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POLITICA >>Reviews | ||||
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Politica is a forum for independent analysis of political events around the World |
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Finkelstein, N. 1999. The Holocaust Industry- reflections on the exploitation of Jewish suffering. Verso, London, UK. Rating: JJJ About the Author: Books by the same author: Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict; A Nation on Trial |
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Review In the last few decades, the dignity of those who died at the hands of the Nazis has been desecrate by two types of movements: Holocaust denial and the Holocaust Industry. In his masterful analysis, Norman Finkelstein attacks the latter head-on, and proves that in some ways it can be even more damaging than Holocaust denial. As a descendent of Jewish Holocaust survivors, he is appalled at the way a small but influential group of people has hijacked the memory of the Holocaust to mask their own personal quest for power and financial gain. He provides cast-iron evidence demonstrating the Holocaust Industry stole Swiss compensation money intended for genuine Holocaust survivors. He also shows how they devote enormous amounts of energy to minimising awareness of the suffering of non-jews. For example, Holocaust memorials in the USA are almost in denial of the genocide of Gypsies by Hitler, or the immense civilian toll the Slavs and Communists had to pay in World War II. Similarly, the Holocaust Industry is hostile to moves aimed at recognising the genocide of Native Americans or the Slave Trade in the USA. Prominent members of the Holocaust Industry include Elie Wiesel, who tried to cancel an international conference on Genocide because it included sessions on the massacre of Armenians by the Turks. By emphasising the uniqueness of the Jewish Holocaust, they desecrate the memory of all those who died at the hands of tyrants, but further their own objective of monopolising the sympathy of the State. Worse, they use the Holocaust as a pretext to demonise critics of continuing Israeli brutality towards the Palestinians. The Holocaust Industry's support for the brutal policies of successive Israeli governments make us fear the worst for the Palestinian people. This is why we should be grateful for writers such as Finkelstein, who remind us that ethnic cleansing, genocide and violence against entire populations is a crime not ONLY when it is committed against Jews. |
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