Esrati

Real History and the Jewish Holocaust controversy some traditional enemies of Free Speech: Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of B’nai Brith, USA Australian B’nai Brith Anti-Defamation Commission Board of Deputies of British Jews Canadian Jewish Congress Canadian League of Human Rights of the B’nai Brith Coalition for Human Dignity, Oregon Community Security Trust of Board of Deputies Jewish Telegraph Agency Searchlight and Gerald Gable Surfwatch Internet censorship Alphabetical site index

(text) [ H-Net Humanities & Social Sciences OnLine ] Documentation of Fictionalized Accounts on the Holocaust Reply-To: H-NET List for History of the Holocaust < [email protected] > Sender: H-NET List for History of the Holocaust < [email protected] > Author: Stephen Esrati Date: August 10, 1999 Holocaust literature (including biography, history, and historical fiction) drips with inexactitude, propaganda, lies, and distortion.

My article: Mala’s Last Words seeks to dispel some of the falsehood. I am particularly upset by the great Lucy Dawidowicz ,who appears to have written only to uphold her Zionist party’s position. According to her, there was no Jewish resistance anywhere but in Warsaw. I am also upset at Raul Hilberg , who used Nazi sources to state that Jewish resistance at Sobibor was ineffective. These are the two greatest sources on the Holocaust.

If they can be so wrong, how can we judge conclusions drawn by others who have relied on their books? From: Fred Klein I would like to comment on Holocaust books in general. We seem to go from documentation to fictional or semi-fictional accounts, and, finally to true exploitation. It is my opinion that the most powerful works are documentations — unfortunately not the most popular ones. I remember the first fictionalized film called “Holocaust”.more than ten years ago.

I also read the book and it was very good. Two weeks before, I saw documentaries about Auschwitz and I assume the ratings were very low. The truth can be terrible, and many people cannot face it. If they are able to confront it, they will have feelings of guilt, too, because the whole world remained silent, including the United States. The same approach apllies to books.

A fictionalized, well written story may appeal to the masses for one simple reason: it reads better and you cannot distinguish between truth and fiction. On a daily base, we refuse to see reality. We read about car accidents, but the victims are covered with a white cloth. In our time, we are impressed by color images from Kosovo but there are no color videos from Auschwitz. The term of six million victims has become a statistic long ago, as a Nazi predicted at the end of the war.

In this overall context, I think it is not so important how many books by women are left out — this is always subjective. Given the unbelievable amount of literature, it may be better to establish a database about the topic. Thus we would not have to search for keywords. Amazon offers an excellent selection about the holocaust, but the topic “Teaching the Holocaust” may not always coincide with the intention of Amazon. We want to teach, Amazon wants to SELL.

Resuming, and in my personal opinion, the best fiction is less important than a documentary account. Fred Klein Stephen G. Esrati PO Box 20130 Shaker Heights, OH 44120 (216) 561-9393 [H-Net Humanities & Social Sciences OnLine] Send comments and questions to H-Net Webstaff