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From: Norman
Finkelstein
July 8, 1999
I do not wish to enter into a protracted debate on the
matter of who is a survivor. It seems that most list
members -- if not Mr Esrati -- grasped my point.
However, I would want to suggest where this latest Nazi
holocaust revisionism is heading. Some of you may have
read the GRANTA article on
Wilkomirski.
The most astonishing commentary came from Israel
Gutman, a director of Yad Vashem. Allow me to quote
the crucial passage:
"[Wilkomirski's
story] has to be checked very thoroughly, but -- I
don't think it's that important. Wilkomirski has
written a story which he has experienced deeply,
that's for sure. So that, even if he is not Jewish,
the fact that he was so deeply affected by the
Holocaust is of huge importance. . .
He is not a fake. He is someone who lives this
story very deeply in his soul. The pain is
authentic."
Thus: Because Wilkomirski's pain is real, he is an
authentic survivor. Never mind that he spent the war not
in Auschwitz but in the most affluent quarter of
Switzerland. Never mind that he is half-fruitcake,
half-mountebank. Let me add that I know for sure that
Gutman was in Auschwitz. My late father met him there and
they became lifelong friends. And yet Gutman now avers
that it makes no difference whether you were in Auschwitz
or a Swiss finishing school: it's all the same if "the
pain is authentic"! Isn't it time for serious reflection
on how morally corrupting this whole Holocaust business
has become? For that reason alone, I welcome Novick's
book.
Sincerely,
Norman Finkelstein
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The
Finkelstein family fully supports Prof. Norman
Finkelstein in his attack on Daniel
Goldhagen
write to David Irving