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Israel cancels visit by Hungarian who honored Nazi sympathizer
Moran Azulay
Published: 24.06.12, 21:51
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8 Talkbacks for this article
1. Wallenberger was a beakon of Abwer who saved SS officers
Miron ,   USA   (06.25.12)
and Israel accepted its role, palrty it was, in leaving genocide implementers alone.
2. Correction: mandatory, not recommended
Z-man ,   Budapest   (06.25.12)
Nyiro was not included in the school curriculum until now. The current government included him with two other antisemitic writers a few weeks ago (Wass, who was convicted in absentia for murdering Jewish and Romanian civilians in 1940 & Dezso Szabo, the literary initiator of the antisemitic Zeitgeist in 1919). The schools are OBLIGED to teach them from now on.
3. To: No. 1
Sarah B ,   U.S.A. / Israel   (06.25.12)
I give Wallenberg the benefit of the doubt. There is no absolute proof that Wallenberg saved Nazi officers. There is plenty of proof of what he did for the Jews of Hungary. Then again, the Wallenberg family were prominent Nazi sympathizers, with close ties to the Wenner Gren family. For that matter, the United States gave safe haven to a great many Nazis, or turned a blind eye as they melted back into the German landscape and allowed to resume normal lives. It isn't always easy. I will tell you a little story. My mother, z"l, was taken to Krakow-Plaszow concentration camp. The selections were held in the Krakow ghetto. There was a bullwhip-wielding SS officer, Obersturmbannfuhrer Kunde, who terrified the Jews by screaming in a loud voice and cracking his whip. But my mother swore until the day she died that Kunde's shouting and whip-cracking were meant to deceive other Nazi officers, and convince them of his meanness, while he dragged people from the line destined to go to Treblinka and Belzec (extermination centers) and put them on the line destined to go to Krakow-Plaszow, which was chiefly a labor camp. She always claimed that she knew of at least thirty people who were thus saved. Including her. It's a tough call. I guess in even the worst monsters, there exists a small spark of humanity. But we can never know and in such cases, absent proof positive of monstrous behavior, we are obligated to give the benefit of the doubt. Were Roosevelt and Churchill any less complicit in the massacre of the Jews of Europe? Probably not.
4. # 3
Mike Carmel ,   Rishon le Zion   (06.25.12)
An interesting post Sarah. I'm impressed that you have demonstrated the ability to reflect that situations are often more complex than a straight black-and-white situation, because most of your posts are so one-sided that I am really surprised that you wrote this one.
5. Mike Carmel
Bad Ased Jew ,   United States   (06.25.12)
every coin has two sides. Don't be surprised if the story comes out in small pieces, slowly. I'm sure there are many stories yet to be heard. I new of a Jewish polish woman who said she was thrown in the garbage can as an infant, ( she had some sort of extra skin on her head, if I recall her story) and a pole rescued her, gave her a polish name and thereby saved her life. What other stories have we not heard? I'm sure that Sarah B was greatly affected by her mothers past, she did something constructive, became an attorney and uses the law instead of violence or mischief. Shalom
6. ***Sarah***at 3, You made a great point...
Chris Rettenmoser ,   Bayerisch Gmain Germ   (06.25.12)
there are shades of gray in that most horrific episode in the history of mankind...and this is something which is deeply disturbing...My own conclusion is...but I haven't one...........
7. To: No. 4
Sarah B ,   U.S.A. / Israel   (06.25.12)
Mike, when things are black and white, I tend to see them in black and white. When they are in shades of grey, I tend to see them in shades of grey. That's not all that surprising, really.
8. To: Chris at No. 6
Sarah B ,   U.S.A. / Israel   (06.25.12)
I think the best thing that can be said about the Holocaust is that no one understands. To understand is to imply that one can crawl inside the mind of a Hitler or an Eichmann (may their names be cursed throughout eternity) and comprehend what went on in their brains. That is a dark tunnel that no one in their right mind could possibly want to visit.
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