|
|
|
|
PUBLISHING JULY 13, 2000 In an iconoclastic and controversial new study, Norman G. Finkelstein moves from an interrogation of the place the Holocaust has come to occupy in American culture to a disturbing examination of recent Holocaust compensation agreements. It was not until the Arab-Israeli war of 1967, when Israel’s evident strength brought it in line with US foreign policy, that memory of the Holocaust began to acquire the exceptional prominence it enjoys today. Leaders of America’s Jewish community were delighted that Israel was now deemed a major strategic asset and, Finkelstein contends, exploited the Holocaust to enhance their new-found status. Their subsequent interpretations of the tragedy are often variance with actual historical events and are employed to deflect any criticism of Israel and its supporters. Recalling Holocaust hoaxers such as Jerzy Kosinski and Binjamin Wilkomirski, as well as the demagogic constructions of writers like Daniel Goldhagen, Finkelstein contends that the major danger posed to the memory of Nazism’s victims comes not from the distortions of Holocaust deniers but from self-proclaimed guardians of Holocaust memory. Drawing on a wealth of untapped sources, he exposes the double shakedown of European countries as well as legitimate Jewish claimants, and concludes that the Holocaust industry has become an outright extortion racket. In The Holocaust Industry, Professor Finkelstein draws on previously unpublished material to show how the Jewish Claims Conference and the World Jewish Restitution Organization have extracted enormous compensation from Switzerland, Germany and other European governments, which they have then failed to pass on to the few living Holocaust survivors. The money has instead been used to fill the coffers of major Jewish organizations and to oil the wheels of a vast and lucrative bureaucracy. Finkelstein provides details of the misuses of this money for inflated salaries, Holocaust "education", and burgeoning memorials. In response to this grotesque misappropriation, many survivors are filing lawsuits against those who purport to speak in their name. This subject has never before been fully discussed in print. The Sunday Times of London on June 11, 2000, called Finkelstein's revelations "explosive". |
