Letters from the Canadian Public
The following letters are a selection of those received by the Institute.
Some were also sent to the Winnipeg Free Press.
Gloria Greenfield’s film is extraordinary. And your work through CISA is outstanding. I was glad someone asked how the film is going to be distributed. I hope it will be widely viewed. I hope senior school divisions can be persuaded to show it, as well as other community organizations. Again, thanks for bringing it and its director to the Berney Theatre.
* * *
Thank you for last night. The film was very informative and indeed depressing. It is very powerful to see this material in one sitting, much more so than the odd story here and there. A pattern has emerged, now if we can just get people to accept it. Why does it feel to me like history is repeating itself?
* * *
The movie was exceptional. Would love the film maker to do one specifically on campus antisemitism. I especially appreciated the voices of Gerald Steinberg; Hillel Neuer; Itamar Marcus; Anne Bayefsky; Wistrich; Rabbi Sachs.
* * *
Gloria impressed me with her passion and dedication -- it must have been some job pulling all that together, but she is very single-minded. It's all very depressing. Anyway, the audience was certainly pleased and the turnout must have been gratifying for you.
* * *
Congratulations on the success of your Institute’s first event. We all thought it was an incredible turnout. And that is an amazing accomplishment, considering the usual apathetic response to so many important events on [the University of Manitoba] campus. You must be very pleased.
* * *
We all thought Hillel Neuer was amazing, incredibly well spoken and informative. We were happy to be a small part of this.
* * *
Easily one of the most interesting talks-- the hour flew by. Listening to Hillel Neuer is a great way to learn about the UN and its maze of agencies and organizations while gaining insight into specifics.
* * *
Dear Editor,
Thank you for publishing Dr. Chatterley's article regarding the controversy surrounding the exhibits at the new Human Rights Museum. I, too, am shocked that such an issue would arise at this point and time in history, and I am especially amazed that it would arise surrounding this type of museum. I guess this proves, once again, that antisemitism is alive and well - even in a "progressive" country such as Canada.
As a former student of Dr. Chatterley, I have become more aware of the scope of this perpetual hatred, antisemitism, which has manifest itself in various forms throughout history. Truly, antisemitism is unique in that it is humanity's longest hatred. Unfortunately, the circulating postcard that Dr. Chatterley speaks out against in her article, is just another piece of evidence that testifies to the scope of this hatred. As she suggests, this incident proves that there is a need for more awareness to be created regarding antisemitism.
* * *
Dear Catherine Chatterley and members of the Canadian Institute for the Study of Antisemitism,
Thank you so much for writing "The war against the Holocaust". Your editorial was informative and a needed defense of what I to believe in as a citizen of Canada and Winnipeg. I live a short walk from the CMHR and supported it both financially and in its vision to educate, discuss, debate and hopefully change the future for the better. While I am not of Jewish descent (my parents immigrated from Scotland after WWII), I support the importance of understanding and acknowledging the unique and tragic result of the coordinated and machine like extermination policy and its implementation, and how it could possibly have happened and could again if we are not vigilant as humans. I also want to thank you for drawing attention to the divisive tactics used by the UCCLA. The post card was an outrageous and dangerous attack in my mind. Sadly, I doubt that will end, but we can only hope. Education is our most important path to freedom. Thanks for speaking out and furthering my education.
* * *
Dr. Chatterley,
I just read your editorial in the Winnipeg Free Press in regards to the postcard. I must admit that I am shocked those were mailed, seems to take the entire misguided debate to another level, that of blatant as opposed to latent antisemitism. We are sharing the piece with the 60 March of Remembrance and Hope students, as a way of discussing the uniqueness of the Holocaust and continued forms and expressions of antisemitism.
* * *
Dear Dr. Chatterley
I was most impressed by your editorial in the Free Press. As a native ‘Winnipegger’, and as a child of Jewish Ukrainian immmigrants to canada, it warms my heart to know that we have an advocate in you. (Close to 40 members of my family are buried in a mass grave in Kremenets, Ukraine.)
Any museum/institution devoted to human rights is desperately needed in our current world. However, I believe to successfully address multiple genocides requires so much tolerance, understanding and education on the part of those planning the structure. I was particularly impressed with your sensitivity and knowledge pertaining to the origins of the word ‘genocide’.
As a Holocaust scholar/artist/educator, I resonate with everything you say in your article. My own work is dedicated to what I call ‘the aftermath’ of the Shoah: keeping alive the memory of that event and reconciliation between Christians and Jews. On behalf of my family, and if I may be so presumptuous, all Ukrainian Jews, let me thank-you Dr. Chatterley for your outstanding work. Bravo!
* * *
Happy Birthday. Article is brilliant. Got a call from a good friend this morning- she knew nothing about the postcard- was appalled – thought the article was so damn effective- appreciated the contextualizing a great deal – wanted to thank you. M. is on the phone with another friend now- same response – so damn important – you continue to open the day . . .
* * *
Dear Editor,
I am writing from Jerusalem, where I am on sabbatical leave, to support strongly Dr. Catherine Chatterley's recent Winnipeg Free Press critique of the Ukrainian Canadian Council for Civil Liberties' disturbing attack on the Canadian Museum of Human Rights-proposed Holocaust Gallery.
The UCCLA widely distributed a postcard on the issue, with a picture of a pig indicating that the Museum was somehow "monopolizing" the Gallery by focusing in it on the extermination of over 6 million Jews by the German Nazis. The Museum of Human Rights, conceived of and initiated by the late Izzie Asper and his family, has in fact quite properly focused on what has come over the last half-century to be called "the Holocaust", a term specifically denoting the destruction of European Jewry, and which has become emblematic of a series of genocidal campaigns which have come, sadly, to characterize modernity.
In so doing, the Museum has in no way denigrated other genocides--like Stalin's murder of millions of Ukrainian farmers, the Turk's annihilation of over a million Armenians, Pol Pot's decimation of his own Cambodian citizenry, the Rwanda genocide, and so, unfortunately, on and on. Indeed, these terrible events will, precisely because of the existence of the Museum, be acknowledged, represented, and carefully studied.
Indeed, it is precisely the existence of the Museum which will throw into stark relief events still unknown by many Canadians, and it will do so precisely because they will be studied in conjunction with the Holocaust.
For the UCCLA to resort to pig imagery, used in negative association with Jews from the ancient world forward, in pagan, Christian and Islamic sources, in their postcard campaign is, explicitly as well as implicitly, to invoke one of the hoariest of antisemitic images. (See, inter alia, Schaefer, Peter, Judeophobia: Attitudes towards the Jews in the Ancient World; Stern, Menachem, Jews and Judaism in Greek and Latin Literature, 3 vols., passim; and Marcus, J.R., The Jew in the Medieval World).
That a Canadian organization, in the early twenty-first century, should resort to such venomous imagery is indeed deplorable, and doubly so given the Jews' experience in Europe at Ukrainian hands prior to and during the Holocaust . (Here it is good to hear Prof. Chatterley, a Winnipeger, state her informed sense that ordinary Canadian-Ukrainians do not share in the UCCLA's racist campaign.)
The Asper family-inaugurated Museum of Human Rights has, rightly, won the support of many different religious and ethnic groups. Because of the Aspers' initiative, light will be thrown not only on the Holocaust, its Jewish specificity, and the nature of antisemitism (clearly still alive and kicking), but also on all the sad record of man's inhumanity of man. And, it should be noted, that ,light will fall as well on the strength and courage of the Western, and Canadian, struggle for liberty and human rights.
The Aspers, and those groups supporting them, are to be congratulated for their excellent and selfless work on behalf of the Museum initiated by the late Izzie Asper. So too should Catherine Chatterly be commended for bringing her scholarly expertise and moral courage to bear on the ignoble campaign to vilify this outstanding Canadian initiative. Indeed, the episode demonstrates the need for the Museum and competent scholars to continue to work closely together in mounting both the permanent, and specialized, exhibitions in the future.
Sincerely, Professor Frederick Krantz
Director, Canadian Institute for Jewish Research
* * *
You are a star. I was proud today.
* * *
Thank you for your intelligent, concise article in the Free Press about the uproar over the Holocaust gallery at the CMHR. Finally, somebody worded it precisely. All the vague undertones of Antisemitism have been apparent but nobody has had the courage to say so. I did not know about the postcards being distributed…..it makes me shudder that it took place in Canada in 2011. Will that particular Ukrainian committee be fined for hate crimes?
* * *
Catherine Chatterley’s scholarly rebuke directed to those in opposition to the dedicated Holocaust gallery at the Canadian Human Rights Museum, (Winnipeg Free Press, April 2, 2011) is outstanding because it is based upon solid history and fact. Before reading her editorial I had not really been aware of the ugly political component of the opposition to the Holocaust gallery. She exposes that component.
* * *
I read your editorial in the Free Press this morning and I loved it!! It was brilliant!! I was horrified to learn of the postcard that is being distributed. Thank you so much for keeping the public informed about the unique nature of the Holocaust.
* * *
Your article was amazing. I can't believe the postcard. How can anyone deny the persistence of antisemitism now, and therefore the need for the Holocaust gallery and your Institute?
* * *
A former student via Facebook: “professor, great editorial.”
* * *
Splendid article in today’s Winnipeg Free Press. Well done. I will send it out to others.
I just checked the Free Press website and there are two negative comments posted. This only reinforces the thrust of your central argument.
* * *
Dear Dr. Chatterley,
I would like to congratulate you on your strongly worded editorial in the Free Press this past weekend. Equally, I would like to congratulate you on founding the Canadian Institute for the study of Antisemitism. The CISA has accrued a strong board of directors and I am certain that you will be successful. If I can be of any assistance please feel free to contact my office at your convenience.
* * *
Dr. Chatterley:
I read your most interesting article in Saturday's Free Press, on "The War Against The Holocaust", and I must say I found it to be extremely logical and well-written.
As you say they are "levelling human history for political reasons", and this is most unfortunate. I was not previously familiar with the Insitute or its founding director, and am pleased to know of its existence, although I am neither Jewish nor Ukranian.
* * *
I loved the article. Thought you did a wonderful job of the whole thing and I particularly appreciated the explanation about how human rights and genocide studies actually began. No one knows that. I am absolutely horrified by the postcard.
* * *
Dear Editor,
Catherine Chatterley’s powerful and measured essay, “The War against the Holocaust” (Winnipeg Free Press, 2 April 2011) is a major contribution to the current international debate on human rights, genocide and what is increasingly known as Holocaust Obfuscation, the deeply disturbing trend to write the Holocaust out of history without denying a single death, by way of a vast array of ruse. Our website, www.DefendingHistory.com is dedicated to exposing and combating this dangerous campaign.
Like the three Baltic countries, Ukraine produced for Hitler thousands of voluntary killers of Jewish neighbours during the Holocaust. Because these mass murderers of a peaceful civilian minority were also “anti-Soviet”, they are sometimes regarded in post-Soviet Eastern Europe as some kind of “freedom fighters”. Glorification of the killers is closely intertwined with attempts to eclipse and derail honest Holocaust history, and to use the very successes of human rights progress and Holocaust education as one of the newer weapons in the tired and hackneyed arsenal of antisemitic discourse.
Let it not be forgotten that courageous men and women of honour throughout Eastern Europe have risen to tell the truth about the Holocaust in the region; verily, all our countries’ histories have shameful episodes. It is very sad that some governments, and some North American communities hailing from the region, abuse their voices to obfuscate the Holocaust in a thinly veiled new antisemitic, ultranationalist onslaught.
The countries that freed themselves from the evil Soviet yoke have every right to justice for victims of Soviet crimes, to the inclusion in world history and knowledge of the crimes of Soviet misrule, and to iron-clad guarantees from the West for their own future security, what with the huge unpredictable post-Soviet bear to the immediate east. None of that, however, justifies the mangling of history and obfuscation of the Holocaust by those who harbour a wish to cover up for the massive and voluntary local participation in the Holocaust’s genocide in parts of Eastern Europe, much less for those who want to regard the Holocaust as one of a bunch of equal events in the region, which it was not. It was a genocide that resulted in the near-extinction of East European Jewry.
Dr. Chatterley’s bold and meticulously constructed expose of the shameful efforts to bring down the Holocaust component of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights could not have come at a more opportune moment in the international debate. The far-right in Eastern Europe succeeded in 2008 and 2009 in ramming down the throat of Europe various declarations and resolutions that would “equalise” Nazi and Soviet crimes, most notoriously the “Prague Declaration” of 2008. By July 2009, even Canada and the United States added their names to a document into which the East European far right had slipped two references to the bogus equivalence. Yes, the ins-and-outs of today’s politics can lead generally sensible parties to sign on to the abject nonsense that those who liberated Auschwitz are equal to those who slaughtered all its victims.
At last the tide began to turn in Europe in late 2010. A 25 November 2010 letter to the president of Lithuania, signed by the ambassadors of seven nations, and protesting resurgent antisemitism in Lithuania (including a court’s 2010 legalization of public swastikas) contains the pivotal line: “Spurious attempts are made to equate the uniquely evil genocide of the Jews with Soviet crimes against Lithuania, which, though great in magnitude, cannot be regarded as equivalent in either their intention or result.” The letter was signed by the ambassadors of Britain, Estonia, Finland, France, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. Why not Canada?
Yours sincerely, Dr. Dovid Katz
Editor, www.DefendingHistory.com
Chief Analyst, Litvak Studies Institute, Vilnius, Lithuania
* * *
The editorial was right on. There is so much misconception and half truth out there.
The word Holocaust and Jews rarely used but certainly underhandedly referred to.
Thank you for bringing it into the public forum.
* * *
Dr Chatterley:
You have posted a copyrighted postcard image on the website of the "Canadian Institute for the Study of Anti-Semitism" without securing the prior agreement of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association. You do not have a permission to reproduce it, in whole or in part. Remove the card from your website immediately. Thank you for your anticipated cooperation. L. Luciuk
CISA’s Response:
Dr. Luciuk,
We are counsel to CISA.
We understand that on April 3, 2011, you wrote to our client requesting that it remove a postcard image from its website on the basis of copyright infringement. The postcard image was contained within an article written by Dr. Catherine Chatterley posted on the CISA blog.
CISA is a charity that is operated on a non-profit, non-commercial basis. The primary purpose of the blog is to provide critical commentary and analysis. In her article, Dr. Chatterley identified the source of the image and the name of the author/creator.
Accordingly, we are of the view that the use of the image falls within the exemption to copyright infringement that permits fair dealing for the purpose of criticism or review.
TDS LLP
* * *
Dear Dr. Chatterley,
One hopes that the intelligent and responsible approach taken toward IAW by U. Winnipeg and Lloyd Axworthy will be “ a model for other university administrations in Canada and worldwide,” as you suggested. Thanks.
* * *
We could not have asked for a more engaging, articulate, knowledgeable and good-natured presenter! The first webinar is always a challenge as we get comfortable with the technology after a year’s hiatus, but it was clear from the questions – both the content and the number – that the students’ attention never flagged, and that you got them thinking in new ways about what antisemitism is, and about their understanding of the Holocaust. I hope this was the first of many opportunities for us to learn from you! We will definitely promote CISA – an extraordinary undertaking on your part.
* * *
I want to wish you good luck with CISA. Your speech at the Etz Chayim Synagogue today was enlightening, and highlights a real need which you are addressing. As someone who works on the campus of UM I have been aware of the total lack of educational events and speakers on the subject of Israel and Antisemitism. I always feel very uncomfortable during "Israeli Apartheid Week" and wonder why there are no voices putting forth another position. Again, good luck. You are doing important work.
Some were also sent to the Winnipeg Free Press.
Gloria Greenfield’s film is extraordinary. And your work through CISA is outstanding. I was glad someone asked how the film is going to be distributed. I hope it will be widely viewed. I hope senior school divisions can be persuaded to show it, as well as other community organizations. Again, thanks for bringing it and its director to the Berney Theatre.
* * *
Thank you for last night. The film was very informative and indeed depressing. It is very powerful to see this material in one sitting, much more so than the odd story here and there. A pattern has emerged, now if we can just get people to accept it. Why does it feel to me like history is repeating itself?
* * *
The movie was exceptional. Would love the film maker to do one specifically on campus antisemitism. I especially appreciated the voices of Gerald Steinberg; Hillel Neuer; Itamar Marcus; Anne Bayefsky; Wistrich; Rabbi Sachs.
* * *
Gloria impressed me with her passion and dedication -- it must have been some job pulling all that together, but she is very single-minded. It's all very depressing. Anyway, the audience was certainly pleased and the turnout must have been gratifying for you.
* * *
Congratulations on the success of your Institute’s first event. We all thought it was an incredible turnout. And that is an amazing accomplishment, considering the usual apathetic response to so many important events on [the University of Manitoba] campus. You must be very pleased.
* * *
We all thought Hillel Neuer was amazing, incredibly well spoken and informative. We were happy to be a small part of this.
* * *
Easily one of the most interesting talks-- the hour flew by. Listening to Hillel Neuer is a great way to learn about the UN and its maze of agencies and organizations while gaining insight into specifics.
* * *
Dear Editor,
Thank you for publishing Dr. Chatterley's article regarding the controversy surrounding the exhibits at the new Human Rights Museum. I, too, am shocked that such an issue would arise at this point and time in history, and I am especially amazed that it would arise surrounding this type of museum. I guess this proves, once again, that antisemitism is alive and well - even in a "progressive" country such as Canada.
As a former student of Dr. Chatterley, I have become more aware of the scope of this perpetual hatred, antisemitism, which has manifest itself in various forms throughout history. Truly, antisemitism is unique in that it is humanity's longest hatred. Unfortunately, the circulating postcard that Dr. Chatterley speaks out against in her article, is just another piece of evidence that testifies to the scope of this hatred. As she suggests, this incident proves that there is a need for more awareness to be created regarding antisemitism.
* * *
Dear Catherine Chatterley and members of the Canadian Institute for the Study of Antisemitism,
Thank you so much for writing "The war against the Holocaust". Your editorial was informative and a needed defense of what I to believe in as a citizen of Canada and Winnipeg. I live a short walk from the CMHR and supported it both financially and in its vision to educate, discuss, debate and hopefully change the future for the better. While I am not of Jewish descent (my parents immigrated from Scotland after WWII), I support the importance of understanding and acknowledging the unique and tragic result of the coordinated and machine like extermination policy and its implementation, and how it could possibly have happened and could again if we are not vigilant as humans. I also want to thank you for drawing attention to the divisive tactics used by the UCCLA. The post card was an outrageous and dangerous attack in my mind. Sadly, I doubt that will end, but we can only hope. Education is our most important path to freedom. Thanks for speaking out and furthering my education.
* * *
Dr. Chatterley,
I just read your editorial in the Winnipeg Free Press in regards to the postcard. I must admit that I am shocked those were mailed, seems to take the entire misguided debate to another level, that of blatant as opposed to latent antisemitism. We are sharing the piece with the 60 March of Remembrance and Hope students, as a way of discussing the uniqueness of the Holocaust and continued forms and expressions of antisemitism.
* * *
Dear Dr. Chatterley
I was most impressed by your editorial in the Free Press. As a native ‘Winnipegger’, and as a child of Jewish Ukrainian immmigrants to canada, it warms my heart to know that we have an advocate in you. (Close to 40 members of my family are buried in a mass grave in Kremenets, Ukraine.)
Any museum/institution devoted to human rights is desperately needed in our current world. However, I believe to successfully address multiple genocides requires so much tolerance, understanding and education on the part of those planning the structure. I was particularly impressed with your sensitivity and knowledge pertaining to the origins of the word ‘genocide’.
As a Holocaust scholar/artist/educator, I resonate with everything you say in your article. My own work is dedicated to what I call ‘the aftermath’ of the Shoah: keeping alive the memory of that event and reconciliation between Christians and Jews. On behalf of my family, and if I may be so presumptuous, all Ukrainian Jews, let me thank-you Dr. Chatterley for your outstanding work. Bravo!
* * *
Happy Birthday. Article is brilliant. Got a call from a good friend this morning- she knew nothing about the postcard- was appalled – thought the article was so damn effective- appreciated the contextualizing a great deal – wanted to thank you. M. is on the phone with another friend now- same response – so damn important – you continue to open the day . . .
* * *
Dear Editor,
I am writing from Jerusalem, where I am on sabbatical leave, to support strongly Dr. Catherine Chatterley's recent Winnipeg Free Press critique of the Ukrainian Canadian Council for Civil Liberties' disturbing attack on the Canadian Museum of Human Rights-proposed Holocaust Gallery.
The UCCLA widely distributed a postcard on the issue, with a picture of a pig indicating that the Museum was somehow "monopolizing" the Gallery by focusing in it on the extermination of over 6 million Jews by the German Nazis. The Museum of Human Rights, conceived of and initiated by the late Izzie Asper and his family, has in fact quite properly focused on what has come over the last half-century to be called "the Holocaust", a term specifically denoting the destruction of European Jewry, and which has become emblematic of a series of genocidal campaigns which have come, sadly, to characterize modernity.
In so doing, the Museum has in no way denigrated other genocides--like Stalin's murder of millions of Ukrainian farmers, the Turk's annihilation of over a million Armenians, Pol Pot's decimation of his own Cambodian citizenry, the Rwanda genocide, and so, unfortunately, on and on. Indeed, these terrible events will, precisely because of the existence of the Museum, be acknowledged, represented, and carefully studied.
Indeed, it is precisely the existence of the Museum which will throw into stark relief events still unknown by many Canadians, and it will do so precisely because they will be studied in conjunction with the Holocaust.
For the UCCLA to resort to pig imagery, used in negative association with Jews from the ancient world forward, in pagan, Christian and Islamic sources, in their postcard campaign is, explicitly as well as implicitly, to invoke one of the hoariest of antisemitic images. (See, inter alia, Schaefer, Peter, Judeophobia: Attitudes towards the Jews in the Ancient World; Stern, Menachem, Jews and Judaism in Greek and Latin Literature, 3 vols., passim; and Marcus, J.R., The Jew in the Medieval World).
That a Canadian organization, in the early twenty-first century, should resort to such venomous imagery is indeed deplorable, and doubly so given the Jews' experience in Europe at Ukrainian hands prior to and during the Holocaust . (Here it is good to hear Prof. Chatterley, a Winnipeger, state her informed sense that ordinary Canadian-Ukrainians do not share in the UCCLA's racist campaign.)
The Asper family-inaugurated Museum of Human Rights has, rightly, won the support of many different religious and ethnic groups. Because of the Aspers' initiative, light will be thrown not only on the Holocaust, its Jewish specificity, and the nature of antisemitism (clearly still alive and kicking), but also on all the sad record of man's inhumanity of man. And, it should be noted, that ,light will fall as well on the strength and courage of the Western, and Canadian, struggle for liberty and human rights.
The Aspers, and those groups supporting them, are to be congratulated for their excellent and selfless work on behalf of the Museum initiated by the late Izzie Asper. So too should Catherine Chatterly be commended for bringing her scholarly expertise and moral courage to bear on the ignoble campaign to vilify this outstanding Canadian initiative. Indeed, the episode demonstrates the need for the Museum and competent scholars to continue to work closely together in mounting both the permanent, and specialized, exhibitions in the future.
Sincerely, Professor Frederick Krantz
Director, Canadian Institute for Jewish Research
* * *
You are a star. I was proud today.
* * *
Thank you for your intelligent, concise article in the Free Press about the uproar over the Holocaust gallery at the CMHR. Finally, somebody worded it precisely. All the vague undertones of Antisemitism have been apparent but nobody has had the courage to say so. I did not know about the postcards being distributed…..it makes me shudder that it took place in Canada in 2011. Will that particular Ukrainian committee be fined for hate crimes?
* * *
Catherine Chatterley’s scholarly rebuke directed to those in opposition to the dedicated Holocaust gallery at the Canadian Human Rights Museum, (Winnipeg Free Press, April 2, 2011) is outstanding because it is based upon solid history and fact. Before reading her editorial I had not really been aware of the ugly political component of the opposition to the Holocaust gallery. She exposes that component.
* * *
I read your editorial in the Free Press this morning and I loved it!! It was brilliant!! I was horrified to learn of the postcard that is being distributed. Thank you so much for keeping the public informed about the unique nature of the Holocaust.
* * *
Your article was amazing. I can't believe the postcard. How can anyone deny the persistence of antisemitism now, and therefore the need for the Holocaust gallery and your Institute?
* * *
A former student via Facebook: “professor, great editorial.”
* * *
Splendid article in today’s Winnipeg Free Press. Well done. I will send it out to others.
I just checked the Free Press website and there are two negative comments posted. This only reinforces the thrust of your central argument.
* * *
Dear Dr. Chatterley,
I would like to congratulate you on your strongly worded editorial in the Free Press this past weekend. Equally, I would like to congratulate you on founding the Canadian Institute for the study of Antisemitism. The CISA has accrued a strong board of directors and I am certain that you will be successful. If I can be of any assistance please feel free to contact my office at your convenience.
* * *
Dr. Chatterley:
I read your most interesting article in Saturday's Free Press, on "The War Against The Holocaust", and I must say I found it to be extremely logical and well-written.
As you say they are "levelling human history for political reasons", and this is most unfortunate. I was not previously familiar with the Insitute or its founding director, and am pleased to know of its existence, although I am neither Jewish nor Ukranian.
* * *
I loved the article. Thought you did a wonderful job of the whole thing and I particularly appreciated the explanation about how human rights and genocide studies actually began. No one knows that. I am absolutely horrified by the postcard.
* * *
Dear Editor,
Catherine Chatterley’s powerful and measured essay, “The War against the Holocaust” (Winnipeg Free Press, 2 April 2011) is a major contribution to the current international debate on human rights, genocide and what is increasingly known as Holocaust Obfuscation, the deeply disturbing trend to write the Holocaust out of history without denying a single death, by way of a vast array of ruse. Our website, www.DefendingHistory.com is dedicated to exposing and combating this dangerous campaign.
Like the three Baltic countries, Ukraine produced for Hitler thousands of voluntary killers of Jewish neighbours during the Holocaust. Because these mass murderers of a peaceful civilian minority were also “anti-Soviet”, they are sometimes regarded in post-Soviet Eastern Europe as some kind of “freedom fighters”. Glorification of the killers is closely intertwined with attempts to eclipse and derail honest Holocaust history, and to use the very successes of human rights progress and Holocaust education as one of the newer weapons in the tired and hackneyed arsenal of antisemitic discourse.
Let it not be forgotten that courageous men and women of honour throughout Eastern Europe have risen to tell the truth about the Holocaust in the region; verily, all our countries’ histories have shameful episodes. It is very sad that some governments, and some North American communities hailing from the region, abuse their voices to obfuscate the Holocaust in a thinly veiled new antisemitic, ultranationalist onslaught.
The countries that freed themselves from the evil Soviet yoke have every right to justice for victims of Soviet crimes, to the inclusion in world history and knowledge of the crimes of Soviet misrule, and to iron-clad guarantees from the West for their own future security, what with the huge unpredictable post-Soviet bear to the immediate east. None of that, however, justifies the mangling of history and obfuscation of the Holocaust by those who harbour a wish to cover up for the massive and voluntary local participation in the Holocaust’s genocide in parts of Eastern Europe, much less for those who want to regard the Holocaust as one of a bunch of equal events in the region, which it was not. It was a genocide that resulted in the near-extinction of East European Jewry.
Dr. Chatterley’s bold and meticulously constructed expose of the shameful efforts to bring down the Holocaust component of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights could not have come at a more opportune moment in the international debate. The far-right in Eastern Europe succeeded in 2008 and 2009 in ramming down the throat of Europe various declarations and resolutions that would “equalise” Nazi and Soviet crimes, most notoriously the “Prague Declaration” of 2008. By July 2009, even Canada and the United States added their names to a document into which the East European far right had slipped two references to the bogus equivalence. Yes, the ins-and-outs of today’s politics can lead generally sensible parties to sign on to the abject nonsense that those who liberated Auschwitz are equal to those who slaughtered all its victims.
At last the tide began to turn in Europe in late 2010. A 25 November 2010 letter to the president of Lithuania, signed by the ambassadors of seven nations, and protesting resurgent antisemitism in Lithuania (including a court’s 2010 legalization of public swastikas) contains the pivotal line: “Spurious attempts are made to equate the uniquely evil genocide of the Jews with Soviet crimes against Lithuania, which, though great in magnitude, cannot be regarded as equivalent in either their intention or result.” The letter was signed by the ambassadors of Britain, Estonia, Finland, France, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. Why not Canada?
Yours sincerely, Dr. Dovid Katz
Editor, www.DefendingHistory.com
Chief Analyst, Litvak Studies Institute, Vilnius, Lithuania
* * *
The editorial was right on. There is so much misconception and half truth out there.
The word Holocaust and Jews rarely used but certainly underhandedly referred to.
Thank you for bringing it into the public forum.
* * *
Dr Chatterley:
You have posted a copyrighted postcard image on the website of the "Canadian Institute for the Study of Anti-Semitism" without securing the prior agreement of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association. You do not have a permission to reproduce it, in whole or in part. Remove the card from your website immediately. Thank you for your anticipated cooperation. L. Luciuk
CISA’s Response:
Dr. Luciuk,
We are counsel to CISA.
We understand that on April 3, 2011, you wrote to our client requesting that it remove a postcard image from its website on the basis of copyright infringement. The postcard image was contained within an article written by Dr. Catherine Chatterley posted on the CISA blog.
CISA is a charity that is operated on a non-profit, non-commercial basis. The primary purpose of the blog is to provide critical commentary and analysis. In her article, Dr. Chatterley identified the source of the image and the name of the author/creator.
Accordingly, we are of the view that the use of the image falls within the exemption to copyright infringement that permits fair dealing for the purpose of criticism or review.
TDS LLP
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Dear Dr. Chatterley,
One hopes that the intelligent and responsible approach taken toward IAW by U. Winnipeg and Lloyd Axworthy will be “ a model for other university administrations in Canada and worldwide,” as you suggested. Thanks.
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We could not have asked for a more engaging, articulate, knowledgeable and good-natured presenter! The first webinar is always a challenge as we get comfortable with the technology after a year’s hiatus, but it was clear from the questions – both the content and the number – that the students’ attention never flagged, and that you got them thinking in new ways about what antisemitism is, and about their understanding of the Holocaust. I hope this was the first of many opportunities for us to learn from you! We will definitely promote CISA – an extraordinary undertaking on your part.
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I want to wish you good luck with CISA. Your speech at the Etz Chayim Synagogue today was enlightening, and highlights a real need which you are addressing. As someone who works on the campus of UM I have been aware of the total lack of educational events and speakers on the subject of Israel and Antisemitism. I always feel very uncomfortable during "Israeli Apartheid Week" and wonder why there are no voices putting forth another position. Again, good luck. You are doing important work.