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In his iconoclastic and controversial study, Norman G. Finkelstein moves from an interrogation of the place the Holocaust has come to occupy in global culture to a disturbing examination of recent Holocaust compensation settlements. It was not until the Arab–Israeli War of 1967, when Israel’s evident strength brought it into line with US foreign policy, that memory of the Holocaust began to acquire the exceptional prominence it has today.
Recalling Holocaust fraudsters such as Jerzy Kosiński and Binjamin Wilkomirski, as well as the demagogic constructions of writers like Daniel Goldhagen, Finkelstein contends that the main danger posed to the memory of Nazism’s victims comes from some of the very people who profess most passionately to defend it. Drawing on a wealth of untapped sources, he exposes the double shakedown of European countries and legitimate Jewish claimants, and concludes that the Holocaust industry has become an outright extortion racket.
Reviews
“Finkelstein’s downright pugilistic book delivers a wallop – mostly because few authors have had the courage or nerve to say, as he does, that the Nazi genocide has been distorted and robbed of its true moral lessons and instead has been put to use as ‘an indispensable ideological weapon’. It’s a provocative thesis that makes you want to reject it even as you are compelled to keep reading by the strength of his case and the bravura of his assertions.”
“These fraudsters need to be unmasked, and Finkelstein believes that he is the man to do it. In 150 short pages he sets out to expose their machinations. If his indictment is a true one, it should prompt prosecutions, sackings, protest. The book shouts scandal. It is a polemic, communicated at maximum volume.”
“The most controversial book of the year.”
“His basic argument that memories of the Holocaust are being debased is serious and should be given its due.”
“He is scathing in his denunciation of the institutions and individuals who have cropped up around the issue of reparations in the last several years.”
“Breathtaking in [its] angry accuracy and irony.”
“This is, in short, a lucid, provocative and passionate book. Anyone with an open mind and an interest in the subject should ignore the critical brickbats and read what Finkelstein has to say.”
“Its courageous attacks on the financial extortions of groups like the World Jewish Congress are of great importance and, one hopes, will have an impact. Its strident tone, attacked by most of the book’s hostile critics, strikes me as highly appropriate, especially given the author’s careful sourcing of most of his claims.”
“Into this minefield, through which most have trodden perhaps a little too gingerly, has bust Norman Finkelstein, a Jew and a self-professed iconoclast, heretic and enemy of the American-Jewish establishment – and he is lobbing grenades.”
“A short, sharp, and copiously noted polemic.”
“Finkelstein is at his best when he skewers those who would sacralize the Holocaust.”
“Clever, explosive, sometimes even wryly funny.”
“His allegations that some people are getting fat off the business sounds plausible and, if he is prepared to back it up, worth saying.”
“He deserves to be heard ... he is making some profound points that many younger and more thoughtful Jews have quietly been attempting to debate, but whose voices have been stilled by the establishment, particularly in the US.”
“Finkelstein should be credited for writing a well-researched book that can help shut down the Holocaust Industry when the public becomes aware of its dishonesty and its vulgar exploitation of Jewish suffering.”
“The reality of the Nazi holocaust remains. Memory can still enable us to recognise new victims, extend sensitivity and monitor signs of impending genocide. Books like The Holocaust Industry can help us if we let them.”
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