They are, to those with
true spiritual vision, demons. Yes, there are such things as demons, and they certainly are not just found in
Germany or Switzerland or Vietnam or whatever other convenient enemy is made the current target. These
people of the lie are clearly found in the US and Israel, too, as you well know, reaching all the way to the top.
At this point in time, something unique is happening: the evil ones are being exposed by the Good. The Light is
shining in the darkest places to reveal the underlying spiritual makeup of mankind, and the dark forces that rule
life in this world. We know that life shouldn't be this way. But those in positions of power, who control the money
and therefore the policies of nations, have been exploiting the suffering of the innocent for at least as long as
there has been recorded history (and certainly much longer). They are of the demonic essence, the People of the
Lie, and their time has come. Spiritually, their end is near.
The fact that untruth can be exposed, and evil uncovered, in our present time, to such a degree, indicates the
power of the Light that is shining upon this dark world. The force of Light and Truth will prevail. As one of good
heart to another, I just wanted to share this insight with you, as it may provide some comfort to know that True
justice will prevail, and everyone will get exactly what they deserve, spiritually. It is happening now.
Thank you for your work in support of Truth. It is not just an academic work but a spiritual work as well.
Best wishes.
______________________________________________________________________
This letter is from a member of the old Brooklyn College Peace Coalition back when Professor Finkelstein was
involved, and who went on to get a Masters of Arts in History.
Hi Norm,
I came across this item in the local Oregon State University History Department web site. It reminded me of what
you wrote about funds and fanfare funneled into Holocaust museums and memorials, so I thought I should send it
along:
http://osu.orst.edu/dept/history/holocaust_week_2000.htm
At first I wondered why it was there, in context and all... The town of Corvallis has few Jews, not even a
synagogue. However, in the heart of the fertile valley of the Willamette River there once lived thriving communities
of aboriginals. Native Americans were decimated times nine along the West Coast of North America. There is no
week or even day, not even a special minute set aside to remember the genocide of Native Americans. I think it is
too close to home for folks here to think about. Too much of the current order rides on keeping it under the rug, so
to speak. (I mean, could you imagine invoking the right of return for, say, the Cherokee, or the Lakota, or the
Iroquois? And then giving them military credits?)
But if it was not genocides or holocausts in general that concerned local citizens, why such a big mobilization for
The Holocaust? Especially since there were so few Jews around?
I suspect the reason might be that it provides a moral imperative for the United States to intercede abroad. I
remember when we were in the Brooklyn College Peace Coalition (against the Gulf War) and our antagonists
bedeviled us with the highsterical charge that Sad-damn was Anothah Hitlah! Newsweek magazine provided the
visuals with their famous cover photo of the dictator in an Adolph-styled, touched-up mustachio. Goaded with guilt
for the goyim, we remember The Holocaust. We failed to save them. Shame stokes the need for pride, and honor.
We nod, frowning, and intone: "Never Again!" Our resolve fixes.
Where the media is controlled, human rights stops having a universal application and becomes a one-way
weapon. It becomes a matter of routine to seize upon, or make up, any little trip-up by the current target and
explode it into a humanitarian offense so the great United States can intercede, send troops, and bombs. It's the
responsible thing to do, the duty of the strong. We cannot sit idly by... For humanitarian reason, people were
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blown to pieces in Iraq. For humanitarian reasons NATO planes dropped bombs on people in the Balkans. For
