#3 Holocaust history and the Bergson group
String began August 8, 2007
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Editor, San Diego Jewish World
As one of the scholars who signed the Bergson petition, I see no conflict between my role as a historian and my opinion that Peter Bergson deserved to be recognized by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Indeed, the latter arises out my own research on the role Bergson played in getting Roosevelt to create the War Refugee Board in early 1944 and not out of any endorsement of Bergson’s Irgunist politics.
—Laurie Baron
Nasatir Professor of Modern Jewish History
San Diego State University
Received August 17, 2007, 4: 46 p.m.
(jump back to original posting)
Editor, San Diego Jewish World
In his letter to this paper regarding the petition presented to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum regarding the museum's failure to include more information on the Bergson group in the permanent exhibition, Alex Grobman criticized my description of the Wyman Institute as an entity which "sort of straddle[s] the area between scholarship and activism.” I was asked by the reporter if the Wyman Institute was a "scholarly" entity. This was my response. Most academic institutions with which I am familiar don't engage in the kind of activism that the Institute does. Similarly, most activist organizations don't engage in the kind of scholarship in which the Wyman Institute engages. Why Grobman interprets this a criticism befuddles me.
More importantly he compared the petition submitted to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum with a petition circulated by the Wyman Institute protesting to C-Span about its refusal to broadcast a speech by me unless it was "balanced" by a presentation by Holocaust denier David Irving. Why, he wondered, was the petition to C-Span acceptable but a petition to the United States Holocaust Museum about including the Bergsons was not?
These are entirely two different matters. The Holocaust Museum petition concerned a museum exhibition which is a scholarly entity. I would hate to see the Holocaust museum become susceptible to the mode or the politics of the day through the use of petitions. In contrast, the C-Span matter concerned a television station which makes no pretence of being scholarly and which should be responsive to public pressure.
I am surprised that a scholar such as Alex Grobman would equate journalistic entities with historical museums which are built on a scholarly foundation.
Finally, I reiterate what I said in the original article. I believe the story of the Bergson's should be more prominently featured in the museum. That change should be made on the basis of scholarship not political pressure.
Deborah E. Lipstadt, PhD
Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies
Director, Tam Institute for Jewish Studies
Emory University
Received 1 p.m. Tuesday, August 14, 2007
I am one of the 83 historians who
joined the recent petition by the David S. Wyman Institute for
Holocaust Studies urging the United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum to add material to its exhibits about the 1940s Holocaust
rescue advocates known as the Bergson Group.
I was surprised to read the statement made by my friend and
colleague, Deborah Lipstadt, to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency,
in which she said of the Wyman Institute: “They sort of
straddle the area between scholarship and activism.” She also
told the JTA, “I don't believe that you change things by
petition.”
What’s wrong with changing things by petition? There's no rule
that says historians have to stay in their ivory towers all the
time. Signing petitions doesn't diminish their scholarship--it
just shows that they care about what happens in the real world.
Two years ago, the Wyman Institute mobilized more than six
hundred scholars —including me— to sign a petition supporting
Prof. Lipstadt when she clashed with C-Span. The television
network wanted to broadcast a speech by Holocaust-denier David
Irving to 'balance' a speech by Lipstadt. She protested, and
the Wyman Institute came to her defense—leading to C-Span's
decision to cancel the Irving speech. When we organized the
petition supporting Prof. Lipstadt against C-Span, I don't
recall anyone complaining that we were “straddling the line
between scholarship and activism.” On the contrary, I remember
everyone being grateful that the Wyman Institute cared enough to
get involved, at a time when too many other institutions and
organizations were reluctant to get involved.
Sincerely,
Dr. Alex Grobman
Englewood, New Jersey