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Right of Reply: A threat to Holocaust memory

By EFRAIM ZUROFF
08/27/2010 16:28

I welcome the opportunity to explain the significant dangers posed by the steps called for by the signees of the Prague Declaration.

There is no small degree of irony in Barry Rubin’s choice of the quote from the Prague Declaration that “those who neglect their past have no future” (Magazine, August 13) to promote his case for Jewish and Israeli support for that document which seeks to obtain official recognition that the crimes of communism were equivalent to those of Nazism and that both constitute a European “common legacy,” which must be recognized as such for the continent to ever achieve unity.

For it is precisely my concern to preserve the accurate narrative and memory of our Jewish past which motivates me to do whatever I can to inform the Israeli and Jewish public about the dangers of the Prague Declaration and its potentially dire consequences for the future of Holocaust memory and education.

As a proud member of the group which Rubin accuses of waging “a relentless campaign” against the June 3, 2008 document, I welcome the opportunity to explain the flaws in his arguments and the significant dangers posed by the practical steps called for by the signees.

The heart and core of Rubin’s case is his assertion that by rejecting the Prague Declaration, which promotes a historically false parity or equivalency between crimes by communists and those of the Nazis, we become accomplices in the decades-long efforts to hide the ravages of communist totalitarianism and repression, and even the crimes committed against Jews by the Soviet Union and other communist regimes. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. ........................................... (access link for remainder of article.)





Right of Reply: A threat to Holocaust memory