Lvov, the Ukrainian militia, the police, killed 3,000 people in 2 days here. (60 Minutes, The Ugly Face of Freedom, October 23, 1994) VIEW #2: THE LVIV POGROM WAS MASSIVE AND POST-GERMAN. The Ukrainian police ... had played a disastrous role in Galicia following the entry of the German troops at the end of June and the beginning of July 1941. (Simon Wiesenthal, Justice Not Vengeance, 1989, p. 34, emphasis added) Thousands of detainees were shot dead in their cells by the retreating Soviets. This gave rise to one of the craziest accusations of that period: among the strongly anti-Semitic population the rumour was spread by the Ukrainian nationalists that all Jews were Bolsheviks and all Bolsheviks were Jews. Hence it was the Jews who were really to blame for the atrocities committed by the Soviets. All the Germans needed to do was to exploit this climate of opinion. It is said that after their arrival they gave the Ukrainians free rein, for three days, to 'deal' with the Jews. (Simon Wiesenthal, Justice Not Vengeance, 1989, p. 36, emphasis added) VIEW #3: THERE WAS NO LVIV POGROM. From the Ukraine Einsatzkommando 6 of Einsatzgruppe C reported as follows: Almost nowhere can the population be persuaded to take active steps against the Jews. This may be explained by the fear of many people that the Red Army may return. Again and again this anxiety has been pointed out to us. Older people have remarked that they had already experienced in 1918 the sudden retreat of the Germans. In order to meet the fear psychosis, and in order to destroy the myth ... which, in the eyes of many Ukrainians, places the Jew in the position of the wielder of political power, Einsatzkommando 6 on several occasions marched Jews before their execution through the city. Also, care was taken to have Ukrainian militiamen watch the shooting of Jews. This "deflation" of the Jews in the public eye did not have the desired effect. After a few weeks, Einsatzgruppe C complained once more that the inhabitants did not betray the movements of hidden Jews. The Ukrainians were passive, benumbed by the "Bolshevist terror." Only the ethnic Germans in the area were busily working for the Einsatzgruppe. (Raul Hilberg, The Destruction of the European Jews, 1961, p. 202) The Slavic population stood estranged and even aghast before the unfolding spectacle of the "final solution." There was on the whole no impelling desire to cooperate in a process of such utter ruthlessness; and the fact that the Soviet regime, fighting off the Germans a few hundred miles to the east, was still threatening to return, undoubtedly acted as a powerful restraint upon many a potential collaborator. (Raul Hilberg, The Destruction of the European Jews, 1961, p. 201) First, truly spontaneous pogroms, free from Einsatzgruppen influence, did not take place; all outbreaks were either organized or inspired by the Einsatzgruppen. Second, all pogroms were implemented within a short time after the arrival of the killing units; they were not self-perpetuating, nor could new ones be started after things had settled down. (Raul Hilberg summarizing anti-Jewish activity in Ukraine, The Destruction of the European Jews, 1961, p. 204) The Ukrainian violence as a whole did not come up to expectations. (Raul Hilberg, The Destruction of the European Jews, 1961, p. 204) Do you not find it disturbing, Mr. Jordan, that 60 Minutes' claim of a massive pre-German pogrom in Lviv is contradicted by Simon Wiesenthal's earlier statements that the pogrom was post-German? And do you not find it even more disturbing that when we turn from media stars like Simon Wiesenthal and television announcers like Morley Safer to respected historians - in fact, the most respected historian of the Jewish Holocaust, Raul Hilberg himself - that there is a curious lack of awareness of this most egregious of all World War II pogroms, and in fact flat denials that anything of the sort ever happened? Yours truly, Lubomyr Prytulak cc: Ed Bradley, Steve Kroft, Morley Safer, Lesley Stahl, Mike Wallace Jordan Letter 3 May 14/96 Nowhere is the SS so openly celebrated May 14, 1996 Michael H. Jordan Chairman, Westinghouse Electric Corporation 11 Stanwix Street Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA 15222 Dear Mr. Jordan: There are certain questions that keep revolving in my mind to which I can't seem to find any answers - perhaps you could help me with one of these. The particular question which I have in mind at the moment is what it was that led Morley Safer to the conclusion that the Galicia Division reunion in Lviv - scenes of which were shown on "The Ugly Face of Freedom" - was in fact the most open celebration of the SS imaginable - in Mr. Safer's own words: "Nowhere, not even in Germany, is the SS so openly celebrated." Now for what strikes Mr. Safer as being the most open of all conceivable celebrations of the SS, I would think that the corroborative scenes shown should have contained all, or most, or at least several of the following ingredients: (1) a display of photographs of Hitler, (2) a display of photographs of Himmler, head of the SS, (3) a display of swastikas, (4) a display of the lightning-bolt "SS" insignia, or any "SS" insignia, (5) the playing of Nazi songs, perhaps Nazi marching songs, (6) goose-stepping on the part of the participants, (7) participants raising their hands in the "Heil Hitler!" salute, (8) pro-Nazi literature distributed to the participants as part of the celebration, (9) pro-Nazi statements elicited from the participants by reporters, (10) pro-Nazi statements made by speakers addressing the celebrants, (10) reminiscences of Nazi successes during World War II, (12) expressions of anti-Semitism. I would think that before a summary as extreme as "Nowhere, not even in Germany, is the SS so openly celebrated," a responsible reporter would have mentally run over such a check-list to measure precisely how much corroboration was really at hand. Had Mr. Safer done this, he would have come up with a remarkable figure - and that figure is exactly zero! Zero out of a possible twelve! In other words, the scenes aired by 60 Minutes contain not a shred of evidence - not the smallest clue, not the slightest hint - that this was in any way a "celebration of the SS." To speak words as provocative and inflammatory as were Mr. Safer's, while at the same time offering as corroboration scenes which in no way support those words, perhaps demonstrates the contempt in which Mr. Safer holds the intelligence of the 60 Minutes viewer. Had Mr. Safer done just a bit of homework before he started talking, he would have discovered that the Galicia Division was a combat unit whose only role was to fight the Soviet advance on the Eastern Front. Had Mr. Safer done just a bit of reading before giving vent to his prejudices and stereotypes, he would have discovered that the Galicia Division has never been so much as accused of any war crimes or any crimes against humanity - not even by the Soviets who have always been rabidly anti-Nazi, and against whom the Galicia Division fought. Had Mr. Safer demanded from his support staff even the most superficial research prior to reading his proclamations, he would have discovered that in at least three formal investigations, the Galicia Division has been judged to have been devoid of Nazi sympathies. So, then, what was the evidence that Mr. Safer was basing his statement on? How could he have said something so strikingly at variance with what was being shown on screen? This is the riddle that I wish you would help me solve. Yours truly, Lubomyr Prytulak cc: Ed Bradley, Steve Kroft, Morley Safer, Lesley Stahl, Mike Wallace HOME DISINFORMATION PEOPLE JORDAN < Jordan Jordan > 1535 hits since 23May98 Michael Jordan Letter 4 12Jul96 Levitas letter to Za Vilnu Ukrainu July 12, 1996 Michael H. Jordan Chairman, Westinghouse Electric Corporation 11 Stanwix Street Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA 15222 Dear Mr. Jordan: I am sending you a translation from the Ukrainian of an open letter to Morley Safer and the 60 Minutes staff, written by I. M. Levitas, Head of the Jewish Council of Ukraine as well as of the Nationalities Associations of Ukraine, and published in the Lviv newspaper Za Vilnu Ukrainu (For a Free Ukraine) on December 2, 1994. In this letter, Mr. Levitas protests the 60 Minutes broadcast, "The Ugly Face of Freedom." Mr. Levitas's letter is a cry both of anguish and of outrage, but its more particular significance to us lies in its bringing to light fresh information demonstrating the bias of the 60 Minutes broadcast, and as well in showing us that Ukrainian Jews are foremost among those waiting for a corrective broadcast, and foremost also among those who are offering their cooperation in the preparation of such a corrective broadcast. Mr. Levitas suggests that the severity of the bias combined with the total suppression of contradictory information that is evident in the 60 Minutes story is Bolshevik in style. I would go on to suggest to you that just as the countries of the former Soviet Union cannot hope to thrive without first throwing off the leaders who are inherently Communist in outlook, so CBS News cannot hope to thrive under the leadership of individuals whose attitude toward broadcasting is that it is a tool placed in their hands for the totalitarian manipulation of mass opinion. Sincerely yours, Lubomyr Prytulak cc: Ed Bradley, Steve Kroft, Morley Safer, Lesley Stahl, Mike Wallace WHY DIDN'T YOU SHOW THE UKRAINIANS AND POLES WHO RESCUED JEWS? Esteemed Gentlemen! Esteemed program host, Mr. Safer! It has come to our attention that on October 23, 1994, American television broadcast a program about events in the city of Lviv and in the Western region of Ukraine. We have acquainted ourselves with the contents of this program, and have also received feedback from Jews who recently emigrated from Ukraine to the United States. Our conclusion: from isolated and insignificant facts you created a broadcast in which you overwhelmingly crammed distortions and emphasized the negative aspects of Jewish life, while at the same time hiding the positive aspects which are considerably more numerous. Everything that you reported in your broadcast unfortunately exists, but exists only as isolated events diluted in the normal flow of life in Lviv. By focussing on these isolated events, you painted an unrelievedly negative picture, and that constitutes your principal error - unless it wasn't an error at all but rather was done intentionally. We are a young democracy, and the unrestrained expression of democratic freedoms may give birth to untoward manifestations, as is bound to happen in any country, including the United States - a country of long-standing democracy. Many bad things, including attitudes toward Jews, have been bequeathed to us from the past, and it is difficult to wholly eradicate this from the consciousness of the people. In your broadcast, you mentioned streets that were renamed after Petliura and Bandera, but didn't mention that Frunze Street, which before the war was called Starozhydivska Street ["Ancient Jewish Street"], was also recently renamed Staroyevreiska Street [also "Ancient Jewish Street" but without the negative connotation that "zhyd" has in Russian and in Eastern Ukrainian] - and, please note, not to Starozhydivska Street, in deference to Jewish sensibilities. You broadcast that contemporary Ukrainians don't know about the Yanivsky concentration camp. Possibly so - but there has grown up a generation which has already forgotten about even Auschwitz and Maydanek. But in fact in Ukraine, we do know about the Yanivsky camp. Our Jewish Council has established a Yanivsky Camp Foundation. Here in Lviv, we have held conferences dedicated to the memory of this camp. Where your broadcast shows a woman carrying flowers, a stone memorial has been erected bearing the Shield of David. I was present at the unveiling of this memorial. Representatives of the Lviv City Council made presentations at this ceremony, as did representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox and Ukrainian Catholic Churches. I have in my possession a photograph of this event which I could forward to you. Yes, the fence which you showed, and the dogs, unfortunately are there - but these are remnants of the past. In any case, a decision has been made to get rid of them and to build a memorial in the same location. You should have reported this. More to the point, the very first monument in our new Ukraine dedicated to Jewish victims was erected not far from Lviv, in the town of Chervonohrad. Following that, three other monuments were erected in our region. You reported that two Jews were robbed and beaten. This might have happened, but most likely not because they were Jews. I imagine that in Lviv, Ukrainians are also robbed (and significantly more often!), and yet nobody draws from this the sort of conclusions concerning ethnic hostility that you draw from the robbing of these two Jews. Our Jewish Council constantly receives news concerning Jews in Ukraine, but during the past five years, we have received not a single report of anyone being beaten because he was a Jew. However, it must be admitted that such a thing may have occurred without it coming to our attention - there are plenty of miscreants in every country. Because the facts selected for your broadcast were excessively biased and one-sided, it is incumbent upon me to give you a view of the other side of Jewish life. In Lviv, where seven thousand Jews live, there are thirteen Jewish organizations. There are also active organizations in the rest of the region - in Drohobych, Boryslav, Truskavets. I can send you all their addresses. Lviv was the first city in Ukraine to have a Jewish Society (1988), the first Ukraine-Israel Society (1989), and the first to publish a Jewish newspaper (1989). A Center for the Study of Jewish History is functioning in the city. Two Jewish-Ukrainian conferences have been held here. We have a Jewish ensemble, a Jewish theater, a philharmonic orchestra which recently, at the opening of the season, performed the works of Tchaikovsky and of two Jewish composers. A Jew, Kotlyk, head of the Jewish Society, was elected as a member of the City Council. Two years ago, in the center of the city, not far from "Hitler Square," a monument dedicated to the victims of the Lviv ghetto was unveiled. This is the biggest and most prominent Jewish memorial in all of Europe. Haven't you seen it? As head of the Jewish Council, I was present at all the events that I am describing, and I can document them. Your discussing these events in a future broadcast would present a wonderful balance which together with your video footage would paint an accurate picture of Jewish life in Ukraine, and not a deliberately one-sided one. One cannot indict any nation on the grounds that a few of its members were evil. Evil individuals exist in every nation. But why didn't you show those Ukrainians and Poles who rescued Jews? There are many of them. Initially, we ourselves didn't know about them, as they remained silent, and our former regime forbade them to speak on such topics. In Lviv, Simon Wiesenthal himself was rescued from death, and in Boryslav, the head of the Israeli parliament, Shevakh Weiss, with whom in 1992 I personally visited his own rescuers. We have a list of almost 2,500 Ukrainians who rescued Jews, and many of these are precisely from the Western region. We have brought these rescuers to Israel, presented them with certificates, and are now supporting them with pensions. We are presently in the process of submitting this list of rescuers to the Holocaust Museum in Washington. Concerning this I have been making particular arrangements, as I will be in the United States later this year. You broadcast that Lviv is being depopulated of Jews. However, this has been happening throughout the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and began not recently, but even during the Bolshevik regime - but nobody is blaming this on anti-Semitism. Rather, other motives are responsible: economics, Chornobyl, the reunification of families. Anti-Semitism plays a far weaker role. Our Council interviews Jewish emigrants and has definitive information on this question. Jews, perhaps more than others, should avoid throwing blanket insults and accusations at other peoples because they themselves - as a people and not as individuals - have been blamed by the Fascists for all sins. Why do you, then, proclaim all Ukrainians to be genetic anti-Semites? Why, in addition to talking about the police did you not also talk about the rescuers of Jews, did not show a single one of them? And in Lviv, there are many of them. Is it that you couldn't find any, or that you didn't want to look? I wish to declare to you officially: in the new Ukraine, there is no state-sponsored anti-Semitism. Not long ago, a Jew fulfilled the obligations of the prime minister of Ukraine. The mayors of Odessa and Vynnytsia are Jews. The mayor of Cherkasy was a Jew. There are six Jews in parliament. Some Deputy Ministers are Jews. It is such outstanding facts as these that convey the predominant attitude of Ukrainians to Jewish rebirth, to Jewish culture. Among the CIS, Ukraine was the first to hold a Jewish Congress. The Days of Jewish Culture were celebrated this year as a National holiday, dedicated to the 135th anniversary of Shalom Aleichem. In Ukraine, there are active Jewish organisations in 89 cities. Eleven Jewish newspapers are published. Ten schools are in operation. Jewish groups have been formed within Pedagogical and Theatrical Institutes (composed of 80% Ukrainians who have mastered Hebrew). We have held a festival of children's vocal and dance ensembles in which 46 groups applied to participate. Ukrainian television broadcasts two Jewish programs. Jewish spectacles are performed on the stages of Ukraine. For the fifth year now we have honored the victims of Babyn Yar, where there has been erected the Jewish monument "Menorah," and at which have been placed wreaths both from the President of Ukraine and from the Kyiv City Council. Just this year, the Days of Babyn Yar commemorations were conducted over the period of an entire week. In all cities (in all!) in which Jews were shot during the War, annual remembrance days are observed. All this you failed to see, and so you did great harm not only to Ukrainians, but to Jews as well. In our work of resurrecting Jewish life, we receive help from such prominent Ukrainian intellectuals and parliamentarians as B. Oliynyk, P. Osadchuk, O. Yemets, D. Pavlychko, V. Yavorivskyi, I. Drach, P. Movchan, M. Shulha, I. Dziuba, V. Durdynets, and many others. We do not want to return to former times, and yet that is the direction in which your broadcast is pushing us. You have done as the Bolsheviks used to do - you presented information that is one-sided, suppressed information that does not fit your stereotype, biased the selection of materials, strengthened and reinforced negativism. It would be as if the Los Angeles riots were shown to us here as representative American events. If you want to convince yourselves that everything I have been saying is true, please come to us and film anything you want. Please regard this as an official invitation of our Jewish Council. Certainly there exist many disappointments in our work. A lot remains to be done in revitalizing Jewish culture. We cannot immediately realize all our goals. But this is never merely because we are Jews; it is never attributable to either state-sponsored or spontaneous anti-Semitism. You must be aware in what a difficult economic situation Ukraine finds itself - and yet despite this, the government gives high priority to the support of cultural diversity, included in which is the support of Jewish culture. For example, the observance of the Days of Jewish Culture in Ukraine was funded entirely by the Ukrainian government - close to two billion karbovantsi, and this in our difficult economic times! It is these many things, then, that are of importance to us, and not the activities of individual ultra-nationalists who don't receive support from most Ukrainians; where in fact most Ukrainians condemn their activities. Oh, democracy! Is there any country, even the United States, which has succeeded in ridding itself of anti-Semitism? And are the American anti-Semites representative of official government attitudes toward Jews? Or are isolated events in Los Angeles reflective of United States government attitudes toward Blacks? Esteemed gentlemen! You didn't do a good thing insulting the Ukrainian people. Imagine if someone collected similarly true but unrepresentative facts to paint a negative picture of the Jewish people. Remember the Biblical injunction: Don't do anything to another that you would not want done to yourself. Please revisit us with an open mind, and not with any fixed bias. The United States is presently awaiting the visit of our President, and we don't want his visit to be marred by any anti-Ukrainian actions from anybody, especially not from Jews; nor would we want American assistance to our country to depend on isolated individuals who are opposed to granting such assistance. We await you in Ukraine. Respectfully, I.M. Levitas Head of the Jewish Council of Ukraine Head of the Nationalities Associations of Ukraine HOME DISINFORMATION PEOPLE JORDAN < Jordan Jordan > 726 hits since 23May98 Jordan Letter 5 Jul 18/96 Genetic anti-Semitism July 18, 1996 Michael H. Jordan Chairman, Westinghouse Electric Corporation 11 Stanwix Street Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA 15222 Dear Mr. Jordan: I have some questions for Morley Safer, and I route them to him through you, as I have discovered over the years that he is not very communicative when addressed directly - perhaps if the request to respond to these questions came from you, he might be more forthcoming. Specifically, I wonder if you would be so good as to ask Mr. Safer the questions organized under the following eight points, all of them in connection with his October 23, 1994 statement that "The Church and Government of Ukraine have tried to ease people's fears, suggesting that ... Ukrainians, despite the allegations, are not genetically anti-Semitic.": (1) Through what source did Mr. Safer become aware of the allegation that Ukrainians were genetically anti-Semitic? And what were the qualifications of this source in the field of human genetics, particularly in the field of the genetic inheritance of cognitive predispositions? (2) Before broadcasting this allegation, did Mr. Safer verify its plausibility with any responsible geneticist? (3) What does Mr. Safer mean by "the church of Ukraine"? This reference is as puzzling as would be a reference to "the church of the United States." (4) Could Mr. Safer divulge the name of the church representative who issued this denial of a genetic predisposition to anti-Semitism on the part of Ukrainians, and indicate as well the time and the place of the denial? (5) Could Mr. Safer similarly identify the Government of Ukraine representative who issued this same denial of a genetic predisposition to anti-Semitism on the part of Ukrainians - who was it, when, where? (6) Is Mr. Safer aware of a genetic predisposition to anti-Semitism on the part of any other group - or is this in his estimation a uniquely Ukrainian phenomenon? (7) Has Mr. Safer considered the possibility that his own antipathy toward Ukrainians is genetically based? If not, then how would he account for it? And if not, would Mr. Safer be willing to issue a public statement to the effect that his anti-Ukrainianism is not genetic in origin? (8) Could Mr. Safer comment on the possibility that the refusal of CBS personnel to discuss "The Ugly Face of Freedom" might similarly be genetically-based? If CBS personnel reject the notion that their corporate decisions are genetically influenced, then could Mr. Safer persuade them to issue a joint statement to this effect, and in particular denying that they are genetically anti-Ukrainian? These few and simple questions, it seems to me, serve the useful purpose of establishing what category Mr. Safer's statement falls into: that of a responsible journalist who picks his words carefully and later stands by them, or that of a bigot who gets up in front of the camera and begins to ramble off the top of his head - and later selects muteness as the optimal defense for his irresponsibility. Sincerely yours, Lubomyr Prytulak cc: Ed Bradley, Steve Kroft, Morley Safer, Lesley Stahl, Mike Wallace HOME DISINFORMATION PEOPLE JORDAN < Jordan Jordan > HOME DISINFORMATION PEOPLE JORDAN < Jordan Jordan > 1473 hits since 23May98 Jordan Letter 6 Jul 19/96 Allowing a fabulist on 60 Minutes July 19, 1996 Michael H. Jordan Chairman, Westinghouse Electric Corporation 11 Stanwix Street Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA 15222 Dear Mr. Jordan: When I began reading Simon Wiesenthal in late 1994, I was naive enough to imagine that my discovery that he had a credibility problem was an original one. Since that time, however, I have learned that Mr. Wiesenthal's lack of credibility is widely known and openly acknowledged. For example, on April 28, 1996, I received a letter from a Jewish faculty member at an American University, from which I quote the following: I do not doubt for a moment ... that Simon Wiesenthal is a fabulist - which is the fancy literary word for an unmitigated liar. My father (an Auschwitz inmate) told me many terrible stories about Wiesenthal's role after the war in the Austrian DP camps. Wiesenthal is of the same ilk as Elie Wiesel: a secular saint, he can make the most absurd claims without fear of exposure. Now the question that I would like to add to the ones that I have already addressed to you is the following: How did it come to pass that in 1994 a reputable investigative journalism show featured as its star witness someone who is widely known to be - shall we say - a "fabulist"? And from this question springs a second one: How does it come to pass today that a reputable investigative journalism show, having learned that it has been victimized by a "fabulist," refuses to take any corrective action? Yours truly, Lubomyr Prytulak cc: Ed Bradley, Steve Kroft, Morley Safer, Lesley Stahl, Mike Wallace, Simon Wiesenthal HOME DISINFORMATION PEOPLE JORDAN < Jordan 673 hits since 23May98 Jordan Letter 7 Aug 19/96 Loud laughter greeted this ingenuous objection Aug 19, 1996 Michael H. Jordan Chairman, Westinghouse Electric Corporation 11 Stanwix Street Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA 15222 Dear Mr. Jordan: As we have already seen, it was I. M. Levitas (Head of the Jewish Council of Ukraine and Head of the Nationalities Associations of Ukraine) who first suggested that the tactics employed by 60 Minutes in "The Ugly Face of Freedom" were totalitarian: "You have done as the Bolsheviks used to do - you presented information that is one-sided, suppressed information that does not fit your stereotype, biased the selection of materials, strengthened and reinforced negativism. It would be as if the Los Angeles riots were shown to us here as representative American events." Of course the suggestion that 60 Minutes is capable of assuming a totalitarian orientation toward broadcast journalism must initially strike anyone as hyperbolic - and yet reflection reinforces the parallel again and again. For example, here is a passage from Arthur Koestler. Koestler was giving a talk in Spain in 1938, and calculatedly included three statements which he knew to normal people appeared laudable, whereas to Communists, they amounted to declarations of war: The first was: "No movement, party or person can claim the privilege of infallibility." The second was: "Appeasing the enemy is as foolish as persecuting the friend who pursues your own aim by a different road." The third was a quotation from Thomas Mann: "A harmful truth is better than a useful lie." (In "The God That Failed," edited by Richard Crossman, Bantam, 1949, p. 64) In reading Koestler's passage, each of his statements struck me as being applicable to 60 Minutes, and struck me as well as being statements that 60 Minutes too might view as something akin to "declarations of war": (1) That having committed a host of errors in its broadcast "The Ugly Face of Freedom," and afterward refusing to issue a correction or retraction for a single one of them, 60 Minutes is thereby implicitly assuming a stance of infallibility. (2) That whereas 60 Minutes has never made the least response to any of my submissions, it cannot be said to be persecuting me; still, in failing to respond, it is treating me contemptuously, as if I were an enemy, when in fact I am a friend, interested in the same goal as 60 Minutes itself - which is to restore its high prestige. I only differ as to the road by which I think this goal can be reached. 60 Minutes believes that covering up error is better; I think that acknowledging error is better. And Koestler's "appeasing the enemy" finds application as well - it is Morley Safer and Simon Wiesenthal who have injured 60 Minutes and who are presently being appeased. (3) 60 Minutes "useful lie" is that "The Ugly Face of Freedom" was error-free. The "harmful truth" is that "The Ugly Face of Freedom" may well hold the record for being the most concentrated segment of disinformation ever to be broadcast by the mainstream media. And in reality, it is the "harmful truth" which is better - had the "harmful truth" been acknowledged immediately, the wound inflicted by "The Ugly Face of Freedom" would have healed long ago; if the "harmful truth" were acknowledged today, the healing process would begin today; however, following the path of the "useful lie" just leaves the wound festering. And then, in the same volume as the Koestler statement, I came across Ignazio Silone's recounting of an incident which still further reinforced the parallel between 60 Minutes and totalitarianism. Silone was at the time of the incident a member of the Italian Communist delegation to the Communist International. During a meeting in Moscow, the English delegate was describing a problem that the British Communist Party was encountering with the British trade unions. His statement was interrupted by the Russian delegate, Piatnisky, who offered the obvious solution - that the British Communists should simply tell the trade unions one thing, but then do exactly the opposite. Silone continues: The English Communist interrupted, "But that would be a lie." Loud laughter greeted this ingenuous objection, frank, cordial, interminable laughter, the like of which the gloomy offices of the Communist International had perhaps never heard before. The joke quickly spread all over Moscow, for the Englishman's entertaining and incredible reply was telephoned at once to Stalin and to the most important offices of State, provoking new waves of mirth everywhere. (In "The God That Failed," edited by Richard Crossman, Bantam, 1949, p. 92) And this, it now strikes me, may be close to 60 Minutes' reaction to the charges that it lied - the reaction being, specifically, that the truth value of the broadcast is irrelevant, that any discussion of truth misses the point, and that anyone protesting a lack of truth is comically naive. Sincerely yours, Lubomyr Prytulak cc: Ed Bradley, Steve Kroft, Morley Safer, Lesley Stahl, Mike Wallace HOME DISINFORMATION PEOPLE BLEICH < Bleich Bleich > 1763 hits since 23May98 Bleich Letter 8 23May98 Please substantiate or retract If your 60 Minutes testimony concerning violent attacks on Jews by Ukrainians and motivated by anti-Semitism is true, then it behooves you to substantiate it and in so doing to remove the doubt which surrounds it. If your 60 Minutes testimony is false, then it behooves you to retract it. Either option will constitute a step toward restoring your standing in the eyes of the Ukrainian community, and in ameliorating Ukrainian-Jewish relations. Silence is an option only if you are prepared to encourage the conclusion that you spoke impulsively and irresponsibly, and that you subsequently lacked the courage and integrity to admit your error. May 23, 1998 Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich 29 Shchekavytska Street Kiev 254071 Ukraine Dear Rabbi Bleich: In your appearance on the 60 Minutes broadcast "The Ugly Face of Freedom" of 23 October 1994, you offered some startling testimony concerning the existence of anti-Semitism in contemporary Ukraine. In your own words: There have been a number of physical attacks. In a small town, two elderly Jews were attacked at knifepoint and stabbed because they are Jews and because of the myth that all Jews must have money hidden in their homes. The same thing was in west Ukraine, the Carpathian region. These are very, very frightening facts, because it's - again that stereotype that we mentioned before, when that leads someone to really - to - to stab an older couple and leave them helpless, and - you know? - they left them for dead. That means that we have serious problems. In the mind of the typical 60 Minutes viewer, your statement would constitute a substantial proportion of the Ugly Face of Freedom's evidence for the existence of anti-Semitism in today's Ukraine, and the only evidence at all for the eruption of this anti-Semitism into violence. However, I cannot help noticing that your statement is devoid of detail. You do not disclose the names of the victims, nor the places and dates of the attacks. Nor do you indicate the source of your information - did you hear about these attacks on the radio, see them on television, read about them in the newspapers, receive personal communication, or what? This lack of detail is particularly troubling in view of four considerations: (1) that your non-specific testimony occurred in the middle of a broadcast which was dominated by misrepresentation and disinformation; (2) that it came from the mouth of an individual recognized in the Ukrainian community for holding anti-Ukrainian views, and for spreading anti-Ukrainian hatred, as I think I have demonstrated in my seven previous letters to you of 6Jan95, 26Sep97, 27Sep97, 28Sep97, 29Sep97, 29Sep97, and 30Sep97, in which letters are discussed such issues as that of your reciting every Saturday in the capital city of Ukraine the Khmelnytsky curse; (3) that Jewish interests have sometimes employed exaggerated, or wholly-imagined, or even self-inflicted anti-Semitic acts to achieve such aims as heightened group cohesion or increased emigration to Israel; and (4) that Jewish groups in Ukraine who monitor anti-Semitic incidents report being unaware of the two attacks that you describe. Specifically with respect to point (4) above, an open letter to Morley Safer and the 60 Minutes staff from I. M. Levitas, Head of the Jewish Council of Ukraine as well as of the Nationalities Associations of Ukraine, as published in the Lviv newspaper Za Vilnu Ukrainu (For a Free Ukraine) on December 2, 1994, included the following observations, which I translate from the original Ukrainian. In the portion of the letter that I quote below, Mr. Levitas argues that the attacks you describe may have been simple robberies devoid of anti-Semitism. More importantly, Mr. Levitas provides us with reason to wonder whether the attacks occurred at all: You reported that two Jews were robbed and beaten. This might have happened, but most likely not because they were Jews. I imagine that in Lviv, Ukrainians are also robbed (and significantly more often!), and yet nobody draws from this the sort of conclusions concerning ethnic hostility that you draw from the robbing of these two Jews. Our Jewish Council constantly receives news concerning Jews in Ukraine, but during the past five years, we have received not a single report of anyone being beaten because he was a Jew. However, it must be admitted that such a thing may have occurred without it coming to our attention - there are plenty of miscreants in every country. The above speculations lead us once again to the questions of whether your orientation toward the Ukrainian state is supportive or destructive, responsible or irresponsible, restrained by reason or fired by emotion. A step toward answering such questions would be taken by your responding to the points below: (1) Would you be able to provide the names of the two sets of Jewish victims that you alluded to (that is, the victims of the knife attack, and the similar victims in the "Carpathian region"), and the places and dates of the attacks? If by "a number of attacks" you mean more than two, I would appreciate receiving such documentation for the other attacks as well. If in addition you are in possession of corroborative evidence such as videotapes, newspaper clippings, or letters, I would appreciate receiving copies of these as well. (2) If the attacks did occur, then there follows the question of what motivated them. Mr. Levitas suggests that if the knife attac