    Paul Eisen on Zundel

    Our friend Paul Eisen replied to the question of David Bloom who asked:

      Paul: I don't understand what it means when you say (Ernst) Zundel is
      anti-Jewish, but does not hate Jews. Can you elaborate?
      David

      Paul answered:

Thank you for your note which contains the first interesting question

I've been asked since I put out "The Holocaust Wars". Of course, that

means that there is no simple answer!

I'm not sure Ernst Zundel hates anyone much. I haven't met Ernst Zundel

but I have read a lot about him and some of his writings and I have been

in quite extensive email contact with his wife, Ingrid. Regarding

Ernst, neither in his writings nor in the very many descriptions of him

I have heard and read can I detect any sign of what might be called

hatred for anyone or anything. I wish I could say the same for his

opponents.

Ingrid, I know a little better, and I must say that what I do know, I

rather like. Again, I can't detect any hatred, but in her case I would

say that she may well dislike Jews insofar as she approaches any

encounter with them with the expectation of disliking them. Of course

for both of them (and indeed the entire revisionist community), part of

any dislike they do feel for Jews or Jewishness, may, at least in part,

be attributed to the appalling way they have been treated by Jews.

Like most people I have been surrounded all my life with very clear,

distinct and almost strident moral statements about such things as

"racism", "anti-Semitism" and "National Socialism" (there's no grey

areas with these things - they are simply evil) so you can imagine, for

someone as curious as me, how interesting it was to get to know Ingrid.

Imagine! I was talking to a real live "Nazi"!

Regarding their racism, I suppose she and Ernst would say that different

groups who have lived together for a long time will inevitably

definitely develop some shared characteristics. For example, I remember

one exchange when she claimed that, like so many Germans, she had no

sense of humour whatsoever, (actually, she does and it's quite

delightful) and, when I protested she asked me whether I had ever met a

German stand-up comic. I think she also asked me if I had ever met a

Jew who could write a poem to a tree!

Another little exchange I remember with some pleasure was when I was

describing to her how, at times I found it quite thrilling to be the

centre of attention. She thought that this was very Jewish indeed (I

can't disagree), but that for her, being the centre of attention was

what she most disliked. She wrote how she had on so many occasions

appeared before huge and rapturous audiences and each time, as they

applauded, her heart was stone cold. This essential difference between

us was she felt, partly due to our respective Jewishness and

German-ness. Did I fully agree? Probably not, but it was kind of

interesting and there is some truth in it.

I think people like her (and me too) believe that these characteristics

are the product of very many subtle and interacting factors. Ingrid

would include some biological factors in that too. After all, people who

live together, breed together. Although I am not all that interested in

the subject, I really can't say that it outrages me or even that I

particularly disagree with it.

Both Ernst and Ingrid and indeed very many revisionists and so-called

anti-Semites know that I am a Jew who actively claims Jewish identity.

Both Ernst and Ingrid are, I think, fond of me and respect my choice of

identity even if they might wish I would choose another. So, they don't

much like the Jewishness but still quite like the Jew

The last point on Ernst and Ingrid has become something of a mantra that

I have had to recite so many times in the last year or so: Neither

Ingrid nor Ernst has ever used violence, nor have they ever called on

anyone else to use violence. Neither has ever discriminated against

anyone on ethnic or religious grounds, nor have they called on anyone

else to do so. Finally, and for me, most importantly, neither has ever

suppressed anyone's right to think, speak and write freely or called on

anyone else to do so. Can the same be said for their opponents -

particularly those anti-Zionist, and often Marxist Jews?

Of course none of the above means that all Jews are funny and self-
obsessed or that all Germans are dour and diffident or anything else for

that matter...... or does it?

My friend Shamir has proposed the existence of a Jewish ideology or

spirit which is voluntarily possessed by all who claim to be Jewish and

also, he would say, by many who don't. I think he is saying that

Jewishness is not an ethnicity or national grouping like any other, but

a community of shared feelings and beliefs - and this goes way beyond

the obviously religious. Hitler called Jews "a race of the mind" though

I would prefer to wonder if they are not a "race of the spirit". I think

Shamir would further propose, and I might agree with them, that if such

a spirit exists it is concerned with chosenness and specialness,

particularly in the Jewish claim of a special history of suffering, and

also, in many ways, in a suspicion and disdain for non-Jews. Of course,

one can say that many, perhaps all, communities display such

characteristics. This is certainly true, but do these other communities

have these characteristics as absolutely central to their identity?

Which other group positively worships its own specialness and victimhood

in the way that Jews, both religious and secular, seem to do.

There are of course millions of self-identifying Jews who, in their

daily lives and throughout their lives, display pretty well none of

these characteristics. But that is not to say that they do not exist and

also that, under certain circumstances, they will not become more

prominent. Is it possible for Ernst Zundel, Ingrid Rimland and myself

to like these folk whilst still not liking those characteristics? The

answer is that we can and we do.

Perhaps the best example is from my own experience. I come from a

family of North London Jews. My family, who are very dear to me, are,

on the outside at least, pretty ordinary folk. Like so many of their

time and place they are smallish traders, business people, family folk

etc., etc. But my family is a bit unusual in that, for some reason,

they seem to be particularly tolerant people. In all my childhood I

don't think I ever heard a racist, sexist or homophobic word or any such

term used in my house. This was not because my parents were leftists, or

humanists or any other kind of - 'ists.' No-one ever said that racist

or discriminatory language was wrong - they just didn't do it - it was

just not the way we looked at the world. I also never heard the words

"Goy" or "Yok" or "Shikse" (Actually I can remember once or twice

hearing the latter from my mum, but only when she was really upset about

something.)

But we were Jews and we lived as Jews, albeit fairly non-ideological

ones, and, as such I was brought up with unspoken feelings of

difference, specialness and with a pervasive unease about non-Jews. At

school I, and I'm sure all my Jewish school-mates, felt somewhat

different and perhaps a little superior to our non-Jewish classmates

teachers etc. (By the way I have spent quite some time looking at

pictures of the 16 year old Lev Bronstein, one day to become Leon

Trotsky, and wondering what were his feelings in this regard). So I

always ask myself: If I with my upbringing could harbour such notions,

what must other Jews be feeling? Of course they will all deny it, these

fine anti-Zionist Jews, and they certainly will believe absolutely their

own denials, but I simply don't believe them.

Were my family nice people? Of course they were - they were (and are)

wonderful people. Do I love them? Of course I do. Would Ernst and

Ingrid like them? I'm sure they would. So again, Ernst, Ingrid and

myself are able to somewhat dislike Jewishness but very much like Jews.

One final point: I'm not absolutely sure about any of the above and I

certainly would not insist that anyone agree with me. Whatever I say or

write is always characterised by doubt and hesitation. Some have said

that this is because I'm afraid of coming clean about my beliefs. But

that's not true. It's simply that I am never so sure about anything,

other than the value of keeping an open mind and tolerating other

opinions. Others feel differently. They are sure that they are

anti-Zionist and are therefore in solidarity with Palestinians. They are

sure that Ernst Zundel is a dangerous neo-Nazi and must be silenced.

They are sure that Palestinians need to live in a secular, democratic

state. Well, I'm not so sure, and I think that it is our uncertainty,

and our lack of any desire to impose our opinions on others which is at

the heart of the differences between on the one hand, Gilad Atzmon,

Israel Shamir and myself, and on the other, those who so attack us.

Good luck

Paul.

Paul Eisen is a director of Deir Yassin Remembered