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Jan 17, 2010

France, Brazil and Italy protest over USA Haitian relief effort

 

US faces criticism over coordination of Haitian relief effort

Paul Woodward, Online Correspondent

  • Last Updated: January 18. 2010 9:48AM UAE / January 18. 2010 5:48AM GMT



http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100118/GLOBALBRIEFING/100109496/1002


In an article written for Newsweek magazine, the US President Barack Obama laid out the principles that guide America's effort to address the desperate needs of Haitians in the aftermath of last week's devastating earthquake.

"We act for the sake of the thousands of American citizens who are in Haiti, and for their families back home; for the sake of the Haitian people who have been stricken with a tragic history, even as they have shown great resilience; and we act because of the close ties that we have with a neighbour that is only a few hundred miles to the south.

"But above all, we act for a very simple reason: in times of tragedy, the United States of America steps forward and helps. That is who we are. That is what we do."

In The Washington Post, Jeffrey D Sachs pointed out that in recent years America has adopted had a heavy-handed approach in its dealings with the troubled Caribbean nation.

"In the past two decades, US interventions have done much more harm than good to the Haitian economy. In the early 1990s, Washington thought it did Haiti a favour by imposing a crushing trade embargo to bring about democratisation – specifically, the reinstatement of democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The embargo destroyed Haiti's fragile manufacturing industries.

"Then, true to America's political swings, ideologues in the Bush administration spent years trying to oust Aristide, first by foisting a de facto and illegal aid freeze on international development agencies, and then by brazenly toppling Aristide and carrying him to the Central African Republic. Congress took a pass on reviewing these sordid events, pausing only to declare its love for the Haitian people.

"Now it's time to save Haitian lives by the millions, or watch a generation perish. A serious response will require a new approach. President Obama should recognise that the US government alone lacks the means, attention span and true regard for Haiti that is needed to see this through past the most urgent phase. After the coming weeks, during which US emergency airlift assistance is essential, the effort should be quickly internationalised, in an effective manner that acknowledges US political realities and leverages the help that Washington will give.

"Typically, a tragedy such as this is followed by international pledges of billions of dollars, but then only a slow trickle of help. The government of Haiti, overwhelmed far before this earthquake, is in no position to pester 20 or more complicated donor agencies to follow up on designing projects and disbursing funds. The recovery operation needs money in the bank - in a single, transparent, multidonor recovery fund for Haiti and the world to see. Haiti does not need a pledging session; it needs a bank account to fund its survival and reconstruction."

The New York Times reported: "Even as the United States took a leading role in aid efforts, some aid officials were describing misplaced priorities, accusing United States officials of focusing their efforts on getting their people and troops installed and lifting their citizens out. Under agreement with Haiti, the United States is now managing air traffic control at the airport, helicopters are flying relief missions from warships off the coast and 9,000 to 10,000 troops are expected to arrive by Monday to help with the relief effort.

"The World Food Programme finally was able to land flights of food, medicine and water on Saturday, after failing on Thursday and Friday, an official with the agency said. Those flights had been diverted so that the United States could land troops and equipment, and lift Americans and other foreigners to safety.

" 'There are 200 flights going in and out every day, which is an incredible amount for a country like Haiti,' said Jarry Emmanuel, the air logistics officer for the agency's Haiti effort. 'But most of those flights are for the United States military.

"He added: 'Their priorities are to secure the country. Ours are to feed. We have got to get those priorities in sync.'"

The Washington Post added: "there were growing tensions over which country's planes were allowed to land here first, with each nation insisting its aid flight was a priority, according to an official involved in the relief operation.

"France, Brazil and Italy were said to be upset, and the Red Cross said one of its planes was diverted to Santo Domingo, the capital of neighbouring Dominican Republic.

"The French government became so annoyed when a plane with an emergency field hospital was turned back Friday that foreign minister Bernard Kouchner lodged a protest with the State Department, according to the French ambassador to Haiti, Didier Le Bret.

"Le Bret said that the Port-au-Prince airport has become 'not an airport for the international community. It is an annex of Washington.'"

The National noted: "Haitian-Americans have welcomed the Obama administration's announcement that it would extend a special immigration status to Haitians living illegally in the United States, protecting them from deportation and allowing them to work for 18 months. Officials said it would cover at least 100,000 Haitians living here without documentation and 30,000 Haitians who had been ordered deported.

"However, in a bid to discourage Haitians from trying to enter the United States by boat, any who entered after this week would be sent back to Haiti.

" 'Attempting to leave Haiti now will only bring more hardship to the Haitian people and nation,' said Janet Napolitano, the secretary of homeland security."

The Wall Street Journal, reporting from aboard the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson said that the vessel's state-of-the-art medical facilities, where seven Haitians were being treated on Saturday, would generally not be made available to treat earthquake victims.

"Until Saturday evening, the carrier had made an exception for two victims, one a US citizen and the other presumed to be so, Naval officials said. When the clinic was observed by a Wall Street Journal reporter Saturday afternoon, all the beds were empty. Lt Cmdr Jim Krohne, a spokesman for the aircraft carrier and its captain, responding to a reporter's queries, said the vessel's mission was 'sea-based' and the primary focus of the clinic was to treat American citizens. Others, including Haitians, would be treated if they were sent by military commanders in Port-au-Prince, he said.

"The seven Haitian residents were accepted on board later in the day when a Coast Guard helicopter pilot had to abandon plans to ferry them to onshore medical facilities outside the city. Poor weather and then darkness forced a mid-flight correction, said Naval officials and the pilot, Lt Tim Williams. So Lt Williams, normally stationed in Clearwater, Fla., diverted to the Vinson for its facilities.

"The situation aboard the Vinson highlights a dilemma being faced by the US military and other organisations bringing medical aid to Haiti, as residents of its capital face the threat of a continuing wave of deaths from disease and lack of treatment. In some cases, life-saving supplies and expertise stand tantalisingly close to the devastated capital but still out of reach of those in need, and the enormity of the emergency has caused some rescuers to re-examine their procedures.

"Cmdr Alfred Shwayhat, the senior medical officer who is an endocrinologist, said he had a plan to 'treat 1,000 Haitians if necessary,' when interviewed aboard the ship on Saturday. But he had received no orders to do so. 'If the captain authorises it, I will take anyone,' he said. The Vinson's facility, he said, 'exceeds anything in the civilian sector, bar none.'"


pwoodward@thenational.ae





--
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In this remarkable, balanced book, the author skillfully reviews and compares "traditional" and "revisionist" views on the "The Holocaust."

On one side is the traditional, orthodox view -- six million Jewish casualties, gas chambers, cremation ovens, mass graves, and thousands of witnesses. On the other is the view of a small band of skeptical writers and researchers, often unfairly labeled "deniers," who contend that the public has been gravely misled about this emotion-laden chapter of history.

The author establishes that the arguments and findings of revisionist scholars are substantive, and deserve serious consideration. He points out, for example, that even the eminent Jewish Holocaust scholar Raul Hilberg acknowledged that there was no budget, plan or order by Hitler for a World War II program to exterminate Europe's Jews.

This book is especially relevant right now, as "Holocaust deniers" are routinely and harshly punished for their "blasphemy," and as growing numbers of people regard the standard, Hollywoodized "Holocaust" narrative with mounting suspicion and distrust.

The author of this book, who writes under the pen name of "Thomas Dalton," is an American scholar who holds a doctoral degree from a major US university.

This is no peripheral debate between arcane views of some obscure aspect of twentieth century history. Instead, this is a clash with profound social-political implications regarding freedom of speech and press, the manipulation of public opinion, how our cultural life is shaped, and how power is wielded in our society.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_0_8?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=debating+the+holocaust&sprefix=DEBATING

Peace.

Michael Santomauro
Editorial Director
Call anytime: 917-974-6367
ReporterNotebook@Gmail.com

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CNN: Jews who Support Muslim Terrorism

 

January 2010


CNN Reports on Jewish Radical Extremist dressed as a Muslim

Amazing, they admit that they are Jews who "converted" to Islam (about 2 minutes in). On his enemies list is Nationalism and the other says he wants to see a mushroom cloud over Israel. Apparently not aware that a lot of Muslims would die in such a scenario. This is not even a convincing false flag. But yet, most people will miss this and will believe these idiots are sincere Muslim "terrorists".   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djzxvWV4-Js&feature=player_embedded

--
NOW AN AMAZON KINDLE BOOK ON YOUR PC, iPHONE OR KINDLE DEVICE

Debating the Holocaust: A New Look at Both Sides By Thomas Dalton

In this remarkable, balanced book, the author skillfully reviews and compares "traditional" and "revisionist" views on the "The Holocaust."

On one side is the traditional, orthodox view -- six million Jewish casualties, gas chambers, cremation ovens, mass graves, and thousands of witnesses. On the other is the view of a small band of skeptical writers and researchers, often unfairly labeled "deniers," who contend that the public has been gravely misled about this emotion-laden chapter of history.

The author establishes that the arguments and findings of revisionist scholars are substantive, and deserve serious consideration. He points out, for example, that even the eminent Jewish Holocaust scholar Raul Hilberg acknowledged that there was no budget, plan or order by Hitler for a World War II program to exterminate Europe's Jews.

This book is especially relevant right now, as "Holocaust deniers" are routinely and harshly punished for their "blasphemy," and as growing numbers of people regard the standard, Hollywoodized "Holocaust" narrative with mounting suspicion and distrust.

The author of this book, who writes under the pen name of "Thomas Dalton," is an American scholar who holds a doctoral degree from a major US university.

This is no peripheral debate between arcane views of some obscure aspect of twentieth century history. Instead, this is a clash with profound social-political implications regarding freedom of speech and press, the manipulation of public opinion, how our cultural life is shaped, and how power is wielded in our society.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_0_8?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=debating+the+holocaust&sprefix=DEBATING

Peace.

Michael Santomauro
Editorial Director
Call anytime: 917-974-6367
ReporterNotebook@Gmail.com

__._,_.___
.

__,_._,___

Senegal offers free land to Haitians

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8463921.stm


Page last updated at 02:32 GMT, Sunday, 17 January 2010

Senegal offers land to Haitians

File photo of Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, September 2009
Abdoulaye Wade said Haitians could "return to their origin"

Senegal's president says he will offer free land and "repatriation" to people affected by the earthquake in Haiti.

President Abdoulaye Wade said Haitians were sons and daughters of Africa since Haiti was founded by slaves, including some thought to be from Senegal.

"The president is offering voluntary repatriation to any Haitian that wants to return to their origin," said Mr Wade's spokesman, Mamadou Bemba Ndiaye.

Tuesday's earthquake killed tens of thousands and left many more homeless.

Buildings have been reduced to rubble, the distribution of aid is slow, and people have been flooding out of the devastated capital, Port-au-Prince.

"Senegal is ready to offer them parcels of land - even an entire region. It all depends on how many Haitians come," Mr Bemba Ndiaye said.

"If it's just a few individuals, then we will likely offer them housing or small pieces of land. If they come en masse we are ready to give them a region."

The spokesman emphasised that if a region was given, it would be in a fertile part of the country rather than in its parched deserts, the Associated Press news agency reported.




--
NOW AN AMAZON KINDLE BOOK ON YOUR PC, iPHONE OR KINDLE DEVICE

Debating the Holocaust: A New Look at Both Sides By Thomas Dalton

In this remarkable, balanced book, the author skillfully reviews and compares "traditional" and "revisionist" views on the "The Holocaust."

On one side is the traditional, orthodox view -- six million Jewish casualties, gas chambers, cremation ovens, mass graves, and thousands of witnesses. On the other is the view of a small band of skeptical writers and researchers, often unfairly labeled "deniers," who contend that the public has been gravely misled about this emotion-laden chapter of history.

The author establishes that the arguments and findings of revisionist scholars are substantive, and deserve serious consideration. He points out, for example, that even the eminent Jewish Holocaust scholar Raul Hilberg acknowledged that there was no budget, plan or order by Hitler for a World War II program to exterminate Europe's Jews.

This book is especially relevant right now, as "Holocaust deniers" are routinely and harshly punished for their "blasphemy," and as growing numbers of people regard the standard, Hollywoodized "Holocaust" narrative with mounting suspicion and distrust.

The author of this book, who writes under the pen name of "Thomas Dalton," is an American scholar who holds a doctoral degree from a major US university.

This is no peripheral debate between arcane views of some obscure aspect of twentieth century history. Instead, this is a clash with profound social-political implications regarding freedom of speech and press, the manipulation of public opinion, how our cultural life is shaped, and how power is wielded in our society.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_0_8?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=debating+the+holocaust&sprefix=DEBATING

Peace.

Michael Santomauro
Editorial Director
Call anytime: 917-974-6367
ReporterNotebook@Gmail.com

__._,_.___
.

__,_._,___

Gun Shots Ring Over Port-au-Prince

 

A man fires warning shots into the air to prevent looters from ransacking his shop: Haiti earthquake: looting and gun-fights break out
A man fires warning shots into the air to prevent looters from ransacking his shopPhoto: REUTERS

Gun Shots Ring Over Port-au-Prince

Port-au-Prince earthquake survivors roamed the streets with guns and machetes Saturday as temperatures in the Caribbean island continued to rise. Looting and occasional violence carried on as thousands of American forces prepared to deploy. U.N. officials have warned aid organizations to obtain extra security before traveling. A teenager working for music star Wyclef Jean's charity was shot and killed. The Telegraph reports that one person was spotted removing a corpse from a coffin in order to steal the wooden box. "People are hungry, thirsty. They are left on their own," one man told the British newspaper. "It is increasingly dangerous. The police doesn't exist, people are doing what they want."

Posted at 7:50 AM, Jan 17, 2010






--
NOW AN AMAZON KINDLE BOOK ON YOUR PC, iPHONE OR KINDLE DEVICE

Debating the Holocaust: A New Look at Both Sides By Thomas Dalton

In this remarkable, balanced book, the author skillfully reviews and compares "traditional" and "revisionist" views on the "The Holocaust."

On one side is the traditional, orthodox view -- six million Jewish casualties, gas chambers, cremation ovens, mass graves, and thousands of witnesses. On the other is the view of a small band of skeptical writers and researchers, often unfairly labeled "deniers," who contend that the public has been gravely misled about this emotion-laden chapter of history.

The author establishes that the arguments and findings of revisionist scholars are substantive, and deserve serious consideration. He points out, for example, that even the eminent Jewish Holocaust scholar Raul Hilberg acknowledged that there was no budget, plan or order by Hitler for a World War II program to exterminate Europe's Jews.

This book is especially relevant right now, as "Holocaust deniers" are routinely and harshly punished for their "blasphemy," and as growing numbers of people regard the standard, Hollywoodized "Holocaust" narrative with mounting suspicion and distrust.

The author of this book, who writes under the pen name of "Thomas Dalton," is an American scholar who holds a doctoral degree from a major US university.

This is no peripheral debate between arcane views of some obscure aspect of twentieth century history. Instead, this is a clash with profound social-political implications regarding freedom of speech and press, the manipulation of public opinion, how our cultural life is shaped, and how power is wielded in our society.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_0_8?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=debating+the+holocaust&sprefix=DEBATING

Peace.

Michael Santomauro
Editorial Director
Call anytime: 917-974-6367
ReporterNotebook@Gmail.com


__._,_.___
.

__,_._,___

Paul Grubach letter on David Irving's web site: Jews and Hungarian Communism

 


 

 

Paul Grubach points out on Sunday, January 17, 2010 that Jewish academics confirm what David Irving wrote about the role of Hungary's Jews in their Communist regime and secret police

Photo: The Budapest regime's secret police were largely Jewish, and suffered the consequences in the initial anti-Communist pogrom of October 1956

Jews and Communism in post-war Hungary.

Vindicating a David Irving thesis in "Uprising!"

YOUR fine history of 1956 Hungarian revolution, Uprising!, was viciously attacked from certain quarters when it was first published. I would like to bring to your attention the findings of two renowned Jewish-American sociologists that actually vindicate the book's thesis.

On page 89 of Stanley Rothman's and S. Robert Lichter's Roots of Radicalism: Jews, Christians, and the New Left, originally published in 1982 by Oxford University Press, we read:

"[T]he leading cadres of Communist party in the postwar period [of Hungary] were Jews, who completely dominated the regime until 1952-53. Then a series of purges, stemming in part from Stalin's anti-Semitism, eliminated many of them. Jews were also active in other parties, including the Social Democrats, before such parties were crushed by the Communist regime. Their role was most significant, however, within the Communist party. The top membership of the new Communist regime, including the secret police, during its first years was almost entirely Jewish. The wags of Budapest explained the presence of a lone gentile in the party leadership on the grounds that a 'goy' was needed to turn on the lights on Saturday [sic]."

Photo right shows: Image of Matyas Rakosi, Hungary's Jewish dictator, being burnt by angry insurgents in1956

Rothman and Lichter continue: "Once again, these were largely deracinated Jews who had little or no sense of their Jewish background and little or no sympathy for their Jewish compatriots. Indeed, the remnants of the Hungarian Jewish middle class suffered considerably during their reign, as did Jews in other political parties. Most of the Jews in the party leadership were Stalinists by temperament as well as conviction. As Richard Burks notes, '...they did not let mercy or other humanitarian considerations stand in their way when it came to dealing with the class enemy.' Their rule was Draconian, dominated by terror and characterized by the extensive use of the secret police."

The authors then conclude with these comments: "Jews were on both sides of the 1956 Hungarian revolution. Many old-line Stalinists feared the possibility of retribution should a noncommunist or more liberal regime come to power. On the other hand, many Jewish writers and intellectuals were in the forefront of the reform movement."

Paul Grubach

grub222@aol.com

 

 
 



--
NOW AN AMAZON KINDLE BOOK ON YOUR PC, iPHONE OR KINDLE DEVICE

Debating the Holocaust: A New Look at Both Sides By Thomas Dalton

In this remarkable, balanced book, the author skillfully reviews and compares "traditional" and "revisionist" views on the "The Holocaust."

On one side is the traditional, orthodox view -- six million Jewish casualties, gas chambers, cremation ovens, mass graves, and thousands of witnesses. On the other is the view of a small band of skeptical writers and researchers, often unfairly labeled "deniers," who contend that the public has been gravely misled about this emotion-laden chapter of history.

The author establishes that the arguments and findings of revisionist scholars are substantive, and deserve serious consideration. He points out, for example, that even the eminent Jewish Holocaust scholar Raul Hilberg acknowledged that there was no budget, plan or order by Hitler for a World War II program to exterminate Europe's Jews.

This book is especially relevant right now, as "Holocaust deniers" are routinely and harshly punished for their "blasphemy," and as growing numbers of people regard the standard, Hollywoodized "Holocaust" narrative with mounting suspicion and distrust.

The author of this book, who writes under the pen name of "Thomas Dalton," is an American scholar who holds a doctoral degree from a major US university.

This is no peripheral debate between arcane views of some obscure aspect of twentieth century history. Instead, this is a clash with profound social-political implications regarding freedom of speech and press, the manipulation of public opinion, how our cultural life is shaped, and how power is wielded in our society.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_0_8?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=debating+the+holocaust&sprefix=DEBATING

Peace.

Michael Santomauro
Editorial Director
Call anytime: 917-974-6367
ReporterNotebook@Gmail.com

__._,_.___
.

__,_._,___

Hermann and the Death of German Studies

 


Hermann and the Death of German Studies

Trudie Pert

January 17, 2010

In the U.S., German scholars are constrained to teach only the works of Germans of Jewish background, their courses dwelling on persecution and genocide. Indeed, it is not too far fetched to suppose that German culture as a culture of Germans has disappeared entirely, replaced by the culture of the Holocaust. The Holocaust has not only become a quasi religion capable of eradicating the remnants of German culture, Jews have become sanctified as a people. (Kevin MacDonald, Preface to the paperback edition, The Culture of Critique). 

The city of New Ulm, Minnesota, founded in 1854 by a group of German immigrants, is home to an imposing statue of the Germanic chieftain, Hermann. In the year 9AD, a coalition of Germanic tribes under Hermann for the first time in the history of the Germanic tribes ambushed and defeated three invading Roman legions commanded by Quinctilius Varus. The defeat, in the Teutoburger Forest, caused Caesar Augustus and his successors to forego conquering north central Europe. A new imperial policy changed European history for the people of central Europe, who developed independently of Roman rule.  

In 1897, the Sons of Hermann, an American national fraternal organization of German Americans, proud of its heritage and desiring to keep it alive for future generations, commissioned a monumental statue of Hermann to be erected in a New Ulm city park. The Hermann Monument is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. On September 24, 2009, a two thousand year ethnic celebration commemorating the victory of Hermann the German against foreign aggression took place in New Ulm, MN.

The Hermann Monument, New Ulm, Minnesota

The Hermann celebration was an isolated example of German ethnic identification in this country, even though Germans represent the largest ancestry group in the US. California and Texas have the largest populations of German origin, while the states of the Midwest, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Minnesota have the most concentrated German populations. 

In spite of their numbers, however, the study of the language and literature of the German people has dropped drastically nationwide. In 2006, only 6% of students learning a foreign language nationwide were enrolled in German. Many schools no longer offer German as a subject of study. Some colleges have eliminated whole departments of German and replaced them with departments of non-European languages. The University of Southern California, for example, after dropping its doctoral program about a decade ago, recently eliminated its entire German department. Spanish, of course, continues to grow, though most of its speakers on this Continent are of non-European descent. The languages that are experiencing tremendous growth nationwide in numbers of learners include Mandarin, Japanese, Urdu, and Arabic. 

What does this mean for people of European descent? Unfortunately, it means a serious loss of connection to their European heritage and culture. Language is intrinsically connected to ethnic identity and allegiance to the group with which one shares ancestral links. Even where modern day ethnic groups can claim no country of their own, as in the case of the Welsh, the Basques, and the Kurds, retaining their language has enabled these groups to remain viable. 

The elimination of German from the curriculum is occurring even in those areas of the country which have a majority German-American population. Notwithstanding Garrison Keillor's stereotype of Minnesota as majority Lutheran-Norwegian, Minnesota is actually home to 36.7% people of German ancestry. Those of Norwegian background total 17.3%, Irish 11.2%, Swedish 9.9%, and English 6.3% (US Census Bureau Report June, 2004) A significant number of mestizos have taken residence in Minnesota since the last census, and the Federal Government has placed large numbers of Hmong, a South-east Asian people, and  Somalian Negroes into the Twin City area, no doubt altering the proportions somewhat. The largest faith group is Catholic.Jews comprise .9% of the population. 

Suppressed during the two World Wars, German re-established its place as one of the two most popular languages after each War. Until recently, many of the students in German language courses were "heritage learners," students who wanted to remain connected to the language of their forefathers. In addition, German, along with French, has always been considered a language of research and cultural refinement. Now, however, English has become the language of research, cultural refinement is passé, and economic interests have displaced cultural connections for Whites. Perhaps school districts are receiving directives to remove German. Possibly also the continuing revilement against Germans caused by the unceasing barrage of venomous anti-German Holocaust memoirs, films, and television programs has contributed to the decline in German language learning. 

For whatever reasons, the result is that German has all but disappeared from public high schools in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Currently, of the seven public high schools in Minneapolis, all offer Spanish (multiple classes at each level), 6 offer French, 3 Mandarin, 2 Japanese, 1 Arabic, 1 Latin, 1 Ojibwe, (a Native American language), and 1 German. (See here.) The situation is similar in St. Paul. (See here.)  

Like the public schools of the Twin Cities, the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, is a tax-supported institution and many of its 51,000 students are residents of the State.  UM does not appear on the Hillel list of the 60 colleges and universities with the largest Jewish student enrollments. In the past, significant numbers of high school German teachers were trained at this campus. Students who obtained their Ph.D. were frequently offered positions on the faculties of smaller Midwest colleges. 

As mentioned earlier, a number of colleges in the country have eliminated their German departments entirely. Others have rescued them from extinction by changing their concentration away from the traditional study of language and literature to the vocational study of "Business German." UM retains a foreign language requirement and the University's German Department (German, Scandinavian and Dutch) continues to offer undergraduate and graduate degrees in language and literature.

The focus of its teaching and research has shifted, however, from analyzing literary merit to promulgating politically correct social causes. The following is a comment not only on the state of German studies, but an excellent case study of what university departments in the humanities have become — bastions of the left influenced deeply by Jewish concerns and by Jewish intellectual movements, particularly the Frankfurt School. The following dissertation titles, course descriptions, and faculty publications all reflect the change in direction which the study of German literature has taken. 

Some recent representative dissertation titles include:  

Toward a Multiculturalism for the 21st Century: German and Scandinavian Literary Perspectives, 1990–2005

Projecting Deviance/Seeing Queerly: Homosexual Representation and Queer Spectatorship in 1950's Germany

Reading and Revising the Topography of German culture: Christina Reining on Gender and Sexuality

Representing the Afro-German in Early West German Cinema

The Space of Words: Diaspora and Exile in the Works of Nelly Sachs 

Off the Road: Remapping the Shoah Representation from the Perspectives of Ordinary Jewish Women

Negotiating the German-Jewish: the Uncomfortable Writing of Karl Emil Franzos

Writing against Objectification: German Jewish Identity in the Works of Grete Weil and Ruth Klueger

Represented here are the favorite topics of "cultural criticism": sexism, racism, homophobia, diversity, immigration, multiculturalism, and Jewish victimization. No work from the rich canon of German literature is the subject of a dissertation. Sadly, the literary criticism that grew out of the Frankfurt School and has monopolized the interpretation of literature in English and foreign language literature departments for the last thirty years will no doubt continue. Complacent non-Jewish graduate students are being recruited and trained to enshrine the politically correct ideology permanently into the American University system.   

Banner for the University of Minnesota Department of German, Scandinavian, and Dutch, with Star of David

Below is a quick overview of some key faculty members — all graduates of elite Eastern universities, who publish, teach graduate courses, and advise grad students on dissertations. They also recommend students for grants and fellowships and future employment. Quotations are from the annual magazine of the German Department. 

Professor Ruth-Ellen Joeres, Department of German 

"She has a vision about how to open up the canon of German Literature and a determination to rewrite history to include women….In Nov. 2006 an interdisciplinary conference titled,'Gender, Genre, and Political Transformation' was held in her honor… (on teaching Goethe's Faust) she has the students read through the lens of their choice: Bakhtian, Freud, gender theory, or queer theory'…. I don't believe in objectivity." 

Courses include:

Women Writers in German Literature: Writings and Films of Minority Women"In this course the contributions of 'German' women of ethnic heritage such as Afro-German, Turkish-German, Japanese-German women are studied. What does it mean to be called, 'German"? 

Topics in Literature and Diversity: Diversity Troubles. One of the required texts for this course is the novel, Der Vorleser, by the contemporary German novelist, essayist, and judge, Bernard Schlink. Published in English in 2008, as The Reader, it was recently made into an American film. The novel deals with the guilt of an illiterate German woman for her actions in a German concentration camp. In 2005, while filming The Reader, Kate Winslet, its star, stated"I don't think we need another film about the Holocaust, do we? ... No, I'm doing it because I've noticed that if you do a film about the Holocaust (you're) guaranteed an Oscar." (She was right!)

Incidentally, in one of his essays, the author, Bernhard Schlink, son of a Protestant minister, makes the theologically astonishing claim thatGerman guilt for the Holocaust is hereditary and will be carried by subsequent generations of Germans (Vergangenheitsschuld,Diogenes, Zürich, 2007). This inverts a fundamental teaching of Christianity. Christianity teaches that the Crucifixion and the Resurrection are the central events of history and that the Jews are forever responsible for the unforgivable crime of deicide. Schlink, however, suggests that Germans are and will be responsible for the Holocaust for all time, thus ostensibly substituting the Holocaust for the Crucifixion as history's greatest crime and central event.     

Professors Rembert Hueser and Richard McCormick, Department of German 

These professors of German Film Studies specialize in feminism, Nazi Cinema, Weimar culture, and gender studies. Recent publications include, "Gender and Sexuality in Weimar Modernity. 

Courses include:

German Cinema of the Weimar Republic: Aesthetics and Politics, Gender, and Sexuality, Modernism and Modernity. "Of importance is the question of Weimar sexual 'decadence;' was it ... something that facilitated the rise of the Nazis? Or was it about the emancipation from rigid gender and sexual identities, something that threatened the Nazis and their sympathizers? Something 'postmodern' — or even 'queer' in a positive sense?"  

In addition to courses in the German Department, students of German are strongly encouraged to participate in classes of affiliated departments. Recommended faculty of affiliated departments include: 

Prof. Gary C. Thomas, Department of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature 

Specialties include: 17th- and 18th-century German literature, gender/sexuality studies, and cultural musicology

Publications include: Queering the Pitch: the New Gay and Lesbian Musicology

Courses include: Queer Theory 

Professor Richard Leppert, Department of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature 

Publications include: Theodor Adorno – Essays in Music

Courses include: Adorno/Aesthetic Theory 

It is indeed puzzling why so many non-Jewish faculty members have adopted the teachings of the Frankfurt School, promoting its agenda to degrade Western culture by glorifying deviancy, multiculturalism and Jewish victimization. One wonders whether they are actually adherents of a position totally inimical to their own White racial interests, or have chosen to be academic Uncle Toms for the sake of tenure and the dependable pay check. Some are clearly part of the homosexual-left culture that is so prominent at the university these days. Their identity as a homosexual victim of cultural oppression is far more important to them — and far more lucrative professionally — than identifying as a White person and having a sense of White interests.

Incidentally, the glorification of Jewish victimization has achieved official academic legitimacy in the rather new discipline of Jewish Studies. Begun only about thirty years ago at colleges with majority Jewish faculties and student bodies, Jewish Studies has quickly grown. The Association of Jewish Studies is now a large network of 1800 members with independent departments on most campuses across the country.  

Two influential German Department professors specialize in Jewish Studiesand are exceptional in the large number of works they have published, in the number of grants and fellowships they have been awarded, and in the range of affiliated departments to which they belong. Unlike the previously mentioned non-Jewish professors, who corrupt their own ethnic Western interests by adopting the tenets of the cultural revolution, these Jewish faculty members overtly and militantly employ the Frankfurt School's ideology and methods to promote their specifically Jewish interests. The promotion of specifically Jewish interests was not shared by Jewish professors of the former generation. Until they were replaced by the individuals described below, three German-born Jewish professors, because of their vast knowledge and love of their subject, were highly regarded members of the German faculty. More German than Jewish they promoted German, not Jewish, culture.      

Professor Jack Zipes, Department of German (recently retired) 

At the present time Amazon is briskly selling an amazing 21 of Jack Zipes' books about fairy tales, including several pricey compendia. Pertinent to the discussion here are two types of his works about fairy tales: the theoretical, dealing with Frankfurt School deconstruction of fairy tales, and the practical, the use of fairy tales in the public schools.

In Breaking the Spell: Radical Theories of Folk and Fairy Tales, Zipes provides a Marxist interpretation of folk and fairy tales through the filter of Frankfurt School criticism. His aim is to interpret the socio-historical forces that shaped the tales and to deconstruct and/or reconstruct them to influence and help form the society of the future.

An early chapter in The Utopian Function of Art and Literature is devoted to a discussion between Ernst Bloch and Theodor Adorno about the Marxist utopian function of the fairy tale.

With the manual, Creative Storytelling: Building Community, Changing Lives, Zipes suggests practical ways to encourage children to deconstruct traditional tales. Co-founder of the theatrical method named, "The Neighborhood Bridges Project," Zipes has introduced a technique of re-interpreting fairy tales. Used by Minneapolis Public Schools since 1997 it seeks to expose the sexism, racism, and classism in the traditional value system of the fairy tales and of society. For his outstanding contributions to the field of Children's Literature, Zipes has won several significant awards plus an honorary degree from the University of Bologna! 

Prof. ipes specialties include: Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School; Fairy Tales (or rather their deconstruction); Jewish Studies 

Publications include 

Political Plays for Children

Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion

Don't bet on the Prince: Contemporary Feminist Fairy Tales

Down with Heidi, Down with Struwelpeter: Three Cheers for the Revolution: Towards

A New Socialist Children's Literature in West Germany

The Potential of Liberating Fairy Tales for Children

Don't Bet on the Prince: Feminist Fairy Tales

Walter Benjamin and Children's Literature, in The Germanic Review  

Marx as Moralist

Negating History and Male Fantasies through Psychoanalytic Criticism

Adorno May Still be Right

Marx and Engels Without Frills 

Unlikely History: The Changing German-Jewish Symbiosis 1945-2000(with Leslie Morris, below)

The Yale Companion of Jewish Writing and Thought in German Culture

Germans and Jews since the Holocaust

The Operated Jew: Two Tales of Antisemitism

Disparate Jewish Voices and the Dialectic of the "Shoah Business" in Germany

Holocaust Survivor as Literary Pope in Germany

Jewish Life as Stigma, in: Simon Wiesenthal Center Report

Germans and Jews since the Holocaust

Lessons of the Holocaust, in: New German Critique

The Operated German as Operated Jew, in New German Critique 

The Negative German-Jewish Symbiosis

Contested Jews: The Image of Jewishness in Contemporary German Literature

The Holocaust and the Vicissitudes of Jewish Identity in New German Critique 

Professor Leslie Morris, Department of German 

While Prof. Morris holds a tenured position in German, she is also a member of four affiliated centers. Two of these affiliations are especially noteworthy. She is a member of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, and a member of the Center for Jewish Studies, of which she was director from 20022009 

Prof. Morris specializes in 20th and 21st (sic) German/Austrian Literature and in Jewish Studies. 

According to her biography in the German Department Magazine"She is interested in issues of exile and Diaspora that are central to the experience of Jews, especially since the 1930's… to gain a deeper understanding of what 'Jewishness' means. (The name) Morris morphed out of Moskowitz."  

Publications include:

Unlikely History: The Changing German-Jewish Symbiosis, 1945–2000(with German Prof. Jack Zipes)

Berlin Elegies: Absence, Postmemory and Art after Auschwitz

How Jewish is it? The Question of Contemporary German-Jewish Writing

Der modifizierte Jude als Stigmatext 

In her book, Unlikely History, the Changing German Jewish Symbiosis, Prof. Morris addresses the topic of holocaust memoirs. She has two concerns. Not only is there a problem with future supply since the last holocaust survivors are succumbing to old age, but Prof. Morris finds many of the memoirs to be intrinsically dull and of limited literary value. She compares the authentic memoirs to the many fraudulent "memoirs," originally marketed as first person accounts, but later found to be fakes, much to the embarrassment of their publishers. She judges these fake "memoirs" to be more imaginative, moving, and of greater literary value than the genuine accounts. Disregarding standards of academic ethics she suggests that the fraudulent accounts ought to be redeemed and accepted into the body of holocaust literature as genuine memoirs. Not only are the fakes better than the genuine accounts, but their production is unlimited! 

Courses include: 

Approaches to Analysis: Required readings  "Archive Fever": Derrida, "History of Sexuality: Foucault, "Moses and Monotheism": Freud, "Three Case Histories": Freud 

Seminar in 20th Century German Literature and Culture: Listening to German Anxiety — "We will think about the specificity of German anxiety — anxiety about modernity, anxiety about the Jews…"

~Required readings — "We will start with Freud's, 'Problem with Anxiety,' and move to works by Benjamin, Adorno, Derrida, Schoenberg…" 

So close is the German Department to the Center for Jewish Studies, with which Prof. Morris is affiliated, that the two Departments recently jointly sponsored a University of Minnesota tour titled, "Jewish Life in Berlin and Prague." The informational meeting for the trip was held at a community center in the Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park. Affectionately known as "St. Jewish Park," by both Jews and gentiles, this modern day Jewish ghetto has been the home of many successful Jews. These include Thomas Friedman,New York Times journalist, Al Franken, the junior senator from Minnesota, and the Coen Brothers, film makers. In fact, the newest Coen Brothers film, "The Serious Man," is set in the St. Louis Park of the 60's. Ari Hoptman, UM German instructor, plays a department head. 

The nine day University of Minnesota tour to Berlin and Prague was jointly led by German Department, Prof. Leslie Morris and History Department, Prof. Gary Cohen. Prof. Cohen is also Director of the Center for Austrian Studies, and a faculty member of the Center for Jewish Studies. The UM-sponsored tourincluded visits with the chief rabbis of both Berlin and Prague, with members of the Israeli Council in Berlin, and Shabbat services and Shabbat dinner with Berlin congregations. Lunch was planned at kosher restaurants. 

A Center for Catholic or Christian Studies does not exist at the University of Minnesota. Therefore, there will be no University-sponsored trip titled, "Christian Life in Europe," with Mass at the Cologne Cathedral and an audience with the Pope. 

The most recent issue of German Quarterly, from summer, 2009, explores the possible reciprocal effects of German and Jewish Studies. Responding to the title of this issue, "How Jewish is German Studies? How German is Jewish Studies?" Prof. Morris states in the introduction: 

VERY….What I hoped to do with this special issue was to move the discussion about Germans and Jews beyond merely establishing affinities between historical expression and cultural expression. Part of the 'thought experiment' behind this special issue was to see what might happen if we were to slip within the hyphen separating 'the German' and 'the Jewish' and begin a 'queering' of German-Jewish Studies that would rupture the intact diacritical mark of the hyphen and destabilize the markers of 'German' and 'Jew.' 

Rethinking the links and the ruptures contained within the 'German Jew' also necessitates a new conceptualizing of Jewish and 'queer' identity; to pull apart the hyphen that sutures the 'German Jew' is at the same time to expand 'queerness' beyond sexual practice and 'experience' and to disrupt what R. block has termed a 'geographic transversal' that links Germany and Zion. My calling for a 'queering' of German Jewish Studies is a strategy to move us away from 'constructions of the Jew or the German as either positive or negative, stereotyped or 'authentic,' and to consider an approach to German Jewish text that will push the very boundaries of the German and the Jewish. I propose instead that we consider German Jewish writing as inhabiting a new space of a trans-, or a newly imagined community that exists in a border zone of textual and historical memory, projection and fantasy, pathology and desire, and that will always exceed the geographic, linguistic, and ethnic/national markers in which they are enacted. 

The next activity jointly sponsored by the University of Minnesota German Department and the Center for Jewish Studies is scheduled in the spring. On April, 13, 2010, Prof. Leslie Morris will present a public lecture titled, "Why Germany Loves the Jews." The lecture will be delivered at Mount Zion Temple in St. Paul. 

HERMANN, BE THERE!

Trudie Pert is the pen name of a teacher.  Please email her atsttrudpert@yahoo.com

Unless otherwise noted all material is from the official University of Minnesota website. 

Permanent link: http://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/authors/Pert-Hermann.html



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ReporterNotebook@Gmail.com

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