ГУЛаг Палестины - Лев Гунин

Report back to me as soon as you deliver them [Wiesenthal along with a fellow prisoner]." (Alan

Levy, The Wiesenthal File, 1993, p. 37)

These passages invite several pertinent conclusions which a man of integrity and conscience would have insisted

on bringing to Morley Safer's attention:

(1) You yourself, Mr. Wiesenthal, can see a Ukrainian police official having his face slapped by a German

sergeant, which serves to remind you that Ukraine is under occupation, to show you who is really in charge, to suggest

that the German attitude toward Ukrainians is one of contempt and that the expression of this contempt is

unrestrained.

(2) You yourself see also that Bodnar's flat is subject to searches, indicating that although he is a participant

in the anti-Jewish actions, he is a distrusted participant, and a participant who might feel intimidated by the

hostile scrutiny of the occupying Nazis.

(3) But most important of all, you see that the German sergeant is waiting for Bodnar to report back. Alan Levy

writes that "Bodnar was ... concerned ... that now he [Bodnar] had to account, verbally at least, for his two

prisoners" (p. 37). If Bodnar reports back with the news that you, Mr. Wiesenthal, escaped, then how might Bodnar

expect the face-slapping German sergeant to respond? For Bodnar at this point in the story to actually allow you, Mr.

Wiesenthal, to escape is heroic, it is self-sacrificing, it is suicidal. And yet the forgotten Bodnar does go ahead

and effect your escape, probably never imagining that in later years this will become an event unworthy of notice

during your blanket condemnation of Ukrainians.

What I urge you to do now, Mr. Wiesenthal, is the following:

(1) Conduct a search to determine the fate of the forgotten Bodnar, and bestow upon him the recognition that he

deserves for his heroic action. Hopefully, Bodnar is still alive, so that the recognition will not be posthumous.

Hopefully, Bodnar did not sacrifice his life to save yours, as then your ingratitude would be truly black.

(2) Bring the forgotten Bodnar to the attention of Morley Safer at 60 Minutes, and ask for some correction of the

negative image created of the Ukrainian police.

(3) Search your memory long and hard and determine a version of the story which appears to be closest to the

truth, and then publish it as the official account, because at present, the wildly different versions in your several

biographies create the negative image of someone who just spews tall tales off the top of his head, without any

consideration for making them consistent with earlier versions of those same tales. For example, Mr. Wiesenthal, what

impression do you imagine is created in the mind of a reader who is told in Justice Not Vengeance that Bodnar saved

you alone and took you to his apartment, but then is told in The Wiesenthal File that Bodnar saved you together with

another prisoner and took the two of you to the office of a "commissar" which office the two of you spent the entire

night cleaning? I will tell you what impression is created, Mr. Wiesenthal - it is that of a person lying so

clumsily, that one almost imagines that he does so in order to be caught and exposed so as to finally be able to

confess and to purge his conscience.

Sincerely yours,

Lubomyr Prytulak

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Wiesenthal Letter 15 Sep 8/97 The elusive Lviv pogrom

September 8, 1997

Simon Wiesenthal

Jewish Documentation Center

Salztorgasse 6

1010 Vienna

Austria

Dear Mr. Wiesenthal:

According to your testimony on the 60 Minutes broadcast of October 23, 1994, "The Ugly Face of Freedom," in three

days following the evacuation of the Communist forces and before the arrival of the German troops, Ukrainian police

killed between five and six thousand Jews:

SAFER: He [Simon Wiesenthal] remembers that even before the Germans arrived, Ukrainian police

went on a 3-day killing spree.

WIESENTHAL: And in this 3 days in Lvov alone between 5 and 6 thousand Jews was killed.

...

SAFER: But even before the Germans entered Lvov, the Ukrainian militia, the police, killed 3,000

people in 2 days here.

Now before going beyond what was actually said in the broadcast, we already see a discrepancy which I ask you to

comment on. Specifically, you are the expert on the Holocaust who is testifying on 60 Minutes, and more than that you

are the eyewitness to the Lviv pogrom - the only eyewitness - and you tell Morley Safer that 5 to 6 thousand Jews were

killed in three days - but then Mr. Safer turns around and changes it to 3 thousand killed in two days. This does not

seem fair - after all you were there and Morley Safer wasn't, and whereas for Mr. Safer, this is just a story that he

is covering, for you it is the pivotal experience which determined the course of your life, the experience which in

the words of Mr. Safer, "compelled Wiesenthal to seek out the guilty, to bring justice."

So I wonder why Morley Safer changed your numbers? As you are the only witness adduced, Mr. Safer seems to have

lowered your figures on his own initiative. I wonder if you have contacted Mr. Safer concerning his revision of your

estimate, or if in your subsequent discussions with Mr. Safer, you might have by now arrived at a mutually-agreed

estimate? If you have, I wonder if you would be able to tell me whether Mr. Safer has agreed to raise his estimate,

or if you have agreed to lower yours?

Be that as it may, it must surprise you to learn that when I consulted Leni Yahil's The Holocaust: The Fate of

European Jewry, Oxford, New York, 1990 for further information on the Lviv pogrom, I found nothing. There is no

indication in Yahil's book that such a pogrom ever took place. If Yahil's book were cursory or carelessly researched,

then the oversight of the single largest pogrom of the War might be understandable, but if we are to believe the

book's dust jacket, then it is one of the best works on the Jewish Holocaust ever written:

When The Holocaust first appeared in Israel in 1987, it was hailed as the finest, most

authoritative history of Hitler's war on the Jews ever published. Representing twenty years of

research and reflection, Leni Yahil's book won the Shazar prize, one of Israel's highest awards

for historical work.

Well, in my continuing quest to learn more about the Lviv pogrom which you describe on 60 Minutes, I turned next

to Raul Hilberg's The Destruction of the European Jews, Holmes Meier, New York, 1985. This work too cannot be

accused of being either cursory or carelessly researched. For example, the publisher's promotional material claims:

This landmark work, now substantially revised and expanded, is destined to remain the foremost

source to which historians and others must turn in any exploration of the most infamous crime in

history.

...

This definitive edition of THE DESTRUCTION OF THE EUROPEAN JEWS is the most complete,

comprehensive, and authoritative account of the Nazi Holocaust.

As well, this same promotional material cites critical acclaim for Hilberg's work in Michael R. Marrus's review in The

Times Literary Supplement which ends in the words:

No single book has contributed more, even to its critics, to an understanding of Nazi genocide.

In its originality, scope, and seriousness of theme, this is one of the great historical works

of our time.

But what does Hilberg say about the Lviv pogrom, this most massive pogrom of the Second World War; what does he

say in his "most complete, comprehensive, and authoritative account of the Nazi Holocaust"? Why he says ... exactly

nothing! He too seems to be totally unaware of it.

Worse than that - much worse - Hilberg makes statements to the effect that no such pogrom ever took place. I

reproduce below three quotations from Hilberg, the last of which is particularly troubling, as it is his summary of

all anti-Jewish activity in Ukraine, and it flatly contradicts the possibility of the pogrom that you describe:

From the Ukraine Einsatzkommando 6 of Einsatzgruppe C reported as follows:

Almost nowhere can the population be persuaded to take active steps against

the Jews. This may be explained by the fear of many people that the Red

Army may return. Again and again this anxiety has been pointed out to us.

Older people have remarked that they had already experienced in 1918 the

sudden retreat of the Germans. In order to meet the fear psychosis, and in

order to destroy the myth ... which, in the eyes of many Ukrainians, places

the Jew in the position of the wielder of political power, Einsatzkommando

6 on several occasions marched Jews before their execution through the

city. Also, care was taken to have Ukrainian militiamen watch the shooting

of Jews.

This "deflation" of the Jews in the public eye did not have the desired effect. After a few

weeks, Einsatzgruppe C complained once more that the inhabitants did not betray the movements of

hidden Jews. The Ukrainians were passive, benumbed by the "Bolshevist terror." Only the ethnic

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 Vienna

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

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

September 11, 1997

Simon Wiesenthal

Jewish Documentation Center

Salztorgasse 6

1010 Vienna

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