Falsification of the Holocaust

Letter to the editor by Prof. Israel Shahak, published on 19 May 1989 in Kol Ha'ir, Jerusalem.

Available online at:
http://www.kaiwan.com/codoh/newsdesk/890519.HTML

I disagree with the opinion of Haim Baram that the Israeli education system has managed to instill a 'Holocaust awareness' in its pupils (Kol Ha'Ir 12.5.89). It's not an awareness of the Holocaust but rather the myth of the Holocaust or even a falsification of the Holocaust (in the sense that 'a half-truth is worse than a lie') which has been instilled here.

As one who himself lived through the Holocaust, first in Warsaw then in Bergen-Belsen, I will give an immediate example of the total ignorance of daily life during the Holocaust. In the Warsaw ghetto, even during the period of the first massive extermination (June to October 1943), one saw almost no German soldiers. Nearly all the work of administration, and later the work of transporting hundreds of thousands of Jews to their deaths, was carried out by Jewish collaborators. Before the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (the planning of which only started after the extermination of the majority of Jews in Warsaw), the Jewish underground killed, with perfect justification, every Jewish collaborator they could find. If they had not done so the Uprising could never have started. The majority of the population of the Ghetto hated the collaborators far more than the German Nazis. Every Jewish child was taught, and this saved the lives of some them "if you enter a square from which there are three exits, one guarded by a German SS man, one by an Ukrainian and one by a Jewish policeman, then you should first try to pass the German, and then maybe the Ukrainian, but never the Jew".

One of my own strongest memories is that, when the Jewish underground killed a despicable collaborator close to my home at the end of February 1943, I danced and sang around the still bleeding corpse together with the other children. I still do not regret this, quite the contrary.

It is clear that such events were not exclusive to the Jews, the entire Nazi success in easy and continued rule over millions of people stemmed from the subtle and diabolical use of collaborators, who did most of the dirty work for them. But does anybody now know about this? This, and not what is 'instilled' was the reality. Of the Yad Vashem (official state Holocaust museum in Jerusalem - Ed.) theatre, I do not wish to speak at all. It, and its vile exploiting, such as honouring South Africa collaborators with the Nazis are truly beneath contempt.

Therefore, if we knew a little of the truth about the Holocaust, we would at least understand (with or without agreeing) why the Palestinians are now eliminating their collaborators. That is the only means they have if they wish to continue to struggle against our limb-breaking regime.

Kind regards,

[Israel Shahak]

VICTIM'S SELF-DESTRUCTION

Written by Alexander Kimel - Holocaust Survivor.

http://users.systec.com/kimel/method5.html


One of the most controversial and least talked aspect of the is the guilt of the Jewish collaborators, the Judenrat and Jewish Police. To make the life bearable and spread the evenly the sufferings, the Jews accepted the creation of the Jewish Councils (Judenrat) and the Jewish Police. A new social structure was created, a new Jewish aristocracy came to life. At the beginning the Judenrat served as a representative of the Jewish community, trying with bribes and submission to soften the Nazi blows. With the passage of time the Germans imposed new and more brutal demands on the Judenrat: deliverance of young people to labor camps, help in "resettlement". The privileges given to the Judenrat, the power, status, and most important the relative safety based on the exemption from "resettlement" made it impossible for the individual to back out. The slightest sign of insubordination by the Judenrat was punished by death. In many towns the Judenrat refused cooperation, was executed and another group took their place. It is the gradualism and terror that made collaborators out of decent people.

With the passing of time the Jewish Police became more corrupt, cynical and brutal.
"Jewish policemen also distinguished themselves with their fearful corruption and immorality. But they reached the height of viciousness during the resettlement. They said not a single word of protest against this revolting assignment to lead their own brothers to the slaughter. The police were psychologically prepared for the dirty work and executed it thoroughly. How could Jews have dragged women and children, the old and the sick, to the wagons, knowing they were all being driven to the slaughter? ...For the most part, the Jewish police showed an incomprehensible brutality. Where did Jews get such murderous violence? When in our history did we ever before raise so many hundreds of killers, capable of snatching children of the streets, throwing them on the wagons, dragging them to the Umschlagplatz? ...Merciless and violent, they beat those who tried to resist...The weren't content simply to overcome resistance, but with the utmost severity punished the "criminals" who refused to go to their death voluntarily".
The collaborators were not evil asocial people, who found pleasure in inflicting pain, nor were they sadistic fascist, they were ordinary people who by accident became part of the group, and were gradually given power and taught brutality.
"There were groups that cooperated with the Germans: the police, the Judenrat. I am not or the opinion that all those who took part in these groups were traitors and that all those who participated in these activities were concerned only about their own safety. And neither do I believe that those who cooperated with these institutions were motivated by malice. But from a strictly objective point of view, all these institutions were converted into instruments of evil, aiding the Germans in rounding up Jews for the concentration camps...for death. Leading all Judenrat, filling orders, defrauding, and accepting the decisions of the Germans. The Jewish police equally defrauded seizing Jews for the slave labor camps, forcing them into the dreaded trains of destruction, assisting in the wiping out of the Ghetto."
In Warsaw the President of the Judenrat Czerniakow, cooperated with the German authorities until he was ordered to compile daily lists of Jews destined for resettlement. Knowing with resettlement meant he refused and committed suicide.

"The first victim of the deportation decree was the President Adam Czerniakow, who committed suicide by poison in the Judenrat Building. He perpetuated his name by his death more than by his life. His end proves conclusively that he worked and strove for the good of people; that he wanted its welfare and continuity even though not everything done in his name was praiseworthy."

The Nazis regime appealed to the lowest instincts of men. First of all it divided the victims into two categories: the privileged and the powerless. It made oppressors out of the privileged, giving them power of life and death over the powerless. The privileged were the Kapos, camp functionaries, Judenrat, Jewish Police, etc. It delegated a lot of power to the privileged in exchange for blind obedience and cooperation in oppression. It took a lot of integrity not to be corroded with the power, under the life threatening conditions. In the long run all the privileged met their end.

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