From: Fredrick Toben <toben@toben.biz>
Date: Sun, Oct 31, 2010 at 2:34 AM
Subject: TOBEN'S Registration DENIED - International Conference on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial - DUBLIN 18-19 November 2010
To: HET Ireland <info@hetireland.org>
Cc: Adelaide Institute <info@adelaideinstitute.org>
Dear Chief Executive Lynn Jackson
Please, I pray, advise me:
1. Why am I not permitted to attend your most interesting Holocaust conference in Dublin this month?
2. I see the conference theme emphasises denialism. Is it safe to presume there will also be academic papers presented that explore truth-content of what passes as Holocaust-Shoah narrative?
3. Will the conference also expose the many fanciful stories told by survivors, for example the notorious Herman Rosenblat story featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show? - see item below.
4. In view of the conference's 'antisemitic' emphasis, will there also be a focus on the Talmud-generated hatred of things not Jewish? For example, will you focus on Jewish supremacism as recently expressed by Chief Rabbi Ovadia Josef of Jerusalem: 'Gentiles exist only to serve Jews'?
5. I am interested in Professor Meir Litvak, Center for Iranian Studies, Tel Aviv University, who will speak on 'Antisemitism in Iran and Holocaust denial'. Will there be scholars from Iran attending this International conference?
6. Of particular interest for me is Prof Robert Wistrich's 'Holocaust denial and inversion' because I have observed how Holocaust inversion has totally gripped the Holocaust-Shoah narrative, which makes it another form of nihilism. This would explain why in a number of countries individuals, who refuse to believe in its narrative, are labelled 'deniers', 'haters', 'antisemites', 'racists', 'neo-Nazis', 'xenophobes', even 'terrorists' – and often imprisoned. It seems to me that an open discussion is thus feared by those who believe in the Holocaust-Shoah narrative on account of their personal Holocaust inversion problem, which then becomes a pathological lethal obsession fuelled by a self-serving victim mentality that cannot tolerate anyone asking questions. Hence the need to criminalize those individuals who refuse to adopt the Holocaust inversion mindset. Perhaps you can pass on my thoughts to Professor Wistrich for comment.
7. While I still have your attention, could you please ask Professor Robert Jan van Pelt whether he still stands by the statement he and Deborah Dwork made in their 1996 book: Auschwitz: From 1270 to the present, where at pages 363-64 they state that Auschwitz I-Stammlager never had a homicidal gas chamber, and the one that is shown to visitors is merely a symbolic representation of the homicidal gas chambers at Auschwitz II-Birkenau?
Although I am saddened by the fact that I am not permitted to attend I wish you and your conference all the best.
Sincerely
Dr Fredrick Töben
Adelaide
Australia
From: HET Ireland [mailto: info@hetireland.org]
Sent: Saturday, 30 October 2010 1:45 AM
To: toben@toben.biz
Subject: International Conference on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial
Dear Dr Toben,
We are unable to accept your registration and we are returning your cheque.
Yours sincerely,
Lynn Jackson
Chief Executive
Holocaust Education Trust Ireland
Clifton House
Lower Fitzwilliam Street
Dublin 2
Tel: +353 1 6690593
Email: info@hetireland.org
http://www.hetireland.org
-------------------------------
International Conference on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial
This conference will address the core issues of antisemitism and Holocaust denial, but will also include some academic or research challenges on the themes of denial in general, the psychology of denial and also myth. The programme for the conference demonstrates the interdisciplinary nature of the conference: antisemitism, Holocaust denial, History, Philosophy, Legal and Ethical dimensions.
International Conference
on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial
18 – 19 November 2010
CONFERENCE REGISTRATION FORM
This conference will address the core issues of antisemitism and Holocaust denial, but will also include some
academic or research challenges on the themes of denial in general, the psychology of denial and also myth.
The programme for the conference demonstrates the interdisciplinary nature of the conference: antisemitism,
Holocaust denial, History, Philosophy, Legal and Ethical Dimensions.
Please print out and complete this form and send to:
Holocaust Education Trust Ireland, Clifton House, Lower Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Section 1: Person Details:
Title: _______ First Name: ____________________________ Last Name: ____________________________
Organisation: _____________________________________________________________________________
Address:_________________________________________________________________________________
Telephone: ____________________________________ Fax: ____________________________________
E-mail: __________________________________________________________________________________
Attendance at 2 day Conference and Keynote Address Yes No
Attendance for 1 day Yes No
Keynote Address Yes No
Section 2 Booking Details:
Please tick the appropriate amount:
Full Delegate: €65 (booked before 1 November 2010 includes coffee and lunch for both days)
€80 (booked after 1 November 2010 includes coffee and lunch for both days)
One Day Delegate: €40 (booked before 1 November 2010 includes coffee and lunch)
€50 (booked after 1 November 2010 includes coffee and lunch)
Student Rate: €25 per day (include copy of student ID).
Keynote Address: €10
Please select a method of payment:
1. I enclose a cheque for the amount of _________, made payable to Holocaust Education Trust Ireland
2. I have made an electronic transfer of _________ to HETI current account. I enclose proof of this payment.
HETI account details required for electronic transfer:
Bank: Allied Irish Bank Branch: 9 Terenure Road, Rathgar, Dublin 6, Ireland
Account Name: The Holocaust Educational Trust Ireland IBAN: IE62 AIBK 9310 7104 3430 34 BIK: AIBKIE2D
Signed: _____________________________________________
International Conference
on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial
Dublin, 18-19 November 2010
PROGRAMME
WEDNESDAY 17 NOVEMBER 2010
18.00 Welcome reception, Department of Foreign Affairs – address by Minister
THURSDAY 18 NOVEMBER 2010
08.30-09.00 Registration
09.00-09.30 Opening of conference and welcome, HETI and Minister
09.30-11.00 SESSION 1: MODES AND MEDIUMS
09.30-09.50 Paper 1: Antisemitism, Catholic Traditionalists and the Vatican
Mark Weitzman, Simon Wiesenthal Center, New York
09.50-10.10 Paper 2: Holocaust denial and inversion
Prof Robert Wistrich, Head of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism,
Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
10.10-11.00 Discussion Chair/commentator: Prof Alan Kramer, Department of European History, TCD
11.00-11.30 COFFEE BREAK
11.30 -13.00 SESSION 2: OLD AND NEW FORMS OF ANTISEMITISM
11.30-11.50 Paper 3: An 'Indelible Stigma'? Christianity and Antisemitism
Dr Christian Wiese, Martin Buber-Professor in Jewish Philosophy, University of Frankfurt
11.50-12.10 Paper 4: Antisemitism in Iran and Holocaust denial
Prof Meir Litvak, Center for Iranian Studies, Tel Aviv University
12.10-13.00 Discussion Chair/commentator: Dr Zuleika Rodgers, Herzog Centre, TCD
13.00-14.00 LUNCH
14.00-15.30 SESSION 3: EVALUATING ANTISEMITISM
14.00-14.20 Paper 5: Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World during World War II and Its Aftereffects
Dr Jeffrey Herf, Professor of History, University of Maryland
14.20-14.40 Paper 6: The Resurgence of Antisemitism - An Alternative Perspective
Dr Tony Kushner, Marcus Sieff Professor of the History of Jewish/non Jewish relations, Parkes Institute,
University of Southampton
14.40-15.30 Discussion Chair/commentator: Prof. Anthony McElligott, Department of History, University of
Limerick
15.30-16.00 COFFEE BREAK
16.00-17.50 SESSION 4: MYTH AND HISTORY
16.00-16.20 Paper 7: Different forms of denial, old and new forms of hatred of the Jews
Dr Elhanan Yakira, Schulman Professor of Philosophy, Hebrew University, Jerusalem
16.20-16.40 Paper 8: Antisemitism in contemporary Germany
Dr Werner Bergmann, Professor at the Centre for Research on Antisemitism, Berlin
16.40-17.00 Paper 9: Jews, Engagement in the Nation-State and some sources of Political Antisemitism
Prof Pierre Birnbaum, University of Paris
17.00-17.50 Discussion Chair/commentator: Dr Stephan Malinowski, School of History & Archives, UCD
18.15-19.15 DINNER – Commons on campus, TCD
19.30-21.00 KEYNOTE ADDRESS AND PUBLIC LECTURE
Emmet Theatre,Trinity College Dublin
A Lethal Obsession: Antisemitism from Antiquity to Global Jihad
Prof Robert Wistrich, Head of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of
Antisemitism, Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
FRIDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2010
09.00-10.30 SESSION 5: LEGAL AND ETHICAL DIMENSIONS
09.00-09.20 Paper 10: Holocaust denial and freedom of speech
Dr Deborah Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies, Emory University
09.20-09.40 Paper 11: Stealing the Holocaust from the Jews"? - The Holocaust as a Metaphor in Public
Discourse
Dr. Esther Webman, The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Antisemitism and Racism, & the Dayan
Center for Middle East and African Study,Tel Aviv University
09.40-10.00 Paper 12: Soft denial in different political and social areas on the web
Dr. Juliane Wetzel, Centre for Research on Antisemitism, Berlin
10.00-10.50 Discussion Chair/commentator: Prof. Robert Gerwarth, School of History & Archives, UCD
10.50-11.10 COFFEE BREAK
11.10 -13.00 SESSION 6: IMPACTS
11.10-11.30 Paper 12: Holocaust Scholarship in the Wake of Holocaust Denial
Dr Robert Jan van Pelt, Professor of Cultural History, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
11.30-11.50 Paper 13: Islamist Frustrated Expressions of Grievance, or Islamization of Antisemitism?
Prof. Dr. Bassam Tibi, Professor Emeritus for International Relations University of Goettingen
11.50-12.10 Paper 14: Psychology of denial
Dr Stanley Cohen, Professor Emeritus, London School of Economics
12.10-13.00 Discussion Chair/commentator: Prof Jeffrey Herf, University of Maryland, USA
13.00-14.00 LUNCH
14.00-16.00 SESSION 7: PANEL DISCUSSION
14.00-16.00 Discussion Chair/commentator: Prof Anthony McElligott, University of Limerick
Contributors:
Dr Tony Kushner, Parkes Institute, University of Southampton
Dr Deborah Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies, Emory University
Dr Dina Porat, Professor of Jewish History, Tel Aviv University
Dr Elhanan Yakira, Schulman Professor of Philosophy, Hebrew University, Jerusalem
16.00-16.30 Official closing and farewell HETI and government department
For registration contact
-----------------------------------------------------------info@hetireland.org or
International Conference on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial
The Chairperson and Board of Trustees
Have much pleasure in inviting you to join us for the
Conference Dinner
On Friday 19 November 2010 at 7.30pm
In Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
After dinner address: Professor Jeffrey Herf
RSVP Cover Charge €65
=============================================
Holocaust Couple's Love Story Exposed As Lie
by LA SHAWN on 12.29.08
in LUNACY
Oh, how I wish I'd blogged about the latest literary hoax last week before the publisher canceled the contract! Feet-dragging is a bad habit, boys and girls.
The air's out of the balloon now. A man named Herman Rosenblat claimed that while he was in a concentration camp, a Jewish girl whose family was pretending to be Christian gave him apples over a fence. One day he asked her not to come back because he had an "appointment" with the gas chamber. He wasn't killed; he was transferred to another camp.
Years later, he went on a blind date with a woman who turned out to be the girl who'd given him apples lo those many years ago.
Critics cried foul. First, the concentration camp where Rosenblat said he was detained didn't have gas chambers. Second, the Nazi's didn't tell prisoners when they were going to the gas chamber. The point was to trick them into going. Third, there's no way Herman or Roma could have gotten close to the fence without the guards seeing them. Fourth, it was highly unlikely that a Jewish family who feared the Nazi's wouldn't know about their nine-year-old daughter's daily visits to a concentration camp fence, for crying out loud, or would allow her to continue once they found out. And on and on.
Herman Rosenblat and his wife Roma ended up on Oprah, and Berkley Books offered him a deal for his memoirs, Angel at the Fence: The True Story of a Love That Survived. And you know Hollywood is partial to Holocaust stories. The book is set to be made into a movie.
Despite Rosenblat's story being discredited, publisher Berkley Books stood by him until December 27, when the company canceled the contract. Rosenblat admitted he'd made up the "love story." But guess what? Hollywood still intends to make the movie. It's fiction, so why not?
Read all about it at The New Republic, which exposed the hoax. The latest article contains links to previous ones.
Perhaps the biggest burn victim is Oprah Winfrey. Her gullibility knows no bounds. This is the second memoir she's endorsed and gushed over that's turned out to be a big fat lie.
You may recall that after she made memoir author James Frey a lot of money, he confessed to fakery. The so-called bad boy drunk who wrecked cars, went to prison, fell in love with a fellow drunk in rehab who killed herself, tamed a wild beast of a hardened criminal, etc., was nothing more than a wanna-be bad-a**, a relatively unremarkable frat boy who spent maybea few hours in jail. Check out The Smoking Gun's outstanding piece of journalism exposing Frey.
Oprah asked Frey to come back on the show to explain himself. For the first time in years, I watched the show. I had to. It was funny and worth every minute. Frey looked like a little boy being scolded by his mommy.
Will Miss Oprah ask an old couple to return and explain themselves?
I'm not a Jew, so I don't pretend to understand how upsetting Rosenblat's lies must be to people who were imprisoned in the camps and their relatives. Why did he do it? "I wanted to bring happiness to people," he said. "I brought hope to a lot of people. My motivation was to make good in this world."
The problem, Mr. Rosenblat, is that your story was wide open for exposure. Your story was obviously phony to thinking people and easy to pick apart. How many Jewish people were touched in some way by the Holocaust? Did you not stop to think about Holocaust survivors who could verify, or in this case, refute, your claims? The ramifications were too great to even take the chance, in my opinion.
But, whatever. Time to dust off the live-blogging skills!
Update (12/30): NYT on fake love story memoir.
http://lashawnbarber.com/archives/2008/12/29/holocaust-couples-love-story-exposed-as-lie/
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Being happy–is it good for the Jews? "Before Professor Dershowitz accused me of being an anti-Semite (news to me), I was a happy person. Since then, I'm still a happy person". –Michael Santomauro
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