BY amir tajik
Following the international reaction to President Ahmadinejad’s comments on the Holocaust, I pondered the harsh and hostile reaction to his statement. I wondered why somebody would call for a ‘scientific investigation’ of an event which has been a catalyst for the Western world’s foreign policy for the past 60 years.
I felt compelled to open my own investigation, but did not want only one side of the story. Therefore, I decided to gather opinions from across the globe; in Europe, America, Palestine and Israel.
I discussed the issue with representatives of the Jewish community in Tehran, including a Jewish member of the Iranian parliament (Majlis), and also the head of the Iranian Jewish Community.
Everyone was saying the same thing: “The Holocaust is a historical event which happened during World War II.”
I went to the Bishop of the Episcopalian Church in Tehran who gave his insight into a perspective often ignored. He pointed out that not only Jews were targeted for “special treatment” during WWII. He said Christians, gypsies and other ethnic minorities were among those taken to the labor camps. Nearly 52 million people were killed during WWII, the overwhelming majority of them non-Jewish.
Among that 52 million were people also deliberately targeted by the Nazis, in particular ethnic Slavs, including Russians and Serbs. It is curious that their suffering has not received quite the same coverage as the suffering of the Jews.
Part of the answer to the slaughter can be found in Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf” (My Struggle) published in 1919. In his book, Hitler blames Jews for the failure of Germany during World War I. He promised to take revenge on the Jews if he came to power.
Those who supported Hitler financially and politically were well aware of this and the consequences of a Nazi government in Germany. Among them was the grandfather of the current American president George W. Bush. British Banks and even the German “Zionist Party” were among the very groups who had some sort press freedom, even after Hitler became Germany’s chancellor.
They knew exactly what Hitler’s policies were towards Jews, but despite that they supported Hitler and helped him win the elections. Lennie Brenner in his book “Zionism in the Age of Dictators” reveals Nazis and Zionists had a common interest in Germany: Sending German Jews to Palestine!
It became clear to me that the term “Holocaust” should refer not only to Jews but to other innocent people who were murdered as a result of the Nazi regime’s policies.
There was still another question remaining: Where did the Holocaust take place?
Of course the name “Auschwitz” is familiar to everybody. It was one of many labor camps in Poland where people were worked to death for German companies like IG Farben. Auschwitz is one of the most well known places where the genocide of the Jews occurred.
I had still many questions regarding the prisoners who were taken to Auschwitz. They were not only Jews, but Christians, gypsies, political opponents of the Nazi regime, etc. According to available sources the number of prisoners who died there due to the inhumane conditions, through starvation or execution was reported as 4.1 million.
Years later, in 1988, the “Leuchter Report” corrected the figure which was based on an official re-evaluation as 1.1 million.
No reference was made to the “missing” three million people. If the figure of 1.1 million is correct, and if that related to executed Jews by the Nazis in Auschwitz, it is still a comparatively small figure compared to the 52 million innocent civilians killed during WWII. The justification for the varying figures suggests: There was a need to draw the information from Israel after the War.
Another important fact to me was that massacres are now underway around the world: the crisis in Palestine, especially in Gaza; the Darfur crisis or the Rwanda genocide. I also studied the genocide of Japanese civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, victims of the atomic bomb attacks; or the excesses of Soviet leader Josef Stalin who killed over 50 million Russian Christians.
One of my American friends told me that there were dozens of Holocaust museums in the US. But no Hiroshima museum or any other official memorials devoted to the plight of either the “Red Indians” or the “Black Man.”
It bothered me and I still felt the need to question why other massacres were not as important as the genocide of the Jews in WWII.
It became apparent to me that it made no sense to describe as blasphemy any call for an inquiry into the holocaust of the Jews. Why is it so important to remember the Jews who were killed during World War II, and not remember the 2-3 million Japanese civilians who were incinerated by American bombs? Or the 50-60 million civilians that “Uncle Joe” annihilated.
On and on it goes. Death is death. All holocausts are equal and according to professor Finkelstein’s book “The Holocaust Industry,” this is something that the holocaust industry relies on heavily, the belief that no one will check or can check the facts.
While continuing my research, I heard the news of Israeli attacks on Gaza. “137 Palestinian civilians were massacred in one day!” How could it be? I checked the news again. The figures were correct.
A new version of the Holocaust; new and improved is underway in Palestinian’s lands. Something must be done about it. Palestinian people should not be paying for the actions of others. They have lived in horror for decades. They have sacrificed their lives to defend their existence and their right to live.
I was deeply disturbed, and found it difficult to watch the horrifying reports on the collective punishment of Palestinians in their homeland. Are they paying the price for the slaughter of Jews during World War II?
I’m not a professional investigator or even a historian, but I think one can easily distinguish the truth from falsehood, that’s why I decided to research and investigate.
“Holocaust; New & Improved” is a documentary that I hope will portray the facts, but also allow the audience the space to decide for themselves on the Jewish Holocaust.
I know that eventually the truth will prevail and people around the world will do their best to stop the new and improved version of the Holocaust currently underway in Palestine. We have to break through the barriers and tell everybody the truth. We cannot allow history to repeat itself. Ironically, it is those who keep the story of the Holocaust alive, are now the ones creating another.
Amir Tajik is a freelance journalist and documentarian. He is the director and producer of the documentary “Holocaust; New & Improved”.
