A tediously-long Holocaust tale is told here in the New York Times in its obit for Marek Edelman, last survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. Don't get me wrong. I like Holocaust stories. This one just goes on too long, and I feel like I've heard the story. We can't get enough of it. And, writes a friend, Eric Poulos:
Yesterday's New York Times obit was unusually long and quite detailed about Edelman's war time experience but, not surprisingly, left out the following two important facts.
1. Edelman remained a socialist until the day he died.
2. Edelman, a Jew, protested Israeli policy towards the Palestinians (and likewise criticized Palestinian suicide bombings of Jews) and voiced resentment at the official Zionist establishment for turning commemorations of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising into pro-Israeli events.
In fact, he went further and said the Palestinians had now become the true inheritors of the spirit of the Warsaw Ghetto fighters. Not surprisingly all the other mainstream media I checked, Huffington Post, Washington Post, even Wikipedia, all left out the above facts. Fortunately, a British publication Socialist Worker, has published a more honest bio of this heroic figure. The link is below.
In the summer of 2002, Edelman, still going strong, intervened in Israel’s show trial of the now jailed Palestinian resistance leader, Marwan Barghouti.
He wrote a letter of solidarity to the Palestinian movement, and though he criticised the suicide bombers, its tone infuriated the Israeli government and its press. Edelman had always resented Israel’s claim on the Warsaw Ghetto uprising as a symbol of Jewish liberation.
Now he said this belonged to the Palestinians. He addressed his letter to “commanders of the Palestinian military, paramilitary and partisan operations — to all the soldiers of the Palestinian fighting organisations”.
The old Jewish anti-Nazi Ghetto fighter had placed his immense moral authority at the disposal of the only side he deemed worthy of it.
Marek Edelman sounds like a most remarkable individual. Having the wisdom to apply ones own experience as ghastly and horrible as his has been to be able to apply his own understanding of his pain and suffering and fell empathy and compassion to the Palestinians is to be deeply respected.
Thank goodness for people like Marek and thanks for telling us about the rest of his story
Phillip do you know about this conference going on in D.C. on thursday. The speaker line up looks like part of the 10 most wanted list for the people who lied our nation into Iran I mean Iraq.
Doug Feith, Liv and David Wurmser…..I hope someone tries to do a citizens arrest. Feith should be in prison for what went on in the Office of Special Plans this guy is a war criminal
link to hudson.org
Phil wrote about the conference. It includes peace-activists in every forum, thankfully.
The Hudson Institute has been the neo-conservative thinktank of record for 30 years. When the left was calling Carter reactionary as president, the Hudson Institute was on his right, though some of its officers were in the Carter administration (I believe, I don’t know names.)
This story should be circulated in the Occupied Territories. From what I read, it seems that the ghettoized Palestinians don’t usually know much difference between their Israeli oppressors and “the Jews” outside.
Ma’an News Agency just published an obit on him:
link to maannews.net
Marek Edelman was an amazing man. It’s not his fault that he gained renown in a historical event that many seem to be sick and tired of. I once tried to get his contact information from the Association of Ghetto Fighters in Israel, and was told in an icy tone: “He’s in Poland. We are not in touch with him. He’s an ant-Zionist”.
Apologies for my snide remark. I didn’t read carefully.
It actually illustrates some of the long-standing politics of Zionism.
The black/white presentation of it, is overly (misrepresentatively) simplistic.
When you say “pro-Palestinian”, you do not include the pro-Palestinians that are interested in the development of law, economy, social institutions, but ONLY the pro-Palestinians that are negatively and rancorously interested in political resistance.
In Zionism, the conspicuous heroes were the military (only in times of tension though). The actual creators of Israel though were settlements, social service, institutions of governance, diplomacy.
NOT militancy. Pro-Palestine is the same. The heroes in Hamas are the ones that help with the community’s problems, NOT the hotheads that agitate and invite conflict. Similarly in Fatah.
Real work, not hype and self-advertisement.
To be fair, the NYTimes obit does include this, which challenges the Zionist use of the Holocaust.
“Most provocatively, he insisted that it was not more meaningful or heroic to die with a gun in one’s hands than to perish in apparent submission to an overwhelming and invincible evil.
“These people went quietly and with dignity,” he told Mrs. Krall, speaking of the millions killed in the Nazi gas chambers. “It is an awesome thing, when one is going so quietly to one’s death. It is definitely more difficult than to go out shooting.”
btw, Marek Edelman was once asked why Mordechai Anilevitch, a Zionist, was appointed commander of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. He quipped: “well, he wanted it more than the rest of us.” (I forget the source). In Israel, Anilevitch is celebrated as the personification of the resistance to the Nazis through memorials, a kibbutz etc.; Adelman is unknown.
The only good/useful anti-zionist is a dead anti-zionist??!! link to thejc.com
sorry not sure what happened there… never used the comment formatting before.
Great sentence! If HuffPo is alternative media, then Israel is an innocent victim.
Tiny note. Hmm? Here I am again, although I know I should get out loads of paper to prepare for my job. Clean up my desks. Get ready till others have done their job.
Umschlagplatz. That’s an important term, a glimpse into the Nazis mindset. From the dictionary of barbarians:
Umschlagplatz = reloading point, transshipment center
Ware (goods, merchandise)umschlagen = handling of cargo, handling of goods
umschlagen, verb in this context = transship
It’s usually used in the context of goods or merchandise that is unloaded from from one way of transport to the other, e.g. from ship to train or truck. It isn’t usually used for a place where people chance their modes of transportation.