arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Cashing in on Tragedy

Norman Finkelstein is to be commended for tackling such a divisive issue as this one. The holocaust is an event that has the capacity for causing heated emotions. With a word, a phrase or a smirk, one can be branded an anti-Semite or worse. Finkelstein takes his chances and charges into the fray. As a Jew, Finkelstein seems to have even more to lose than most, although criticism of Jewish issues by a Jew seems to be more acceptable than if the criticism came from a non-Jew.

Finkelstein targets what he calls the "holocaust industry." This industry is made up of writers, lawyers and others who benefit from appropriating Hitler's campaign of genocide against the Jews for their own monetary gain. Writers such as Jerzy Kosinski, Finkelstein reveals, are frauds that try and make a buck off legitimate suffering. The lawyers are even worse. These legal attack dogs sue companies that are supposedly responsible for aiding or abetting the Third Reich. These same lawyers have gone after Swiss banks that supposedly have hidden funds deposited by Jews who subsequently died in the concentration camps. The damages sought by these lawyers are astronomical and have no direct relation to actual events. If the companies or banks don't give in, media systems are used to intimidate and threaten, with hysterical cries of anti-Semitism thrown about with seeming indifference. Even worse, the lawyers end up pocketing most of the awards.

No one, Finkelstein included, denies a holocaust against Jews. It is important to remember that many others died in the camps, such as Gypsies, Slavs and others. The death of Jews in no way elevates their suffering over any other people. Finkelstein's concern seems to be that these blackmail schemes will ultimately cheapen the holocaust and open the way for the deniers. Anyway you cut it, the tactics used by the holocaust industry are shameful and should be condemned as such.