THE DETROIT JEWlSH NEWS Friday, July 3, 1981 35 Intellectuals' Dishonesty Is Contributing to Anti-Semitism By REV. FRANKLIN LITTELL National Institute on the Holocaust PHILADELPHIA There has recently come to my hand an advertising -flier circulated by the Jour- nal of Historical Review, a well-financed journal of the self-styled "revisionists." The "revisionists". are a small group of pseudo- historians that denies the Holocaust occurred. Their writings, circulated by German diehard Nazis (il- legally) and by American r— Nazis and their fellow- ravelers, have made the authors small fortunes. They have a few wealthy sponsors and a larger number of purchasers seek- ing anti-Jewish and anti- Israel material somewhat more sophisticated than the usual anti-Semitic, anti- Zionist rubbish. As a professor, I am con- stantly troubled by the fail- ure of the academic com- munity to deal forthrightly with the scandal occasioned by these frauds. Lack of pro- fessional integrity in the universities of the Weimar Republic allowed members of the Nazi Party to gain academic posts and secure tenured positions, weaken- ing those institutions that should have been bulwarks of human liberty and dig- nity, before the uniformed bullyboys took over. That was yesterday. Today, the president of one great American uni- versity expresses pious abhorrence of the activi- ties of one of his profes- sors — and then says he can do nothing about his tenured position. And the president of another great American univer- sity permits the "re- visionists," pseudo- historians, the use 'of uni- versity conference facilities — excusing himself with tne pious phrase that the univer- sity should be an "open market" of ideas. Why not then an "open market" for euthanasia di- rected at blacks and Jews?! Many of the people he is helping to gain a semblance of academic respectability would be glad to oblige that "open market!" Or shall we ask when his medical school Deli Unique 25290 Greenfield, North of 10 Mile, Oak Park • • • • 967-3999 HAS AN ALL-NEW MENU Featuring Light Deli Food Salads Waist Watcher Meals and Desserts Quiches, Crepes and Unique Omelets As FRENCH W &eti ONTINu E r NVuUNNERS Mon. thru Fri. 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sat. 11 a.m. to 12 Mid. Sun. 3 p.m: to 9 p.m. will offer hospitality to a conference promoting laet- rile? The truth is that both presidents are hiding their moral cowardice behind a fog of pious phrases and posturings. The lessons of the Holocaust are clearly being neglected. Both of the universities concerned have courses on the Holocaust — neatly rendered antiseptic as curricular offerings under "Jewish Studies" (!). The advertising flier to which I referred in fact mis- quoted me. But a misquota- tion by "revisionists," al- though it is something pro- fessional historians would be embarrassed about, is a mere pimple on a counte- nance scarred and disfig- ured by the awful plague of a virulent anti-Semitism. The "revisionists" have no standing in the academic community. Their status and prosperity, such as it is, comes from those who want an anti-Semitic propaganda that is more credible than that of the gutter rats of the KKK and Christian De- fense League. There is no excuse for academic politicians who Rosenow to Give Concert in OP Eric Rosenow and his Continentals will give an outdoor performance at Oak Park Major Park, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. In case of bad weather, the performance will be conducted in the Oak Park High School Auditorium. MOVIE GUIDE BERKLEY THEATRE 2990 W. 12 Mile Rd. Berkley LI 2-0330 All Seats $1.00 at all times "TRIBUTE" (PG) 7:20 & 9:30 2:55, 5:05, 7:15 & 9:25 WASHINGTON THEATER 426 S. Washington, R.O. 541-0082 All Seats $1.25 at all times Christopher Reeve & Jayne Seymour "SOMEWHERE IN TIME" (PG) Mon.-Sat. 7:30 & 9:35 Sun. 5:30, 7:30 & 9:35 •• • • S • o •• • • • • • FREE •• • • •• • • • ADMISSION • • • • • • • • • WASHINGTON THEATER • • • • • • • • •••••••••••••••••• • • • • THIS AD WILL ENTITLE THE BEARER TO ONE FREE ADMISSION SUNDAY THRU THURSDAY - NO ADDITIONAL PURCHASE NECESSARY OFFER EXPIRES SEPTEMBER 10, 1981 426 S. WASHINGTON — ROYAL OAK 541-0082 allow the universities to be dishonored by per- sons unworthy of their teaching posts and unfit for the halls of learning. There is no excuse for civil libertarians whose 19th Century legal fun- damentalism blinds them to the difference between legitimate freedom of speech and freedom of press and overt paramilitary threats to the lives and liberties of loyal citizens. There is no excuse for churchmen who are too in- tellectually lazy to distin- guish between terrorists who seek to "de-stabilize" a society by massacring un- armed civilians and freedom-fighters who at- tack the military stron- gholds of a despotic regime. The trouble is that too many academics and civil libertarians and churchmen in this age which is coming unbuttoned so rapidly, are long on freedom and short on self-discipline. "Aca- demic freedom" is a slogan heard every day on campus. Academic self-discipline is conspicuous by its absence. "Religious liberty" is a popular slogan. "Church discipline" is relegated to the covers of old books, sad reminders of a time when religious communities backed up their verbaliza- tions with strong group witness. Today, in America, a Protestant clergyman can appear on the masth- ead of the "Moonie" op- eration — without being confronted with the question of his loyalty to the ordination oath he once took "to maintain the form of sound words and truth." Yesterday, in Germany, a clergyman or a professor could preach about an "Aryan" Jesus and the degeneracy of "Jewish vermin" — with- out being expelled, as he deserved, from both church and campus. Arthur Butz of North- western, chief American propagandist of "re- visionism," challenged me me to public appearance to debate the Holocaust. A few months ago Robert Fauris- son, the chief European propagandist of "re- visionism," challenging me through Mutual Broadcast- ing to debate him over an hour-long TV national broadcast. In both cases I re- fused. Forty years ago I resolved that I would never appear on a public platform with Nazis or Communists, their members or their fellow- travelers, thereby giving their ideologies and systems a certain credibility. And today I have no respect for media who, with an eye only on sensationalism and ratings, give boosts to the Vanessa Redgraves and Ar- thur Butzes and Leni Riefenstahls regardless of the public health and the public good. The answer to the "re- visionists" Will be giv: h by . eye witnesses. This coming fall, for instance, there will be an International Confer- ence of Liberators in Wash- ington. The Russians as well as the British have promised cooperation, for those who opened Au- schwitz and Bergen-Belsen must be there, as well as those who opened Dachau and Buchenwald. The documentation is voluminous. The taped interviews with eyewit- nesses, both survivors and liberators, are num- bered in the thousands. The story of the Holocaust will be told as long as men and women remember the epoch- making events in human history. But when will the lessons of the Holocaust be under- stood? When will univer- sities and churches and pro- fessional societies recover the self-discipline worthy of self-respecting com- munities committed to Truth? Mitterand Raises Doubts Among Jews of France By EDWIN EYTAN PARIS (JTA) — Francois Mitterrand's election to the French presidency made many French Jews feel at the time as if the clock of history had been turned back 23 years to the hey- days of Franco-Israeli friendship and the Fourth Republic. De Gaulle and his crippl- ing arms embargo, Pom- pidou and his anti-Israeli initiatives and Giscard d'Estaing's pro-Arab policy seemed a bad. dream from which France had finally awakened. Even Israeli politicians, usually careful and even suspicious of foreign statesmen, seemed— won over by the generalized satisfaction with the Socialist victory. Prime Minister Menahem Begin and opposition Labor leader Shimon Peres vied with each other on who had bet- ter or older ties with the new French president. A new era in Franco-Israeli relations, and many hoped, in Jerusalem's links with Western Europe as a whole, seemed to have started. Now, two months later, many of France's Jews are worried and some- times disillusioned with the new administration. Most express their mis- givings privately but others have come out into the open. Even the most pro-Mitterrand Jewish organization, "Jewish Revival," which had actively campaigned against the outgoing president and his ad- ministration has openly protested against some of the new government's statements and deci- sions. • The militant Jewish organization took the new administration to task for its statements over Jerusalem and the Palesti- nians, its speedy condemna- tion of Israel's bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor and its attitude during the Security Council debate on this issue. One of the outgoing de- puties, 38-year-old Jean Pierre Bloch, is highly criti- cal of the new government. "The new administration will be far worse than any- thing we have known in the past. Formerly, we could work from within, there were means we, the Jewisti, Deputies, as part of the former majority, could influence the president's decisions," he said. "Now, there are practically no Socialist Jewish Deputies. One or two at the worst, and all anti-Israeli. The new Socialist majority will do as it wants and what it wants with no restrictions what- soever." Pierre Bloch, who be- longs to the beaten Neo- Gaullist party, is bitter for obvious political rea- sons but he also repre- sents many attached Jews who feel the same, though they use more moderate terms in ex- pressing themselves. Pierre Bloch, whose father is president of the French Bnai Brith, showed the JTA a tract against him distributed by pro- Mitterrand Jews. "They would rather see me, a Jew lose. And win another Socialist seat." The new French adminis- tration will have to clarify its position within the next few weeks unless it wants to risk disillusioning most of its Jewish electorate for good. According to French Jewish leaders, said "some- thing must be done within the coming months or weeks, to make it clear where Mitterrand and his men really stand." Bank Sponsors Balloon Classic Liberty State Bank and Trust will be among the major sponsors of the 1981 Avon Hills Lions Club Bal- loon Classic. The event will be held today - Sunday at Michigan Christian College located on 23 Mile Road (Avon Road) west of Rochester Road in Avon Township. Fireworks will be held Saturday. A carnival will be held at Winchester Mall. Proceeds from the event will help support the Leader Dogs for the Blind School, Penrickton Home for visu- ally handicapped children, Michigan Eye Bank, Lions Silent Children's Fund, eyeglasses and hearing aids for needy residents in the Avon Township area and various other charitable projects. Admission is free. The band also will be a participant in the 1981 Fraser Lions Club annual fund,;raising carnival.