Chicago
In response to advertisements in The Nation for my book The Holocaust Industry, you took the unprecedented step of both effectively calling me a liar and providing Burt Neuborne with maximum space to defend himself [“Letters,” Feb. 18]. In this brief rejoinder I will ignore Neuborne’s witless comparison between me and Osama bin Laden. I will also not engage Neuborne’s professional history. It bears notice, however, that a distinguished civil liberties record doesn’t preclude–as the example of Alan Dershowitz vividly testifies–gross lapses in the name of tribal solidarity and for personal enrichment. Rather, I want to focus on the central question: Did Neuborne serve as lead counsel in a campaign to blackmail Switzerland?
A committee headed by Paul Volcker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, exhaustively investigated the main charges against Switzerland. In his letter, Neuborne alleges that the committee’s findings “validated the core allegations underlying the Swiss bank litigation.” Consider, however, the Volcker committee’s central findings:
(1) The lawsuits alleged that the Swiss banks systematically denied Holocaust victims and their heirs access to their bank accounts after World War II. Yet, the Volcker committee found that “for victims of Nazi persecution there was no evidence of systematic discrimination, obstruction of access, misappropriation, or violation of document retention requirements of Swiss law”;
(2) the lawsuits alleged that the Swiss banks systematically shredded documents to cover their tracks. Yet, the Volcker committee concluded that “no evidence of systematic destruction of account records for the purpose of concealing past behaviour has been found”;
(3) the lawsuits alleged that the Swiss banks pocketed $7 billion to $20 billion left in the accounts of Holocaust victims. The Volcker committee was unable to provide a monetary value for Holocaust-era dormant accounts. Since publication of the committee’s report, however, new official data have become available. The value of accounts belonging to Holocaust victims thus far totals all of $10 million in current values with accrued interest. This figure is unlikely to climb anywhere near the $1.25 billion extracted from the Swiss banks in the final settlement (let alone the $7-20 billion initially demanded) after all the accounts are examined. Reporting on these findings, the Times of London headline read: “Swiss Holocaust cash revealed to be myth.”
Indeed, the world’s leading authority on the Nazi Holocaust, Raul Hilberg, has explicitly charged that the Holocaust industry conjured up “phenomenal figures” for the monetary value of Holocaust victim assets in Swiss banks and then coerced the banks into submission. “It was the first time in history,” he goes on to observe, “that Jews made use of a weapon that can only be described as blackmail.” No amount of liberal posturing by Neuborne can alter the fact that he played the pivotal role in a blackmail campaign.
NORMAN G. FINKELSTEIN
Santa Cruz, Calif.
Every now and then a major Hollywood film centers its plot upon the defense of the First Amendment. Imagine the surprise of Nation readers when Stuart Klawans dismisses The Majestic with three paragraphs of pure, if shallow, contempt! [“Films,” Jan. 21] Don’t be fooled, though. This film is the best of the season, and Jim Carrey is at the top of his form. The more you know about the real Hollywood Blacklist, the more you’ll be able to appreciate the subtleties that seem to have eluded Klawans.
PAUL BUHLE
Chicago
John Nichols’s “Huey Freeman: American Hero” [Jan 28] was immensely useful. I would like to add a feminist dyke cartoonist, Alison Bechdel’s Dykes to Watch Out For, which appears in alternative papers. Bechdel’s main character, Mo, who works at a women’s bookshop, cries foul over Bush, flag-waving, big-box stores (e.g., Bunns n Noodles, Bounders n Muzak, Papaya Republic, Baby Gag) and the general straight and gay cultural/political landscape is not to be overlooked. Readers can find her on the web at www.planetout.com/entertainment.
JANE SULLIVAN
FINKELSTEIN REBUTS NEUBORNE
BLACKLIST FILM–‘SEASON’S BEST’
HUEY, MEET MO
