Friday, November 17, 2023
Report on Beth Israel vigil 11-11-23
Has the Mighty Wurlitzer dropped a note?
Witness for Peace recognizes the slave revolt that occurred in Gaza on Oct. 7. Nat Turner’s violent resistance to US slavery in 1831 parallels Hamas’ resistance we witnessed last month. Turner’s revolt crystalized the horrors of slavery, as Hamas’ resistance has focused the world’s attention to the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Truth is, however, we were uncertain how the passing traffic would view our ongoing protests at Beth Israel on October 14. Would the Mighty Wurlitzer (aka Jewish domination of our media) turn our almost-always positive favorability against us? Could the screaming pundits on Fox News sway the public to continue its pro-Israel bias, and vote us down? Perhaps even decisively down?
But check out our Scorecard (below): our tiny survey didn’t reflect this overwhelming support for Jewish supremacy in Palestine (state of Israel). In fact, we haven’t experienced any such effect; the signs of support have consistently been greater than those of disagreement. What can we conclude? The Mighty Wurlitzer has always been able to deliver the standard narrative – to support the Jewish state no matter its behavior – but perhaps we’re witnessing the dawn of a true Intifada with the American people. Just maybe they’re getting tired of being on the wrong side of history. Time will tell . . .
Twenty Year Breakfast Celebration
Yes, we’ve been at this “great day to protest”* activity for twenty full years now, and Dan McGowan, former Executive Director of Deir Yassin Remembered, bought breakfast for the whole group (14 in attendance) after our November 11 vigil. Vigiler Y brought her two children, Vigilers M and D showed up, as did a new face who, hopefully, will become a regular. Thanks, Dan!
What Happened at the Wannsee Conference?
Michigan students are mandated to receive Holocaust education. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s website is used often to provide information to our students. From the USHMM the student “learns” that, at this conference in 1942, National Socialists planned the physical extermination of Europe’s Jews. But is this correct?
We attempted to answer that question at the Ann Arbor City Council meeting on November 13; our address is found below signature, as well as the anticipated knee-jerk reaction from a few councilmen. Readers are invited to view this presentation here (advance to 49:50) and to witness council responses immediately following.
*-- Credit to former vigiler P
Scorecard
Date/For-Against
14-Oct 17-13
21-Oct 22-11
28-Oct 20-13
4-Nov 21-10
11-Nov 39-5
Henry Herskovitz
Witness for Peace
Victory to the Palestinian Resistance!
#
November 6, 2023 (348 words)
Good evening,
The Ann Arbor Public Schools curriculum on the Holocaust often refers our students to information provided by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC. This source provides a section on what is known as the Wannsee Conference, where our students learn about The Final Solution. The student is told “The "Final Solution" was the code name for the systematic, deliberate, physical annihilation of the European Jews.”, but with no corroborating evidence; it’s merely supposition on the part of the Museum, and has been challenged by revisionist historians.
One such historian is Francis Dupont, who has authored this booklet: Tall Tales from the German Woods; The Myth of the Wannsee Conference. In it, we have the complete photostatic transcripts of the minutes of the Wannsee Conference. Yes, they are in German and yes, the translation of these minutes might not be correct, but if any German language expert would like to take a look at these minutes, they are readily available. According to Dupont, the minutes actually exist under glass at the Wannsee Villa Museum, but “very few take the time to read them.”
He writes: “Nowhere in the Wannsee Meeting or its minutes is the murder of Jews discussed; only their emigration and [forced] evacuation . . . to the eastern territories opened up after the German invasion of the Soviet Union”
He continues: “Instead of plotting the mass murder of all Jews, the Wannsee conference minutes actually talk about keeping large numbers of Jews in Germany.”
Perhaps we think this Francis Dupont is merely an anti-Semitic Holocaust Denier and will say anything. So we turn to Yehuda Bauer, whom Wikipedia describes as a Czech-born Israeli historian and scholar of the Holocaust.
Here’s what Professor Bauer said, quoted by The Canadian Jewish News, Jan. 30, 1992: “The public still repeats, time after time, the silly story that at Wannsee the extermination of the Jews was arrived at.”
There are many other sources that our students could access that would allow them to comply with their mandated education on the Holocaust. Responsible leaders should encourage this access.
Thank you
