FDR, IBM, Darwin, and the Holocaust

The blog Darwinian Fundamentalism reported a recent Washington Post article that discusses the negative reaction to a new book titled, "Saving the Jews: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Holocaust." The article said,

Fifty-five historians have signed a letter protesting the new book about Roosevelt because, they say, it impugns the patriotism of scholars who think the United States should have bombed Auschwitz, admitted more refugees and taken other steps to lessen the Nazi genocide.

In "Saving the Jews: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Holocaust," author Robert N. Rosen contends that "from Roosevelt's perspective, everything was done that could reasonably be done for European Jewry." FDR's critics, he writes, are indulging in "America-bashing" and promoting an "anti-American" version of history.

Below is the text of the letter that the 55 holocaust historians sent to the publisher in protest of the book:

Gentlemen:

In Robert N. Rosen's new book "Saving the Jews: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Holocaust, " he impugns the patriotism of scholars, including Prof. David S. Wyman, who have taken issue with the Roosevelt administration's response to the Holocaust. Mr. Rosen accuses these scholars of promoting "an anti-American version of history" (pp. 332) and engaging in "America bashing." (p. 324)

As scholars who have written about the Holocaust, we protest Mr. Rosen's attempt to demean the motives of reputable historians who have documented important facts about how America responded to the Nazi genocide.

Does your publishing house really mean to suggest that questioning the policies of a particular administration is grounds for branding a scholar "anti-American"? Such name-calling and invective are deplorable, false, and have no place in serious discussion of the Roosevelt administration's response to one of the greatest moral crises of the Twentieth Century.

Sincerely,

In contrast to the big protest over the book "Saving the Jews," there did not appear to be any significant objection to the book "IBM and the Holocaust" by Edwin Black, which appeared to libel a great American company. The introduction to "IBM and the Holocaust" said, "IBM, primarily through its German subsidiary, made Hitler's program of Jewish destruction a technologic mission the company pursued with chilling success." A New York Times book reviewer said of that statement, "Black never even attempts to substantiate his accusation -- a scandalous omission considering the gravity of the charge." The book's main theme is completely contradicted by the following statement from Sybil Milton, a former senior historian of the research institute of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum: "We have no proof that the [IBM] Hollerith was ever used to target individuals for deportation lists." By odd coincidence, a lawsuit by holocaust survivors was filed against IBM at the same time that the book was published. Also, the book later became the basis for a lawsuit by Gypsy organizations against IBM.

The end of the Washington Post article also has several paragraphs about the TV special on Darwin and Hitler, but I have no comments to make about that part of the article.

History has been accurately described as "lies mutually agreed upon."

My thanks to Lawrence Selden, the blogger at Darwinian Fundamentalism, for bringing this Washington Post article to my attention.

Related articles on this blog:

The absurd book "IBM and the Holocaust"

Holocaust mythologies