The Holocaust Industry (31 page)

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Authors: Norman Finkelstein

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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 Parkinsonís 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

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