ГУЛаг Палестины

Germans in the area were busily working for the Einsatzgruppe. (Raul Hilberg, The Destruction of

the European Jews, 1961, p. 202 - in this case, I am quoting from the 1961 edition)

The Slavic population stood estranged and even aghast before the unfolding spectacle of the

"final solution." There was on the whole no impelling desire to cooperate in a process of such

utter ruthlessness. The fact that the Soviet regime, fighting off the Germans a few hundred

miles to the east, was still threatening to return, undoubtedly acted as a powerful restraint

upon many a potential collaborator. (Raul Hilberg, The Destruction of the European Jews, 1985,

p. 308)

First, truly spontaneous pogroms, free from Einsatzgruppen influence, did not take place; all

outbreaks were either organized or inspired by the Einsatzgruppen. Second, all pogroms were

implemented within a short time after the arrival of the killing units. They were not

self-perpetuating, nor could new ones be started after things had settled down. (Raul Hilberg,

The Destruction of the European Jews, 1985, p. 312)

It would seem, Mr. Wiesenthal, that you were an eyewitness - the only eyewitness - to the largest pogrom of the

war, and that at the same time, at least two of the foremost chroniclers of the Jewish Holocaust have quite overlooked

this program, and in the case of Raul Hilberg, flatly deny that any such pogrom ever took place. According to

Hilberg, all Ukrainian pogroms took place after the arrival of the Germans, were instigated by the Germans, were small

in scale, and had no momentum of their own.

In view of this oversight on the part of the historians, Mr. Wiesenthal, shouldn't you get in touch with them and

recount your experiences to them so that the story of the Lviv pogrom is not lost to future generations, and so that

Jewish hatred of Ukrainians is not diminished by the loss?

Sincerely yours,

Lubomyr Prytulak

HOME DISINFORMATION PEOPLE WIESENTHAL 906 hits since 18Jan98

Wiesenthal Letter 16 Sep 9/97 Shifting date for the Lviv pogrom

September 9, 1997

Simon Wiesenthal

Jewish Documentation Center

Salztorgasse 6

1010 Vie

Austria

Dear Mr. Wiesenthal:

In my letter to you of September 8, I demonstrated that two prominent historians seem to be unaware of the

pre-German Lviv pogrom which killed 5 to 6 thousand Jews, at least as claimed by Morley Safer and yourself on the 60

Minutes broadcast, The Ugly Face of Freedom of October 23, 1994. I will remind you that in that 60 Minutes broadcast,

Morley Safer twice asserts - once seemingly in your hearing - that the Lviv pogrom antedated the arrival of the

Germans, thus placing culpability squarely at the feet of the Ukrainian perpetrators.

In a continuing effort to learn more about this Lviv pogrom, I turned to your biographical Justice Not Vengeance,

only to discover you claiming that this pogrom postdated the arrival of the Germans:

Thousands of detainees were shot dead in their cells by the retreating Soviets. This gave rise

to one of the craziest accusations of that period: among the strongly anti-Semitic population

the rumour was spread by the Ukrainian nationalists that all Jews were Bolsheviks and all

Bolsheviks were Jews. Hence it was the Jews who were really to blame for the atrocities

committed by the Soviets.

All the Germans needed to do was to exploit this climate of opinion. It is said that after

their arrival they gave the Ukrainians free rein, for three days, to 'deal' with the Jews.

(Simon Wiesenthal, Justice Not Vengeance, 1989, p. 36, emphasis added)

As the timing of the Lviv pogrom is critical to assigning blame, I would have expected this timing to have been

verified with care and to be either consistent between the two reports, or else with an explanation offered for any

inconsistency. Instead, I find that you along with Morley Safer have broadcast a version in 1994 that directly

contradicts a version that you published five years earlier in 1989.

I look forward to hearing your clarification of this discrepancy.

Sincerely yours,

Lubomyr Prytulak

HOME DISINFORMATION PEOPLE WIESENTHAL 2113 hits since 18Jan98

Wiesenthal Letter 18 Sep 11/97 Questions concerning the Waffen SS

September 11, 1997

Simon Wiesenthal

Jewish Documentation Center

Salztorgasse 6

1010 Vie

Austria

Dear Mr. Wiesenthal:

Your accusation that Canada harbors a large number of war criminals has been

incessant over the years, and at one point led to the creation of Canada's Deschenes

Commission on War Criminals. This accusation seems to be based primarily on Canada's

presently being home to some former members of the Ukrainian Galicia Division, combined

with the fact that the Galicia Division was categorized by the Germans as belonging to

the Waffen SS.

The first question that I would like to put to you, Mr. Wiesenthal, is whether you

are aware that the Waffen SS was a combat unit that played no role in the management of

concentration camps, and carried out no SS functions? I wonder if you are aware of

this, as you typically - perhaps always? - drop the qualification "Waffen" and refer to

members of the Galicia Division simply as members of the "SS," which gives the

misleading impression that combat soldiers were administrators of concentration camps.

If you are already aware of the distinction between the SS and the Waffen SS, then I

wonder that you would allow yourself to present the misleading picture that you have

been presenting. If you are unaware of this distinction, then I wonder how it came to

be that you are accorded the status of an expert witness on World War II events, as you

were on the 60 Minutes broadcast The Ugly Face of Freedom on October 23, 1994. Would

you be able to throw any light on this question?

But on top of that, you must have become aware during your long career as a Nazi

hunter that Ukraine was not unique in providing the German armed forces with Waffen SS

troops. Below, I reproduce a quote from an interview by Slavko Nowytski of Professor

Norman Davies, historian at the University of London, and author of the recent Europe:

A History, published by Oxford University Press:

In discussing the question of collaborating with Germany Prof. Davies

noted that, "A large number of the volunteers for the Waffen SS came

from Western Europe. The nation which supplied it the largest number

of divisions was the Netherlands [four]. There were two Belgian

divisions, there was a French Waffen SS. To my mind, it's rather

surprising that Ukraine, which is a much larger country [than the

Netherlands or Belgium] supplied only one Waffen SS Division.... It's

surprising that there were so few Ukrainians [in the German Army].

Many people don't know, for example, that there were far more Russians

fighting alongside the Wehrmacht or in the various German armies than

there were Ukrainians.... Thanks to Soviet propaganda, the Russian

contribution to the Nazi war effort has been forgotten, whereas the

Ukrainian contribution has been remembered, I think, too strongly."

(Andrew Gregorovich, Forum, No. 95, Spring, 1997, p. 34)

And so the information in the above quotation leads to several more questions:

(1) As the population of The Netherlands is small, and as it contributed the

largest number of Waffen SS divisions, this gives The Netherlands the largest per