Lillian Rosengarten (above)
Silence in the face of apartheid is unbearable.
We can no longer remain silent nor turn our backs and pretend ignorance to a gruesome occupation of stolen land, the cruelest collective punishment in the open-air sewer prison where Palestinians once lived in peace. The situation has deteriorated as we observe Jewish settlers who spew their hate with such revulsion and racism on Palestinian families, it makes my stomach turn. The United States and Europe (by example, I insist) remain silent, thus complicit, not daring to criticize the holier than thou state of Israel for fear of being called anti-Semite.
True anti-Semites rage on but they are not the human rights activists who have the courage to oppose apartheid and brutality, dissenters who challenge the cruel illegal occupation, who speak out against outrageous destruction of a people unwanted and dehumanized for the sake of the “Democratic Jewish State.” All lies in the face of a deep pathology, a state that demonizes resistance to what is meant to remain hidden. No longer is this possible for the fate of Israel as a viable democracy rests in the acknowledgement that occupation and fear-mongering lead only to death and destruction. The activists are heroes who have no attachment to anti-Semitism nor the vile accusation of wishing for the destruction of Israel. This is sheer paranoia and manipulation. It is urgent to examine in depth to what length Netanyahu’s government will continue to escalate in order to fulfill the fantasy of a Jewish State. There is no possibility to achieve this out of the ashes of Palestinian’s held hostage and subjected to the most brutal uprooting and forced ghetto-ization under an amoral Israeli army that has been taught to hate.
Consider how the mere suggestion of a potential Islamic State for Egypt (where church and state are also fused) sends shudders through Americans and Europeans who are taught to fear Islam as a new form of Nazi-ism. In a closed society information is skewed and dissent is stifled. We become witness to manipulations of the general population based on lies and fear. Is this not a virulent form of domestic terrorism that that uses Islamophobia as a tool to scare people into silence, to trample debate, to destroy freedom of speech, loathe dissent and to label any resistance to Israel’s crimes as “unpatriotic” or worse yet an “anti-Semite” who wishes only for the destruction of Israel. Israel’s crimes of apartheid have created a cancer, an obsession built on lies?
I cannot imagine how one justifies the human rights atrocities (carefully kept out of the US news reporting and always skewed in favor of the Israelis without mentioning the occupation,) committed in the name of creating a Jewish state. For those who continue to deny the horrors perpetrated, who have refused to see, who have turned their backs, it is time to drop the masks, the psychopathic pretense that Israel is only “defending “ itself against destruction. From what I observe and have witnessed personally both in an Israeli prison, deportation and from my trip to Gaza, it is the government of Israel, the occupation, violence, ethnic cleansing and brutalization of the Palestinian peoples that puts Israel at risk for continuous slaughter. Israel must face the reality that the land belongs just as rightfully to Palestinians. For this possibility to realize its self there needs to be a separation of church and state where reason can overcome the insane claim that there are no Palestinians nor is there Palestinian land that will be returned.
How can it continue, denial by American Jews who blindly support Israel as victims that must defend themselves? How can Zionism in its present form also be a liberal democracy? Zionism has taken the form of a powerful nationalistic, ideologically based way of life. Its pathology is evident in the occupation and all the despair it brings to Palestinians who yearn for dignity and freedom. It is also evident in intolerance of dissent and dialogue aimed to expose the intractable hard line of the Netanyahu government. Anti-Semitism has been distorted and relegated to the dissenters as a means to cover up the lies and crimes. I cringe to observe young Israeli soldiers and the powerful IDF as they attack Palestinians women, children, grandparents, activists calling for freedom, as if they had no beating hearts but were vermin to be stepped on. Yes! It is gruesome to observe this vile form of racism and it must be easier for some to forgive the Israelis and condemn the Palestinians.
I cannot end without mention of Gunter Grass pleading for nuclear sanity and the acknowledgment of Israel as a nuclear power. This poet seeks to break the complicit silence, to break through the lies. Can he never be forgiven for his mistake when in his youth he was briefly drawn into the nationalistic fervor in another time? Can he never redeem himself, for he has given the world such powerful antiwar writings including the great “Tin Drum?” We must look at how we condemn. It is easier to condemn the old poet Günter than occupation that exists under the nose of its deniers.
This piece first appeared on Palestine Chronicle. Lillian Rosengarten, refugee from Nazi Germany writes about paths to peace for Israelis and Palestinians to live in harmony without fear and with dignity. lillianrosengarten@gmail.com
Speaking of old poets, I have just now learned about the late Jewish Austrian poet Erich Fried from the letter of his widow in The Guardian defending Grass:
Having read excerpts of Fried’s poems on the I/P conflict on line, I believe I have decided to order a copy of Höre Israel: Gedichte gegen das Unrecht [Hear, O Israel: Poems Against Injustice]. Remarkable that Fried had written these poems and had them published as early as 1974.
Grass’ in one of the interviews here on TV mentioned Fried as the last of his examples of the literary traditions he sees his prose poem in. You really didn’t know Fried? Then you must be a lot younger than I am. He translated too. His Shakespeare translation is the only complete modern translation post romantics I know of. I do not like Illner (ZDF) very much, but tonight the Grass’ prose poem will be the topic of her talk. Friedman, I suspect, will declare Grass’ an antisemite, but it seems he will be left on his own , not even the also present Avi Primor follows him there.
Friedman, true to his character, took over the whole discussion, accused Grass in many words of anti-semitism, and did not let the opponents make their points.
Friedman, born in France to polish jews, is the frontline buldozer of the jewish community, we may compare him to the Dersh, however more subtle. Illner, the moderator, had absolutely no control over the discussion, the zionists made all their points.
EU remains silent, as do all other countries, even Turkey which has had its citizens murdered, for several reasons, not one of them the USA’s example: [1] inertia: it costs time, money, effort to do political work, as opposing settlements would be; [2] strong USA pressure (not example); [3] guilt and pity after the Holocaust, [4] corruption-A (there are AIPACs in UK and elsewhere); [5] corruption-B (the very rich and corporations hang together and don’t criticize each other and some Zionists are VERY rich).
Nevertheless, all people of good will, and especially Jews (to “model” ethical action once again after the long silence since early 1960s) must support civil-society BDS and promote nation-state BDS.
What is it with Gunter Grass and the SS?
I understand that he was drafted into the SS, in a country where refusal to serve often led to death. Did he make a mistake or did he have little option – far less option than those who serve in the IDF.
“Did he make a mistake or did he have little option – far less option than those who serve in the IDF.”
The motive Grass cited for volunteering for Wehrmacht (navy/submarine) service at the age of 15 (rejected on account of his being under age for army service) is rather banal: he wanted to get away from home. That’s quite common at that age, in war or peace. I would be surprised if all who serve in the IDF do so for the purpose of defending Israel, oppressing, occupying and killing Palestinians, or preventing another Holocaust and getting ready to bomb Iran or whoever.
By the time Grass (b. October 1927) was 15, Germany was at war with the British Empire, the Soviet Union, the US, and dozens of other countries. No, he didn’t have any option when he was conscripted in 1944 and ended up in the Waffen-SS rather than the Wehrmacht. Defeatism was severely punished one way or another. Refusal to serve would have resulted in execution or transfer to a concentration camp where such prisoners either became guards or were sent on suicide missions at the front, such as exploding enemy mines ahead of Wehrmacht and/or Waffen-SS soldiers. He would have served one way or another. I see no mistake, and certainly no more guilt than I would automatically ascribe to any soldier who served in WW II. They were all in the killing business, the Germans were not the only ones involved in heinous war crimes, and it is absurd to assume that every member of the Waffen-SS was an architect of the final solution, or even knew about it.
The motive Grass cited for volunteering for Wehrmacht (navy/submarine) service at the age of 15 (rejected on account of his being under age for army service) is rather banal: he wanted to get away from home. That’s quite common at that age, in war or peace.
and i don’t think critics of grass’s military service pay any attention to the greater context at all. if i read right, he was in danzig during the war, and that city was more or less reduced to rubble. i can’t imagine spending life as a teenager surrounded by death and destruction and then having to satisfy the scrutiny of some supercilious racist prick 60 years later, sitting in judgment of a poor decision. as if such conditions permitted truly voluntary choice.
Actually, Danzig, being as far east in Germany as it was, was virtually untouched by Allied bombing. An air raid in October 1944 only attacked the shipbuilding facilities and left the city proper untouched. The Russians, particularly their artillery, did eventually destroy almost all the city, but that happened after the Wehrmacht had evacuated it in late March 1945.
i stand corrected. i understood that danzig/gdansk was flattened by the end of the war, but didn’t know how it got that way. this is some polish footage from the end of the war.
link to sabaoth.infoserve.pl
“For ordinary Danzigers the quality of life remained relatively good for much of the war. Sopot, especially, became a favourite stamping ground for soldiers on R&R, and in spite of rationing and occasional shortages life didn’t get worse until the closing stages. The first warning signs that all was not well came with the first air raids, yet even so allied bombers targeted the shipyards – home to munitions factories producing V1 and V2 rockets – and the Zaspa airfield. The war still seemed far off, even in 1943 when work commenced on whisking cultural treasures to locations westwards.
By 1944 a different picture had emerged; Danzig had become a major transit point, not least with swarms of refugees fleeing from the east, as well as a regular target for bombing raids. By March, 1945, with the Red Army fast approaching, the population had reached 1.5 million and city stood on the precipice of chaos. Suspected deserters were strung up from the lampposts and trees of al. Zwyciestwa, and the city descended into a Dantean vision. Historian Antony Beevor writes of the ensuing siege: ‘Fighter bombers strafed the towns and port areas. Soviet Shturmoviks treated civilian and military targets alike. A church was as good as a bunker, especially when it seemed as if the objective was to flatten every building which still protruded conspicuously above the ground… Tens of thousands of women and children, terrified of losing their places in the queues to escape, provided unmissable targets’.
Danzig had been designated a closed fortress, or Festung, and the defence proved bitter and bloody. Gdynia fell in the middle of March, and faced the full wrath of a drunken, avenging army, spurring the defenders of Danzig to fight even harder to grant the remaining civilians the chance of evacuation. Encircled and out-powered, even when the opportunity to surrender was offered the Germans continued fighting; that fires were burning a month after Danzig was captured is testament to the ferocity of the siege. Polish and Red Army troops finally entered the city on March 21; Gdansk, home to the first shots of the war, now lay adrift on a sea of rape and ruin.”
link to inyourpocket.com
Danzig during WW II is the subject/setting of Grass Danzig trilogy (Tin Drum, Cat and Mouse, Dog Years), and other works. Here’s a description of the destruction of Danzig in 45 from the Tin Drum:
link to danzig-online.pl
By the summer of 44, preparations for the evacuation of the city were under way. The refugee ship Wilhelm Gustloff, subject of Grass’ Crabwalk, was torpedoed by the Soviets in January 45.
By 1944 a different picture had emerged; Danzig had become a major transit point, not least with swarms of refugees fleeing from the east, as well as a regular target for bombing raids. By March, 1945, with the Red Army fast approaching, the population had reached 1.5 million and city stood on the precipice of chaos. Suspected deserters were strung up from the lampposts and trees of al. Zwyciestwa, and the city descended into a Dantean vision. Historian Antony Beevor writes of the ensuing siege: ‘Fighter bombers strafed the towns and port areas. Soviet Shturmoviks treated civilian and military targets alike. A church was as good as a bunker, especially when it seemed as if the objective was to flatten every building which still protruded conspicuously above the ground… Tens of thousands of women and children, terrified of losing their places in the queues to escape, provided unmissable targets’.
that’s a perfect picture of the ambiguity of war, especially of modern, mechanized war where weapons technologies easily outpace and circumvent the movement of refugees, with allies killing allies or innocents, collateral damage.
paul virilio has written some interesting things on this topic. he grew up in nantes during the second world war. from his recent ‘the administration of fear’ which is an interview of virilio.
Terror is the realization of the law of movement – Hannah Arendt
“During the Second World War, we were in the presence of a trinity: Occupation, Resistance and Collaboration. We can only understand the nature of fear within the complexity of an imposed situation like this. It was hard for me as a child because we saw the enemy [the occupying German forces] every day. They ate Lu cookies in the streets of Nantes; they bought meat at the same butcher shop as my mother; the ones who were bombarding and killing us were in fact our allies.”
there are plenty of examples of unambiguous evil, but many circumstances do not lend themselves to juvenile analysis, like those judging grass.
RE: “How can Zionism in its present form also be a liberal democracy? Zionism has taken the form of a powerful nationalistic, ideologically based way of life. Its pathology is evident in the occupation and all the despair it brings to Palestinians who yearn for dignity and freedom. It is also evident in intolerance of dissent and dialogue aimed to expose the intractable hard line of the Netanyahu government.” ~ Lillian Rosengarten
MY COMMENT: All courtesy of Revisionist Zionism’s Likudniks!
FROM WIKIPEDIA [Betar]:
SOURCE – link to en.wikipedia.org
P.S. ALSO SEE: The Hidden History of Zionism, Chapter 6, by Ralph Schoenman
SOURCE – link to marxists.de
P.P.S. Lillian Rosengarten’s beautiful commentary first appeared on Palestine Chronicle. I might also mention that Palestine Chronicle is currently having its Spring fundraiser (End Date : 05/01/2012). For information on making a contribution using your paypal account, credit card, or even by sending a check in the mail, please click HERE.
@Dickerson3870: your persistently heavily quotes laden with historical and hasbara handbook references are very tiresome. I tend to skip them because it is same old guff over and over again. This time I thought I would check out of his references.
He quoted The Hidden History of Zionism, Chapter 6, by virulent anti-Zionist Ralph Schoenman who said “When Menachem Begin became chief of Betar, he preferred the brown shirts of the Hitler gangs, a uniform Begin and Betar members wore to all meetings and rallies”, intending to convey the impression that Betar emulated the Nazis.
In fact Betar first started wearing brown shirts in 1925 and it was Hitler who chose the same color 10 years later. Refer footnote 30 page 124 from ‘Behind Prison Walls: A Jewish Woman Freedom Fighter for Israel’s Independence’ by Tzila Amidror Heller.
RE: “In fact Betar first started wearing brown shirts in 1925 and it was Hitler who chose the same color 10 years later.” ~ Mayhem
REPLY: And I suppose Hitler copied the fascist salute from Betar as well. What a copycat that Hitler was! Of course, they say that imitation is the highest form of flattery.
P.S. I was truly saddened to hear that you consider my “persistently heavily quotes laden with historical and hasbara handbook references” to be “very tiresome”.
HERE’S ANOTHER ONE FROM “The Origin of the Palestine-Israel Conflict”, Published by Jews for Justice in the Middle East:
ENTIRE “ORIGIN” BOOKLET – link to ifamericansknew.org
i too am worried about dickerson. first he quotes movies with subtitles, then he links to a marxist website. if he professes his love for soccer, that’ll clinch it for me; i’ll have to turn him in to the department of homeland security.
RE: “first he quotes movies with subtitles, then he links to a marxist website.” ~ marc b.
MY REPLY: OMG! OMG! OMG! Woe is me! Please be reasonable! How much do you want in order to keep quiet about these “indiscretions” on my part? Just name your price! Please! For G-d’s sake! Please!
I will then use FedEx® overnight delivery to send a you a cash “gift” (in small denominations of unmarked bills, of course).
Please, I beg of you! Let’s turn this unfortunate “misunderstanding” into a win-win for the both of us by making this entire tawdry episode just disappear like it never really happened.*
I anxiously await further instructions from you. Please! Please! I have three young children to provide for! If I am “disappeared” by Heimatland (In-)Security who will look after my disabled wife and and three young children? They will probably have to apply for Food Stamps and “live in a van down by the river”! Please! I beseech you! Have mercy!
*Jacob’s Ladder (1990) – link to imdb.com
P.S. RE: “Heimatland (In-)Security” – me, above
NOTE: What Does “Homeland” Mean to You?, by Ronald Bailey on July 19, 2007
SOURCE – link to reason.com
LISTEN TO: “HOMELAND” IS A NAZI TERM (AUDIO, 37:44)
The origins of this term are discussed at length in this Paul Craig Roberts interview on the Thom Hartmann show.
Program contains an audio clip [at about 13:30], taken from a Nazi rally, that is an example of how the term was used (in German).
LINK – link to a1135.g.akamai.net
LASTLY, WATCH: Wunschkonzert & Blinkfeuer Heimat.wmv (VIDEO, 05:24) – link to youtube.com
@Dickerson3870: I don’t know how you have managed to flaunt Mondoweiss comments policy which clearly states “We’re not going to tolerate any discussion of the Jewish role in the rise of the Nazis”. Your remarks about Shamir having proposed an alliance with the Nazis are a blatant breach of that policy.
P.P.S. Rudolf Hess opening speech (English Subtitles) (VIDEO, 04:00) – link to youtube.com
In this four minute clip from the film Triumph Of The Will, Hess is speaking at the 1934 Nuremberg Rally and introduces the Heimatland (Homeland) concept that he and Hitler had devised during the writing of Mein Kampf while they were in prison together at Landsberg as a consequence of their convictions for involvement in the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923.
As Hess explains it (at about 3:05), Hitler is creating a homeland for all the ethnic Germans of the world wherever they might happen to live (not just those residing within the borders of Germany).
As translated by the subtitles, Hess says (speaking to Hitler): “Thanks to your leadership, Germany will be attainable as the homeland. Homeland for all Germans of the world.”
Don’t miss Hess’ climactic “eroticized passion”* for der Fuhrer at the conclusion of the clip.
* After all, they had been cellmates in prison at Landsberg!
P.P.P.S. A photo of the device that allowed Goebbels to interrupt all German radio programming to make an announcement – link to germanpropaganda.blogspot.com
mayhem, do you mean you think Shamir’s proposal empowered the rise of the nazis? how could it have if it was rejected? that doesn’t add up.
ha! your “eroticized passion” link. that dersh..birds of a feather…
RE: “Your remarks about Shamir having proposed an alliance with the Nazis are a blatant breach of that [Mondoweiss] policy. ~ Mayhem
MY REPLY: I certainly encourage you to pursue this matter with the Mondoweiss administrators. A little mayhem every now and again can be quite entertaining.
Incidentally, they are not my “remarks about Shamir having proposed an alliance with the Nazis”. It is an excerpt from the well-known booklet titled “The Origin of the Palestine-Israel Conflict”, and published by Jews for Justice in the Middle East.
I first learned about this booklet from Phil’s having referred to it on this site some five or so years ago.
Furthermore, the excerpt has nothing to do with “the Jewish role in the rise of the Nazis”. As a matter of fact, the very unfortunate rise of the Nazis occurred long before 1941, thus Shamir’s making his overture at that time could not have possibly played any “role” at all in the “rise of the Nazis”.
Frankly, I am completely unaware of any significant “Jewish role in the rise of the Nazis”, and I would be extremely skeptical of any such allegations.
Anyway, a day or so ago you said that you considered my “persistently heavily quotes laden with historical and hasbara handbook references” to be “very tiresome”, and that you consequently “tend to skip them because it is same old guff over and over again.”
So, what gives? I’m more than a little perplexed.
P.S. Whatever does give, I’m truly sorry that I am apparently such a bothersome burr under your saddle.
RE: “mayhem, do you mean you think Shamir’s proposal empowered the rise of the nazis? how could it have if it was rejected? that doesn’t add up.” ~ Annie
IT IS SIMILAR TO THIS TECHNIQUE: “Quotes can work as testimonial, even when they might be old or out of context.” ~ from the Hasbara Handbook, page 24
SOURCE, “HASBARA HANDBOOK: Promoting Israel on Campus”, published by the World Union of Jewish Students, March 2002 – link to scribd.com
what it’ll take -
twice in lebanon and too numerous to count times in gaza israel has mercilessly rained such death and destruction upon innocent civilians
so as to be reminiscent of nazi germany’s bombardment of the open city rotterdam
yet the zionist entity screams antisemite at anyone & everyone who dare to dissent
likewise the governments of the u.s. of a. and of europe
the former because of pressure from israel firsters, the latter from guilt for having stood by during the days of the holocaust
unconditional surrender was what it took to defeat nazi germany
to defeat zionism’s apartheid entity
what’s it going to take?
Europe stood by?I thought at least some of Europe fought the Nazis tooth and nail.
Maybe the occupied nations have guilt for helping the Germans send people to CCs,but GB,Australia,Canada,TheSU and US have none,despite hasbaritic claims like our failure to bomb the camps or trains.
Do they have a “rescuers of the holocaust victims museum” in Israel?They should.
Much more logical than having a museum about foreign crimes we had nothing to do with,and insults US as complicit,while indoctrinating our schoolchildren in a narrative that fails to note who were the rescuers of said victims, but alleged goyim antisemites.
ok, then what explains europe’s inability/unwillingness to stand up to israel?
I’m not an expert on this – willing to be corrected – but weren’t the Sturmabteilung (“Brown Shirts”) founded in 1920 and did they not adopt brown shirts early on? Certainly they were around and in brown shirts long before 1935 – in fact they seem have essentially started fading out of the scene in 1934 to be supplanted by the SS.
As to Heller, I haven’t read it but with a foreword by Menachem Begin it is certainly not looking that objective.
Confirmed by W.Carr’s History of Germany, 4th edition, p.314 – and as far as I can recall by every standard work. And the famous Nazi HQ was ‘the Brown House’ in recognition of the SA colour. It is often said that the Nazis in their early days purchased a job lot of brown uniforms originally destined for soldiers in Africa, not needed when WW1 ended.