Rating: 
Summary: I Read This Book Hoping It Would All Be A Lie. It Wasn't.
Review: While people who have attacked Norman Finkelstein and his work are long on venom, lies and outright libel (more on that later), they are short on facts. Not one reviewer has contested the facts that:1) The number of Jewish survivors of the Nazi Holocaust has been exagerrated by those seeking to get money from Swiss and German banks. The Simon Wiesenthal Center even claimed that the Swiss put Jews into concentration camps during the war -an outright lie. This dishonesty has given neo-Nazi Holocaust deniers a lot of live ammunition to work with.
2) The money extorted from these banks hasn't gone to the survivors (including Finkelstein's late parents) even though it was supposedly collected for their benefit.
3) By constantly harping on the Nazi genocide, certain Jewish groups have not only cheapened the memory of those who were murdered, but they have also gone out of their way to denigrate the genocide inflicted on others. This has led to an obscene game of "My genocide was worse than yours!" The Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. even tried to erase any mention of the Gypsies! The Museum apparently was trying to do to the Gypsies in memory what the Nazis tried to do to them in the flesh.
4) Israel's apologists are quick to draw the "Nazi Card" when anyone protests Israel's atrocities against Palestinians and Lebanese. Since no one can argue facts with Finkelstein, they resort to slander. The Anti-Defamation League even called Finkelstein a "Holocaust denier" in a letter sent to Georgetown University and reprinted on Finkelstein's website. Given the fact that the claim is an outright lie and that Finkelstein's parents are the only members of his extended family to survive the Shoah, it has to be the most disgusting smear to ever appear in print.
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Summary: Criticism is not prejudice
Review: I am an American Jew, and no, I don't "hate myself" or hate my ethnic heritage. I am proud of my Jewish heritage. I feel all Jews should read this book and give serious thought to it. Contary to what his critics say, Finkelstein does not deny and never has denied that European Jews suffered one of the most terrible atrocities in human history under the Nazi holocaust. (He does, however, argue persuasively that Jews are not the only people in history to have suffered genocide. This is NOT the same as holocaust denial.) What Finkelstein argues, and the critics of this book refuse to consider, is that many Jews unfortunately feel that this tremendous suffering confers upon them some kind of moral blank-check for whatever political or financial purposes they see fit--kicking Palestinians out of their homes, for example. It is a controversial statement in the current political climate, but Finkelstein presents a tight, devastating argument in favor of it, and all morally serious people should at least evaluate the argument in terms of facts and logic, rather than dismissing it off-hand with ad hominem attacks against the author. (I am not suggesting, by the way, that ad hominem attacks are never admissable in the course of argument--Finkelstein loves to pepper his argument with stinging, and often quite comic, insults to his opponents. However, Finkelstein realizes that these attacks must be an addition to, not a substitute for, reasoned argument. His opponents, in turn, don't seem to care much for reasoned argument at all, and prefer instead to employ ad hominem attacks exclusively.) It is sad, though I suppose inevitable, that some anti-Semitic elements have latched on to this book as providing "support" for their prejudice. What is even more sad, however, is that many Jews somehow seem to think that this fact alone is enough to condemn the book. If some racist bigot latched on to a tightly-argued, well-reasoned book criticizing, say, Al Sharpton or Louis Farrakhan, and used this book to justify their prejudice towards African-Americans, would that fact in and of itself negate the conclusions of the book? Criticism is not the same thing as prejudice or hatred, even if that criticism is exploited by the purveyors of prejudice and hatred. Unfortunately, those who dismiss this book just can't seem to grasp this elementary distinction.
Rating: 
Summary: Cowardly. Toes the anti "Zionist" party Line.
Review: Poorly researched, opinionated, and hateful throughout, this is a book to avoid if you value truthful reporting. Finkelstein's work is beloved in Holocaust denial circles where it's described as "courageous." Like all bigots--and in the same vein as several of his cheerleaders here--the author is quick to deny his cowardly intentions. Naked Jew-baiting by a well known (thanks to books like this) Jewish professor. Truly pathetic.
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Summary: Norman Finkelstein: A Man of Principle
Review: In academic circles, the Holocaust - the murder of five million European Jews during the Second World War - is a field still remarkably open to new interpretations and vigorous debate. However, "The Holocaust," its misbegotten pop-culture twin, has taken on the worst characteristics of a cult. Braving the slings and arrows of "The Holocaust's" various high priests, Norman Finkelstein has written a book which exposes them for the frauds that they are. The Holocaust Industry is a searing indictment of recent Holocaust compensation agreements. Its central premise is that that the campaign to expand both the range of targets and the amount of compensation sought is not, as organizations like the World Jewish Congress would have us believe, motivated by a desire to see justice served. On the contrary, it is just the latest and most extreme example of the abuse of the Holocaust for crass purposes. Previously trotted out to intimidate critics of Israel, "The Holocaust," Finkelstein convincingly argues, has recently been wielded as a club with which to bully Swiss banks, German companies, and the emerging democracies of the former Soviet bloc into handing over billions of dollars. The compensation campaign has become, to quote the author's memorable phrase, "an outright extortion racket." Worse still, while the various compensation claims were launched in the name of needy Holocaust survivors, much of the money awarded thus far has been earmarked for the coffers of Jewish organizations, and thus is likely to be frittered away on such dubious projects as community property restitution and Holocaust awareness. Survivors, to be sure, are not the only victims of what Finkelstein labels the Holocaust Industry. Another casualty is historical truth. Indeed, of all the issues raised in the book, this is the most disturbing. Drawing on a wide range of sources, Finkelstein has uncovered a litany of lies and deceptions. The number of actual survivors were wildly inflated, bogus survivors published fraudulent memoirs to international acclaim, and, during the tussle over Jewish assets allegedly held in Swiss banks, the head of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre levelled the outrageous charge, one contradicted by the historical record, that Switzerland had interned Jewish refugees in slave labour camps during the war. If that were not bad enough, Nazism's numerous non-Jewish victims have been systematically airbrushed out of Holocaust commemorations. As Finkelstein so eloquently observes, a few more years of this and it will no longer be possible to distinguish between Holocaust commemoration and Holocaust denial. Like all mavericks, Finkelstein occasionally overstates his case. His attacks on the self-appointed custodians of "The Holocaust," while justified, seem meanspirited at times. His characterization of present-day American-Jewish elites as morally equivalent to those of their European ancestors who collaborated with the Nazis is both excesive and uncalled for. Finally, what he sees as a Holocaust restitution conspiracy is more likely just another manifestation of the culture of historical victimization - with its inevitable calls for redress - that has so afflicted American society in recent years. These criticisms notwithstanding, The Holocaust Industry is one of those rare books which are destined to change public opinion. Beyond exposing a massive scandal, Finkelstein has given voice to concerns that many of us have had, but have been too timid to state publicly. For his courage in doing so, he deserves the widest possible readership.
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Summary: This book is NOT anti-semitic. Clear, reasonable, analysis
Review: Difficult it is to criticize the method and material through which Finkelstein makes his argument, for he is clearly erudite, clear thinking, and leverages the work of other great historians. The challenge he faces in putting across his argument is illustrated no better than in the reviews listed at Amazon.com, where - even as a Jew and son of survivors - he is brandished a anti-semite....in much the same manner as are some of the characters his books. What I find alarming is that reactions to his views - both in the book and in these reviews - are discarded out of hand. Potential readers (and, offline, Jews) ought to ask themselves whether a Jewish Historian and son of the nazi holocaust survivors is qualified to make such a critique. Because if he is not, then we must ask who is. Perhaps the financial beneficiaries of the nazi holocaust? The brilliance of this short but intellectually thorough book is that it understands the macroscopic effect of Holocaust-branding in Western life and the its employment for over-the-top financial and political reparations, and imbalanced support for Israel. If you are a Jew, or have found yourself being pro-Israel for no logical reason, you ought to read this because it is written by someone who has nothing to gain from his arguments but reactionary and brainless abuse. For others, you will understand the extent to which the holocaust has been manipulated and its ideology ensconsed in American life. It will also highlight how much we forget the other EQUALLY aweful things that have happened to MILLIONS of others in the last two hundred years.
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Summary: The Wholecaust Industry....
Review: Great book with a lot of information that explains why most media won't tell the public about the "Wholecaust" whereby the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics slaughtered 62 million people; and the Peoples' Republic of China slaughtered 35 million; and the monstrous National Socialist German Workers' Party, 21 million. The book provides a lot of information that explains why most media use the word "Nazi" to cover-up for the horrid "National Socialist German Workers' Party," in a vain effort to rehabilitate socialism. Most media will not fully identify the atrocious "National Socialist German Workers' Party" and use the abbreviations "nazi" & "nazis" & "nazism" in a hackneyed lazy manner, so that there is now rampant ignorance of the full phrase in the public, and now even in the media. The bias inspired the "Not say Nazi" movement via people who pledge to never say or write the abbreviation and to always use the full phrase.
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Summary: The Wholecaust Industry....
Review: Great book that provides a lot of information that will help explain why other media will rarely if ever tell the public about the "wholecaust" whereby the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics slaughtered 62 million people; and the Peoples' Republic of China slaughtered 35 million; and the monstrous National Socialist German Workers' Party, 21 million. For example, the New York Times was very slow to acknowledge the lies of it's former writer Walter Duranty's cover-ups of the socialist atrocities of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Provides a lot of information that will help explain why the media use the word "Nazi" to cover-up for the horrid National Socialist German Workers' Party, in a vain effort to rehabilitate socialism. The media never fully identify the horrid "National Socialist German Workers' Party" and they use the abbreviations "nazi" & "nazis" & "nazism" in a hackneyed lazy manner that has caused rampant ignorance among the public and even among the media now, about the full meaning of the abbreviations.
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Summary: Ugly Businesses Are Rampant Worldwide
Review: It seems a little odd at first glance that activists of the Anti-Nazi movement criticise this book like Mike Simons did in "Socialist Review" in September, 2000.
But it does totally make sense, as Simons wrote; "[The] memory of the Holocaust is the biggest barrier to the rebirth of a modern Nazi movement." I think they want to say at heart; "You should not throw a wet blanket over the righteous movement." Still, those Anti-Nazi activists and other left-wingers who call the Israeli state "Fascist" make the matter indigestible.
It seems to me that there are no differences, apart from the motivation, money on one hand and ideology on the other, between both the Jewish cheaters and the agents of the Anti-Nazi movement because both of them are, in reality, profiting from the Holocaust Industry. By the way, Holocaust Industry seems to be not only one industry of such kind that makes profits for various people worldwide involving money and ideological activities. Here, I name "Nanking Massacre/ Rape of Nanking", which was coincidentally called "forgotten holocaust of the world war 2" by Iris Chang, the author of the best-selling book, "the Rape of Nanking", for another "Industry".
Although many contemporary documented evidences suggest that such massacre on both civilians and the soldiers (other than legitimate executions of unlawful soldiers) never happened, the propaganda story has evolved into a large-scale profit-making machine hugely supported by a still influential historical view of the Tokyo Trial for over half a century. In this "Industry", however, as well as other "Japan's Wartime Atrocities Industries" mostly the Tokyo Trial created such as "Comfort Women Industry" and "Unit 731 Industry" and so on, there is a quite peculiar side that "the Holocaust Industry" never has: bogus perpetrators. Among those bogus perpetrators, there are a few hundreds of the victims of the Chinese "brain-washing" who "confessed" horrible crimes before the Chinese People's Court after "reformed" their "inhumane thought" to "righteous" Anti-Japanese Imperialism at the Fuxuan War Criminal Camp in China for 5 to 10 years after transported from Russian slave labour camps in Siberia in July, 1950, by the direct order of Stalin. (Of course, by doing that, both China and Soviet Union was violating the Potsdam Declaration art. 9 which stated the Japanese soldiers should be returned "to their homes" after the war.)
They were returned to Japan as planned and formed "Association of the Soldiers Returned from China" to advocate the Anti-Japanese Imperialism publishing books and giving lectures throughout Japan and China. However, the biggest profit they have made so far is, actually, not for themselves but for the Anti-Japanese campaigners of both the Japanese and the Chinese. (Sometimes for the Korean, too.)
Sadly, they will never be able to come to realisation that they were actually "brain-washed" and, most importantly, are not real perpetrators of the barbaric crimes they "confessed", therefore, there is no need for them to suffer from those painful guilties, just because the Chinese Communist Party and their sympathisers in Japan, as well as other left-wingers who are anti-Japanese, never ever let them unless, like the U.S. authority did to their own "brain-washing" victims of China, some decent authority in Japan take care of them as "victims" of the mental manipulation called "thought reform". But, that is unlikely because there are strong "China school" in Japanese authorities such as Foreign Ministry and the Justice Department and some MPs even in the "conservative" parties, not to mention both the Japan Communist Party and the Japan Socialist Party, that are said to be having some good "kickbacks" from the Chinese government. Having so much enjoyed those lucrative but ugly businesses, the profit-makers of both sides would have no intention to search for the truth of history. Never. The profits are too juicy and too many people involved to give up altogether.
Finkelstein and other's struggle to reveal the truth and to change the situation to better one is, therefore, inevitably endless.
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Summary: "The 'Wholecaust' Industry" by RexCurry.net
Review: Very good book. I especially appreciate the parts about Daniel Goldhagen. One of Goldhagen's books asked "why did many regular German citizens assist the National Socialist German Workers' Party in committing atrocities?" It discussed the Holocaust but it said almost nothing about the "Wholecaust" and the people in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (62 million killed) and in the People's Republic of China (35 million) and the fact that they both independently killed more people than did the monstrous National Socialist German Workers' Party (21 million). Together, the "socialist trio of atrocities" committed the most heinous acts of all time. "Hitler's Willing Executioners : Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust" by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen would be more illuminating if it were titled "Socialism's Willing Executioners : Ordinary socialists and the Wholecaust" and if it were expanded to include all of the other hate-spewing radical paramilitary societies.
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Summary: Lucrative Industry of Propaganda War
Review: Very often I have heard of the Palestinians accusing Israeli Army of killing their children.
On the other hand, the Israeli say the Paletinian boys are sent there by their parents. I saw British TV programme "News Night" (BBC2) reporting: "The Palestinians are sending their teen-age children to a military training camp so that the children can fight against the Israeli soldiers and also encouraging children to go to the buffer-zone to throw stones at the Israelis." The report completed with the video footage of the training camp in question. The video also showed an interview with Palestinians, most of them were mothers and children.
Children outside of a school gathered and surrounded the cameraman and a journalist.
The journalist asked them: "Are you going to the "stone-throwing" zone?"
"Year!!" all children's cheerful voices echoed.
"I go to there everyday!", one exclaimed. "Me, too!" "Me, too!" other boys join. "I'll kill the Israelis!" one boy shouted proudly. A mother of a ten year old boy who had just been killed by the Israeli in the "stone-throwing" zone told the interviewer; "He was young, but he died in honor in a battle." Her face shone with pride. I respect the pride and the heroism I saw in the faces of those Palestinian mothers and children. Are they, but, not exploited by their own people, who are putting themselves behind the women and the children when they fight against the Israeli or other non-Islamic countries they hate? Exploiters not only pursue money but their political advantages.
So, who is the real victim?
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