The Holocaust Industry [Paperback]

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.

I should point out, as many reviewers have done already, that Finkelstein categorically does _not_ deny that the holocaust occurred! Those who would seek to attack him on these grounds are shameless apologists who have probably not taken the time to actually read what Dr. Finkelstein has to say.

I suppose though that all ethnic groups feel that their sufferings are special in some way and are emotionally attached to them. That could be a mitigating factor in any judgements against the industry. A lot of cries of injustice and for reparations are somewhat hypocritical since it seems all ethnic groups act amorally towards one another at times and will probably exploit the underdog group if given the chance and if they have enough power to do so. They seem to work hard to get enough power to do so. Reparations can be seen as a form of revenge.

Things weren't always this way with the nazi holocaust. Before Israel's winning of their war in the Middle East in 1967, there were better, more objective books written about the holocaust; some of which present a more universalist message that we could all learn more about ourselves from the holocaust and there wasn't much mention of Jewish suffering as being unique. Finkelstein covers some books which he thinks are valuable and one's he thinks are garbage. He accuses Zionists of using the holocaust to deflect criticism from the questionable actions of Israel and Holocaust Industry itself. After the 1967 war, the US backed Israel as a cold war ally and gave them lots of ammunition.

Finkelstein has a leftist take on his criticism of the industry. Why don't we give reparations to African Americans for slave labor? Why don't we give reparations to the Vietnamese for tearing up their country during the Vietnam War? Why don't we include the others who were in concentration camps in holocaust memorials such as the Catholics, the gypsies, and the handicapped? Why don't we focus on what nazi gold was taken from Jews that are still in US banks? Why do we go after just the European banks? Why are certain American Jews obsessed with their victim status when they are one of the richest ethnic groups in the world? A lot of people will consider his views unpatriotic or a form of Jewish self-hating.

The reader may come away with the impression that reparations are not a good idea in any case because it brings out too many people who want to exploit the situation while not necessarily being a victim and reparation seekers tend to point fingers at people who aren't necessarily guilty of alleged past wrongs.

A lot of fraudulent literature and claims have come up over the years, which Finkelstein exposes well. He is similar to Noam Chomsky who has documented, if debatable theories about how American is an economically imperialist nation. That theme is sounded as well in the book.