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Jewish American
historian Norman Finkelstein argues in his explosive new book, "The
Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish
Suffering" that Holocaust remembrance has been exploited by the Jewish
establishment.
In his book he contends
that a greater threat to the memory of the Holocaust than Holocaust deniers
is what he calls 'The Holocaust Industry'.
He accuses those who
exploit the Holocaust of telling lies and of naked greed. He argues that
the ruthless industrialisation of the Holocaust has encouraged the rebirth
of anti-semitism in Europe and the United States
The son of survivors of
the Warsaw ghetto and concentration camps, he says, "I do care about
the memory of my family's persecution. The current campaign of the
Holocaust industry to extort money from Europe in the name of "needy
Holocaust victims" has shrunk the moral stature of their martyrdom to
that of a Monte Carlo casino."
We put a selection
of your questions to Norman Finkelstein who answered them in a live video
forum.
 Click
here to watch the forum
Ian Sullory, UK: Why, what made you do it why
have you decided to make these claims?
Norman Finkelstein: I think I would say that my
motivation was personal. My parents had fairly recently passed away in 1995
and I felt that it was time to settle accounts of the Holocaust Industry,
in my view, both as a perversion and falsification of my parents'
experience. Secondly, as a corruption of my parents' experience by turning
it into a shakedown industry, ruthlessly extorting huge sums of money from
European countries in the name of what they call the "Holocaust
Victims". When they actually manage to get the monies, the victims
never see any of it.
Alex Laidlaw, UK: Why are you attacking Holocaust
survivors for wanting compensation for what the Nazis did? The Nazis stole
untold millions of people's money. They have every right to demand compensation.
Instead of attacking the "Holocaust Industry" as you call it, why
don't you attack the German industrialists that made a very big profit from
exploiting the Jews?
Norman Finkelstein: I think that both are fair
questions. Firstly, I am absolutely for the victims of Nazi persecution
receiving compensation; it's never been an issue for me. Secondly, it's
impossible to assign dollar value to the kinds of suffering the Jews and
other groups endured under the Nazi regime. However, one has to be honest
about these things and the record of the German Government as compared to
other governments in the world, regarding compensation, has been relatively
good. They have paid out roughly 50-60 billion Dollars in compensation.
Compared to the Americans, we have to say that the German record is good.
Jamil Farah, France:
: I attended
the TARI conference in Boston earlier this year and was very impressed by
your contribution. I would like to know if you consider the state of Israel
an important actor in the "Holocaust industry"?
Norman Finkelstein: If we're going to establish the
principal that property wrongly expropriated should be returned, we have to
ask why Israel is not applying the same standards. Why aren't they applying
the same standards that we insist on for Swiss banks, the German
industrialists and the Eastern European governments?
Adrian,
undergraduate at Cambridge, and son of Holocaust survivor: Is it at all possible that your
comments have been made in the pursuit of fame and fortune, or perhaps some
sort of rebellion against your parents? In addition what makes you an
authority on the number of survivors, which have been verified by numerous
academics of greater calibre than yourself? So far you have only damaged
the cause for Holocaust remembrance.
Norman Finkelstein: First of all, it's impossible
for anybody to be the best judge of his or her motives. I would say, at the
risk of sounding immodest, I think that I have a reasonably decent track
record of trying as best I can, to preserve the historical record of many
issues - the Israel/ Palestine conflict, the question of the Nazi Holocaust
- at considerable personal sacrifice. There are easier ways to gain fame
and fortune in this world. As for my expertise, I freely admit I don't
claim to be an expert on this topic. What I do in the book is exactly what
your questioner would want me to do - I cite the authoritative figures.
David T, UK: What is worrying is that an
internet search for "Norman Finkelstein" shows that you are quoted
with approval by organisations and individuals as diverse as Odin's Lounge,
David Irving, and by the National Journal whose website boasts: "Why
are anti-Semites "dangerous"? - Answer: ... "because they
are in the right" Does it worry you that you have become a totem for
the extremist racist right?
Norman Finkelstein: I think that problem arises but
I would want to add two points. Firstly, I have enlisted the support of
authenticates of Nazi persecution who are grateful to me for bringing this
issue to the public domain. Secondly, if you search my web site, you'll
find contributions from a large number of mainstream figures who have very
generously reviewed my last few books.
Adam McIntosh,
United States: I
deeply appreciate your efforts to restore the Holocaust to its rightful,
but still horrific, place in history. What was the starting point in your
intellectual journey that eventually brought you to the idea of the
"Holocaust Industry"?
Norman Finkelstein: I think the starting point is a
very simple one. My parents looked on with growing repugnance at the way
the experience they passed through was being depicted in the mainstream
media and in Holocaust scholarship. In fact when they referred to the
Holocaust, it was as if it was another event - a spectacle. It was that
scepticism and disgust with the way the matter was being depicted, that
finally inspired me to sit down and settle the accounts of this nonsense.
Pepita Diamand-Levy,
United Kingdom: I
agree that people should not profit from the suffering of others. Have you
considered giving your book's proceeds to Peace Now, the UNHCR or the
United Negro College Fund?
Norman Finkelstein: I very much doubt this. I work
for a very small publisher, I received a $5,000 advance, and given that I'm
self-employed about a third to half of this will go to taxes. I have a very
marginal income - it's not as if I'm raking in huge profits from my
parents' misery and suffering.
Kenneth Little,
United Kingdom: Do
you believe that too much emphasis is put upon making people feel guilty
when the Holocaust is discussed? I was born twelve years after the camps
were liberated. Can I be responsible for events that took place when I was
not even alive? Do you believe that my real responsibility is not to be
guilty but to work towards a society where bigotry and prejudice are
marginalised?
Norman Finkelstein: You can't be responsible and I
wouldn't hold you responsible. I really do make a major effort to reach out
to German young people for whom I have a very high regard. On the other
hand, I think we should be sensitive to the crimes committed in the name of
our country.
Nader Hashemi,
Canada: Unlike
in North America your new book has been reviewed widely in the European
press and generated a storm of mostly hostile letters. What are some of the
biggest distortions and misrepresentations of your thesis that you would
like to correct?
Norman Finkelstein: I am not averse to scholarly
attacks. I try my best to preserve the integrity of historical records and
if I've made an error, I want to exchange error for truth. In England, the
critical remarks have been along the lines that the book is shrill,
strident and a rant. You can't engage in a scholarly discussion with that
kind of criticism.
Bill from Paris in
France: I have
heard that American law firms are sending people to Europe to find
Holocaust survivors or their family members to sign them up for class
action suits which these US law firms are running. A report yesterday
mentioned the $5 billion suit against a long list of German firms. How much
are these law firms keeping for themselves as payment for these cash
settlements? The usual 35%?
Norman Finkelstein: Some of these law firms will be
sending their teams to Mars and Venus looking for Holocaust survivors - the
whole thing has become a grotesque joke. These people are grave robbers.
B. Lewis, UK Should your main contribution
not be to show that the Holocaust did take place, and highlight the need
for people to be conscious of racism in whatever form it may take and
oppose it by all means.
Norman Finkelstein: I totally agree and I think
that a rational discussion of the Nazi Holocaust, in my view, would lead us
to conclude that we have to be sensitive to, be careful of and fight
against all forms of racism. The problem is the way the Nazi Holocaust is
depicted by the Holocaust Industry. They claim that the Nazi Holocaust was unique and nothing can compare to it.
Babs, USA: Isn't it possible that your basic tenet of victimisation to justify breast-beating and Jewish racism will fractionalise the Jewish communities?
Norman Finkelstein: I think that there is a problem in the United States. It's clearly a problem arising among those who are not Jewish becoming sick and tired of hearing of the Holocaust. I feel that it's time for the Jewish community to open their hearts to the rest of humanity - there are other people suffering out there.
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