The Holocaust Industry (29 page)
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intellectual integrity.
Mr Finkelstein, English not being my mother tongue, I really do hope that
my message to you is clear and that my feelings were correctly put into words.
My respect and regards
Hicham Dennaoui
______________________________________________________________________
You are speaking just out of my heart" - as germans say.
I myself , born 1950, a male german, having a german father and a croatian
mother, had a lot of compassion and understanding for jewish people since my youth.
My family had to suffer after the war under ethnic cleaning in Eastern Europe.
Never this part of the history was mentionned or dicussed in germany, because
of the fear of "revanchism". It was always argumented by german authorities, that we should focus on the future
and not stick to the past and generate new hate ...!!
But why then, we shall remind up to the third next generation the Holocaust?
Is the suffering of Germans or Russians (by war and communism), French and
others of no importance? More and more I feel, that I become angry about the
requirements and allegations of jewish organisations.
Do these people also see that, for example, also the palestinians do have a
right on compensations against Israel? Do they see, that the human rights
require, that these people have a right to return back to their homes, that
they had to leave after ´48?
best regards
Alois Freko
A.Freko@AIC
______________________________________________________________________
From: Jacob Levich <
[email protected]
>
Subject: Thanks
Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2000 20:26:11 -0400
Dear Dr. Finkelstein,
I read your most recent book with tremendous interest and excitement, and I
wanted to express my gratitude for the courage you've shown, as well as for
the high level of scholarship and integrity exhibited throughout.
The New York Times review was a disgusting travesty, by the way. The irony
is that all its overheated rhetoric, selective quotation, and deliberate
falsification reminded me of the cruder kind of Holocaust deniers. You
could not have wished for a more powerful (if wholly unintentional)
validation of your work.
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Thank you for standing up for ALL who were murdered, and for all who
survived. They deserve no less than the truth.
An extra note of thanks -- your book led me to read Raul Hilberg's
exquisite memoir, which I might not otherwise have discovered.
Best regards,
Jacob Levich
Editor
New York
______________________________________________________________________
Dear Norman,
Your book will be particularly valuable in Europe, where even peace
activists believe American supports Israel because of the Jewish
lobby. I've even heard the phrase "Jewish-occupied Washington" used
to show why American maintains sanctions on Iraq. These activists,
who should know better, invert the causation. Once in a while I try
to explain as much: that the Jewish lobby exists only because Israel
is useful to American piracy. The day Israel stops doing the US's
dirty work is the day the Jewish lobby gets relagated to the same
dustbin as the Palestinian lobby.
Maybe it takes longer than a day, as the Elian Gonzalez affair shows.
It looks like the `sensible' segments of the US government have
decided that they'll finish off Cuba more effectively by `free' trade
than by embargo. The Cuban exiles in Miami, no longer needed, can now
be forced to obey the law by armed federal agents. But it'll take a
year or two before the brainwashed politicians and newspaper editors
stop taking their cue from the exiles.
(Just like all these idiot right-wingers who go on about China being a
"Communist dictatorship" and how we should not trade with it, etc. --
they're still singing from their "who lost China" sheet. They haven't
yet realized that, through "free" trade with China, the "good cops"
portion of the US government have found out how to exploit American
and Chinese workers simultaneously, for the benefit of American big
business.)
[The NY Times review was a real disgrace.] The last such hostile
review I saw was of Endicott and Hagerman's excellent book on US
biological warfare in Korea. But alas it didn't conform to the NYT
party line -- same `problem' as your book.
True party-liners.
Or worse. The Times, and the Western press, is more skilled at
propganda than the Soviets were. I was just in Spain for a conference
of physics teachers from around the world; even a peace activist (who
knew what a crime the Vietnam war was) believed most of the Nato lies,
and was giving a Serbian physicist a hard time about how Serbia had to
atone for its sins. Hardly anyone else would even speak to the
Serbian.
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-Sanjoy
______________________________________________________________________
Dear Prof. Finkelstein,
Having heard about your book on the news on German television a
few weeks ago, I ordered it immediately and have just finished
reading it. Although born in the United States, I have lived in
Germany for the last 29 years and have, naturally, followed the
course of the negotiations on compensation for Jewish (and other)
victims of Nazism, first in the case of Switzerland and more
recently of this country (Germany). I was, of course, also aware
of the huge amounts of money the German government has paid over
the years. Added to this is the fact that my degrees (BA from
the U. of Georgia and MA from the U. of London) are in history,
specifically German history in the 20th century.
Although my background is Christian (my family is Episcopalian),
my sentiments have been very pro-Jewish at least since the 1967
Six-Day War. At the time, I was engaged to a Jewish girl from
Queens. N.Y., and we keenly followed the round-the-clock coverage
of the war, cheering at every Israeli victory. In 1971 I then
spent a summer on a kibbutz in Israel and traveled widely in the
country. I had, in fact, registered for an ulpan (the program
for Jewish immigrants to Israel to learn Hebrew) but left early -
with others - because of the unfriendly treatment by the
kibbutzniks.
Having said all that, I have to say that your book was
fascinating and illuminating reading and should be required
reading for all the governments involved and, more specifically,
for all Jews and particularly all American Jews. It is a sad
truth that your revelations will also play into the hands of
anti-Semitic, neo-Nazi groups, who will no doubt use it to revive
the nonsense of an international Jewish conspiracy. We are
witnessing an increase in such behavior here in Germany now. But
it is not your revelations that are to blame for this development but,
rather, the shameless extortionist behavior of the Jewish
organizations you refer to. Keep up the good work and don't let
yourself be intimidated by these mighty Jewish organizations that
would, no doubt, love to silence you.
Sincerely,
David Orpin
Wassenberg, Germany
______________________________________________________________________
Subject: liked your book
Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2000 22:56:28 EDT
Dear Mr. Finkelstein,
After reading the review in the Economist, I bought a copy of The Holocaust
Industry and have just finished reading it. I wish to thank you very much
for this book. The juxtaposition between the evil of the Holocaust and the
atrocities committed against the Palestinians has always seemed quite
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vexing to me. It is also frustrating that no politician or other public figure
seems capable of addressing the legacy of the Holocaust on anything other than a
cartoon-character level. I hope your book helps accelerate the day when all
people of good will, Jews and Gentiles alike, can work together for a world
free of bigotry and oppression.
Sincerely,
Peter Cole
Brighton, MA
______________________________________________________________________
Subject: Honor where honor is due
Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 13:46:06 GMT
Dear Mr Finkelstein,
heartiest congratulations on your latest book. It has opened many eyes.
I wish you continued strength and good cheer as you fight the good fight.
Your enemies are of the sort one should have.
S. Leibowitz
______________________________________________________________________
From: "hossam tarakji" <
[email protected]
>
Date: Thu, 14 Sep 2000 20:14:23 CDT
mr. finkelstein
I watched your show on aljazeera channel yesterday, and I have big respect
to your courageous opinions that reflect your good and honest
personality, something that is rare this days.
I hope your voice and the voice of all the honest people around the world
rise very high so the rights go back where it belongs.
hossam
______________________________________________________________________
Dear Mr. Finkelstein:
This book is that that every honest Jew needs. My father who with his family escaped Holocaust because they
managed to be evacuated by the Soviet authorities in 1941 was shocked when after coming to this country in
1994 he saw how many people who survived as 6-10 year old kids in Romanian ghettos in Moldavia became
"professional Holocaust survivors" in spite of being so small to remember most of their life there, we were
shocked when we learnt about the whole deal of Swiss compensation "to the Jews." Who of almost 3M Soviet
Jews perished in Holocaust ever heard about Switzerland or about her banks at least? 99% of the Soviet Jews as
most of their Gentile compatriots were stripped out anything even related to gold and currency during the
"Socialist Industrialization" in early 1930-s; they might have a golden wedding band or (the most "affluent") a
golden crown which the NKVD failed to confiscate. Who, except for a few rich Jews from the West can claim
anything from Switzerland, then?
This ridiculous campaign to milk every nation in Europe will do nothing except for feeding the anti-Semitism.
Fortunately, you wrote this book.
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There is another issue that, I think, can be of great help. This is the question of the number of victims. The major
problem form my point of view is an inaccurate approach to the political map of the pre-war Europe. For example,