Rating: 
Summary: The Holocaust Industry
Review: I commend Norman Finkelstein for his accuracy in dismanteling the mysticism of the Holocaust Industry. I commend him for his courage to critisize this ongoing Zionist-conspiracy that has always hard-hitted and destroyed any objective critisism about their evil doing. Already 15 years ago these Zionist conspirateurs have attacked and destroyed a book by the american congressman Paul Findley titled "They dare to speak out" and in the course the autor Paul Findley was even thrown out of the american congress. Norman Finkelstein to me is like Jesus Christ that came to dismantle the lies and to put light on the truth. And Jesus was therefor violently attact by his own Jews like now Norman Finkelstein is being attacked by this worldwide Zionist conspiracy and industry. This book is like the new testament of the bible and should be read and studied by any Christian and Jew.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth Reading
Review: This book is subtitled "Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering." The holocaust is the most exploited event of recent history and a book on this topic is needed; however, I'm not sure Mr. Finkelstein has written the definitive study. The book covers a lot of territory in only 150 pages (with extensive footnotes) and its conclusions can be as overdrawn as some of those in the holocaust industry. Mr. Finkelstein travels at breakneck speed giving a barrage of quotes, making broad and unsupported statements, and then skipping to a new subject just when some qualification is in order.The Holocaust Industry is divided into three chapters: (1) Capitalizing On The Holocaust, on the uses of the holocaust; (2) Hoaxers, Hucksters, and History, on various holocaust frauds and historical revisionists; and (3) The Double Shakedown, on reparations. Since I know next to nothing about the reparation issue, I'll restrict my comments to the first two chapters. Chapter 1 contains some interesting discussion on how groups have capitalized on the holocaust for political and financial gain. But just when the reader expects to get a discussion of this, we are given an account of Jewish involvement in American politics which doesn't seem to have much to do with the central theme of the book, or at the least isn't tied in. While it's true that "evoking historic persecution deflected present-day criticism", I don't see how the opposition of certain Jews to quotas is connected with exploiting the holocaust. [pps. 36-37.] Mr. Finkelstein could have made his point better if he gave examples (of which there are many) of right-wingers being falsely accused of anti-semitism; however, he appears to be rather left of center (to put it mildly). Chapter 2 is the most interesting. We are often told that the holocaust is a "unique event." Yet few are willing to draw the obvious conclusion, that "[t]he claims of Holocaust uniqueness are intellectually barren and morally discreditable, yet they persist. The question is, Why? In the first place, unique suffering confers unique entitlement. The unique evil of the Holocaust, according Jacob Neusner, not only sets Jews apart from others, but also gives Jews a 'claim upon those others.'" [p. 47.] (It isn't clear from this quote whether Rabbi Neusner in fact believes in the uniqueness of the holocaust.) We might then expect a discussion of those historical events on a par with the holocaust, but instead we have to wait to the Conclusion, and we get a litany of real and imagined offenses of the United States. While Mr. Finkelstein mentions the Cambodian genocide, I don't think he refers even in passing to perhaps the most evil event of the Twentieth Century: Stalin's murder of 5 to 10 million Ukrainians, an event that dwarfs the holocaust. Nor does he mention the millions killed directly or indirectly by Mao in the Cultural Revolution, a number which some historians place as high as 40 million. The Armenian genocide is only mentioned in passing. [pps. 69-70.] (There is no index, so I could be wrong.) These events strike me as a little bit worse than the U.S. support for the Guatemalan government in the 1980's. [p. 146.] There is also a curious discussion of the (alleged) belief in the "total blamelessness [of] Jews . . . ." [p. 52.] While Mr. Finkelstein implies that Jews have provoked justifiable hostility in gentiles, nowhere are we told just what they done to incite anger. While I promised not to comment on Chapter 3, Mr. Finkelstein makes a point that strikes me as worthy of mention: it is generally conceded that there were approximately 100,000 holocaust survivors at the end of World War II. How is it then that so many more people have claimed to be holocaust survivors? This book asks many interesting questions and presents much useful information. It certainly isn't the last word.
Rating:
Summary: Holocaust Industry gone berserk?
Review: I highly recommend reading the book "The Holocaust Industry". Its Jewish author N. Finkelstein deserves praise for his courage to write it and for his persistence to publish it. The book is devided into three chapters: 1) Capitalizing the Holocaust; 2) Hoaxers, Huxters, and History; 3) Double Shakedown. The book concludes with this statement: "The Holocaust Industry has clearly gone berserk" --- There is little doubt that growing anti-Semitism has its roots in the excesses of the Holocaust Industry. ---- An important book. - It shines the spotlight on a forbidden subject.
Rating:
Summary: An Angry Man's Excoriation, by fermed
Review: Normal Finkelstein meets the criteria as a speaker and critic on the subject of the Nazi holocaust: both his parents (now dead) survived the Warsaw Ghetto and the Nazi concentration camps. All other relatives, on both sides of his family, perished in Nazi hands. Finkelstein is a scholar, a teacher, and a proud bearer of his Jewishness; he is also a very angry man. The object of his fury is his perception of how the Nazi holocaust has been made the object of politics, of cheap grandiosity, of power mongering, and of the abuse and exploitation of those who truly suffered in the hands of their tormentors. He minces no words: "The Holocaust industry has become an outright extortion racket;" one chapter is called "Hoaxers, Huckesters and History," and another "The Double Shakedown." He names names, and organizations, and dates in his indictment of this "Industry." He backs his words with citations and references, as a good scholar should. I was horrified to read the details. People whose names and lives have become identified as living icons of holocaust suffering (such as Eli Weisel) are depicted here with all their bumps and their blemishes and as having little interest in the poor Jewish survivors who remain. It is unfortunate that this book will not rectify the corruption attending the Hollocaust Industry generally. More likely it will be taken directly by the anti-Semites to be used as fuel for their insatiable hatred and bigotry. It is admirable that one angry man can yell his righteous indignation against the abuses he perceives; but for that, please don't call him a self-hating Jew: he is nothing of the sort. I only wish many level headed Jews and Gentiles would listen to him so that what he depicts might be corrected. This book is highly recommended. It has no index or bibliography, and its many citations in the footnotes cannot substitute for them. Such a lack, in this computer age, is unacceptable for a scholarly work, which this book is. For the absent index the book loses one star.
Rating:
Summary: Holocaust Holocaust, Who's Got The Holocaust?
Review: "He's poison, he's a disgusting self-hating Jew, he's something you find under a rock."
-Leon Wieseltier
literary editor, New Republic Hat's off to Finkelstein for this courageous book. Page after page, he argues convincingly that the holocaust has indeed become an exploitive industry used by many Jews to place them above moral judgement, to make them untouchable. With political ruthlessness, the Jews have propagated the idea (for decades) that the holocaust is "unique" to history, therefor eliminating all rational analysis of it. The fact is, every human who has been tortured, starved or killed has something in common with the holocaust. Indeed, it's with little surprise that many Jews are feeling rather "unnerved" and "angered" by the success of this book. Finkelstein exposes the use of the holocaust by elitist Jews to deflect any criticism of Isreal, to "shake-down" European nations for reparations, and to ultimately secure Jewish unity. A powerful and important book, it is must reading for anyone interested in the truth.
Rating:
Summary: Very Polemical, But Much Needed
Review: Finkelstein's book is a deliberately polemical attempt to open up discussion on the recent attempts by some Jewish groups to profit from compensation plans, and by some individuals to make a living on the Holocaust. In the first part, Finkelstein argues that the Holocaust is over-remembered because it serves US strategic interests as well as those of Israel. This part of the argument is less successful. In the second part, Finkelstein tells about a number of individual authors -- including the "Wilkomirski" story -- to highlight the idea that the Holocaust has been used for careerism. Very effective. The third part, as long as the first two, and about 80 pages long with dense footnotes, is a blow by blow description of the "extortion" first of the Swiss banks and then German industry for compensation. In effect, what Finkelstein argues is that way too much money is being asked for and historically very little of this money ever goes to survivors, who today would be old and very much in need of it. This is the most wrenching part of the book and is both distressing and depressing, not because of Finkelstein, but of what he describes. The criticism of Zionism is beside the point and doesn't really function here. But the criticism of those who enrich themselves at the expense of others, and even in their name, is devastating.
Rating:
Summary: Joining the Hoasters & Hucksters
Review: When I wrote my first review of this book I had not read "The Holocaust in American Life" by Peter Novick yet. Having done so many of the arguments in the Finkelstein book suddenly become very crude polemics. Novick very convincingly presents a development of the Holocaust as a useful totem in the domestic political debate of the US and in this light many of the protagonists should be seen. It is all politics, so naturally there are hoaxsters and hucksters around. Finkelstein takes it personally and consequently his book becomes a very bitter polemic against "The Holocaust Industry". While there may be a grain of truth in it, it still is a polemic and - after you get to know the serious research by Novick - not a good one. Not that the polemics against Finkelstein and his book - f.e. many of the reviews here on Amazon - are much better, but in his reaction to the (political) counter-attacks Finkelstein with this book joined the hoaxsters and hucksters himself.
Rating:
Summary: Anger but never hatred!
Review: Prof. Finkelstein's book has been described by other reviwers as "angry"; and it is that! Yet, even if only half of the meticulously documented accusations in the book are true, the author has every right to his anger. So, in fact, does the entire population of the United States, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, and even more, citizens of Isreal, the Arab world and of Europe: not least those of Germany and Switzerland for whom the book convincingly documents shocking revelations of extortion and malfeasance, often at the expense of Holocaust survivors. Anger, then, pervades the 150 pages of this well written book; but never hatred. That reaction seems reserved for his critics who, in this reviewer's opinion, have advanced few arguments against the veracity of Finkelstein's theses and, instead, have felt obliged to resort to personal insult and character assassination; strengthening rather than weakening his case. Professor Finkelstein is a brave man! Like all iconoclastic and thought-provoking books, this one is essential reading for any student of the Holocaust because it is scholarly and rationally argued. The arguments therein challenge the leadership of the alleged "Holocaust Industry" to refute them in an unbiased court of public opinion which likely doesn't exist today. Finkelstein's is as yet a minority voice and may still readily be shouted down without recourse to rational argument; the day, however, will surely come when a less self-serving history of these awful events will be generally accepted.
Rating: 
Summary: A Very Difficult, Complex, and Worthwhile Book
Review: To be sure, Mr. Finkelstein has written a very difficult book. It presents a number of intellectual and moral dilemmas to the reader, many of which he may never have considered. Were it not written by a Jew, its thesis, that there is a difference between the intellectual idea of the Holocaust as a transcendent event in human history, a zeitgeist of a people if you will, and the historical Nazi holocaust in which over 16 million people were systematically murdered in a few short years by the National Socialist Party government then in power in Germany, and that the former has been developed and nurtured for political gain, would be roundly denounced as anti-Semitic (which is not to say that it has not been, only that it would be to a far greater degree). Thus it must be considered carefully and with great caution. On a purely organizational level, Mr. Finkelstein seems to have all his facts in order. His defense of his thesis is well put and thoroughly documented. Although he can occasionally become rhetorical, he manages to keep full control of the topic at all times, rendering the work coherent and succinct. It must be noted that it can occasionally become a bit of dry reading; however with such a work, verbal fireworks are not to be either expected not would they be welcome. To those to whom such things matter, Mr. Finkelstein's family was largely destroyed by the Nazi holocaust. His mother and father were the few of their respective families to have survived. However, as Mr. Finkelstein explains in the book, neither his father nor his mother would wish this to be a weight in favor of his book. He explains quite clearly that they did not speak of their survival nor did any of their friends who also survived. It seems to have been this fact that formed the early ideas for the book in his mind. From this he seems to have been driven to discover when the historical event became the transcendent event. His discoveries are startling. He presents the history of Israel and the wars she fought for both independence and control of territory in their context. He reminds the reader about many facts that have since been forgotten, such as who supported which wars and when various intellectuals voiced which of what seem in perspective to be their evolving opinions on both Israel and the Holocaust. Make no mistake, Mr. Finkelstein rocks boats. He takes on Irving Howe, Elie Weisel, Norman Podhoretz, et. al. with some of his observations; all of which would be easily dismissed if he did not do such a fine job of documenting them. It is to be expected that this book will attract the attention of true anti-Semites. This is to be expected. As always, they should be ignored. It will also draw the ire of those who are prone to knee-jerk reactions - those who will misunderstand one point or another and then go off half cocked based on this misunderstanding. (For instance, when Mr. Finkelstein writes on the subject of "blamelessness," he is writing on the idea of radical Zionism and of Israeli policies toward the Palestinian Arabs being excusable by the fact that the Jews were purified by the Holocaust and are therefor "blameless" for any measures taken in those two areas; in no way does he state that the Jews were responsible for the Nazi holocaust itself.) To maintain a level mind between these two extremes is to walk the razor's edge, yet it must be done if the book is to be fully understood. In the end, those who undertake the book with an open mind will be asked to consider many very difficult questions; the answers to which may be extremely unsettling. If you are not inclined to deep thinking, do not read this book, as it will be lost upon you, or worse, cause you to develop opinions both poorly formed and socially destructive. (A good way to test this is if you hold any opinions whose proposition and defense you feel is fully explained by the text of a bumpersticker.) For those who are willing to think deeply, to consider honestly some of the questions posed by Mr. Finkelstein and follow their conclusions out into the world, the book is certainly a worthy use of your time.
Rating:
Summary: To understand America...
Review: When Lieberman accepted the Democratic nomination on Public Radio a couple of days ago, in the few seconds alloted to him he managed to invoke the memory of Dachau, utterly out of context to the event. As a frequent world traveller I am continually surprised at the media coverage of the mid East, with the huge Israeli bias of the American media, as much as the continual reference to the Holocaust. Something is odd in America. I'm not sure this book gives all the answers, as the Economist review commented, he is a little strident, but it is interesting to see someone more educated than I has similar concerns.
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