16 Friday, September 12, 1980
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Are Begin's Comments Alienating Europe?
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(Editor's note: Dr.
Bauer is professor of
Holocaust studies at the
Hebrew University in
Jerusalem. This article
originally appeared in
the Jerusalem Post.)
Prime Minister
Menahem Begin's speech in
the Knesset on June 2 in-
cluded a clear didactic ele-
ment: all the European
countries, with the excep-
tion of Denmark, had by and
large cooperated with the
Nazis and turned Jews over
to them, said Begin.
True, the prime minister
said, there was that small,
honorable minority of the
righteous of the Gentile Na-
tions, to whom we shall al-
. . . plaza suite
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YEHUDA BAUER
ways be beholden, but the
majority had collaborated
with the murderers.
In a recent interview with
a Dutch paper, Begin was
quoted as saying that he
would never put his foot on
Polish soil because not more
than a hundred Poles had
saved Jews — all the others
had cooperated with the
murderers.
A once-popular, now
happily defunct pop
group, which was known
as the Dizengoff Com-
mand Group, made the
same point in one of its
more inane songs which
proclaimed that "the
whole world is against us,
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never mind, we shall
overcome."
The whole point, of
course, is that quite enough
of the world is against us,
but if all of it were, we could
not possibly overcome. Our
prime minister is desper-
ately trying to convince
those in the world who may
still waver, to turn against
us; he is misusing Holocaust
history for that purpose,
and never mind the facts.
Anti-Semitism was, and
is, a widespread and mur-
derous disease, and its pre-
valence 40 years ago made
the Nazi murder of the Jews
easier, though there was no
necessary connection be-
tween the two in all cases.
In virulently anti-Semitic
Romania, the Jews in the
central parts of the country
were saved from death by
careful calculations of
Romanian national inter-
est.
But our prime minister
put everyone and every-
thing in the same pot:
France, where over
200,000 out of the 300,000
Jews were saved, very
largely through a combi-
nation- of Jewish initia-
tive and popular French
willingness to save them,
despite the collaboration
of Marshall Petain's
anti-Semitic regime with
the Nazis; Belgium,
where a clear stand by
the Belgian government-
in-exile against anti-
Semitism combined with
distaste of Nazi occupa-
tion by the overwhelming
majority to save close to
60 percent of Belgium's
Jews.
In Holland, where despite
difficult topographical con-
ditions, 24,000 out of
140,000 Jews hid with the
local population though
about one-third of these
were discovered by the
Nazis; Italy, where the Fas-
cist puppet republic set up
by the Nazis in the north
failed to hand over the Jews
because of the massive re-
sistance of the Italian popu-
lation — about five-sixths of
the Jews of Italy were
saved.
In Bulgaria, where mem-
bers of the ruling Fascist
elite combined with the Or-
thodox Church and the
Communist underground to
prevent the deportation of
Bulgaria's Jews — with the
exception of Jews of ter-
ritories annexed by the
Bulgars in Macedonia and
Thrace.
The truth of the indif-
ference or hostility of the
majority of populations in
number of countries othe_
than those just mentioned is
bad enough; but even there
one ought to mention that
for a time there were in "A-
ryan" Warsaw 10,000 to
15,000 Jews in hiding.
Many of these people were
known to be Jews by some
Poles at least; some Poles
hid them. True, the major-
ity of the population was in-
different, and many were
murderously hostile.
But there was also an
important minority — we
do not know how many
thousands — who helped.
Memory of the Holocaust
is not diminishing; on the
contrary, it is a growing
element in the psychologi-
cal make-up of many of the
nations — including even
young Germany — grappl-
ing with problems of our
age.
There is a deplorable ten-
dency to universalize the
Holocaust out of recognition
and deny the uniqueness of
the Jewish fate; on the other
hand there is a growing
chauvinist masochism
which is reflected by Mr.
Begin and the Dizengoff pop
group — well, they are all
against us anyway, so why
bother.
This attitude, combining
ignorance with myopia, is
undercutting the Jewish
position in the world, offer-
ing in an easy way out for
guilty European con-
sciences by lop-sided state-
ments. A better knowledge
about recent Jewish history
might help; ignorance can
be cured, at least in theory,
provided there is a will to
open one's eyes.
Pope Tells Egyptian He
Opposes Jerusalem Changes
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ROME (JTA) — An Egyp-
tian official said in Rome
that Pope John Paul II is
seriously concerned over
the issue of Jerusalem and
has affirmed the Vatican's
opposition to any unilateral
measures in that city.
According to Osama Al
Baz, Egypt's undersecre-
tary for foreign affairs, the
Pope expressed his views to
Vice President Hosni Mur-
barak of Egypt during a pri-
vate meeting Saturday at
Castel Gondalfo, the papal
summer residence.
Al Baz said Mubarak
conveyed a message to the
Pope from President Anwar
Sadat on the subject of
Jerusalem. Mubarak, who
is on a six-nation tour of
Europe, apparently to
mount diplomatic pres-
sure on Israel, left for Paris
after meeting with the
Pope.
Al Baz told a press con-
ference in Rome that the
Middle East peace proc-
ess was threatened by Is-
raeli actions such as the
adoption of a law declar-
ing Jerusalem its capital,
settlements on the West
Bank and pre-emptive at-
tacks on south Lebanon.
He said Egypt would wei
come European participa-
tion in the Middle East
peace process and favored
an international conference
aimed at solving the Pales-
tinian question, but only if
the Palestinians them-
selves attended. Al Baz said
an identity of views be-
tween Egypt and Italy on
the Middle East was
demonstrated during
Mubarak's talks with Pre-
mier Francesco Cossiga and
Foreign Minister Emilio
Colombo.