The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering

by Norman G. Finkelstein

Overview

In his iconoclastic and controversial study, Norman G. Finkelstein moves from an interrogation of the place the Holocaust has come to occupy in global culture to a disturbing examination of recent Holocaust compensation settlements. It was not until the Arab–Israeli War of 1967, when Israel’s evident strength brought it into line with US foreign policy, that memory of the Holocaust began to acquire the exceptional prominence it has today.

Recalling Holocaust fraudsters such as Jerzy Kosiński and Binjamin Wilkomirski, as well as the demagogic constructions of writers like Daniel Goldhagen, Finkelstein contends that the main danger posed to the memory of Nazism’s victims comes from some of the very people who profess most passionately to defend it. Drawing on a wealth of untapped sources, he exposes the double shakedown of European countries and legitimate Jewish claimants, and concludes that the Holocaust industry has become an outright extortion racket.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781781685617
Publisher:	Verso Books
Publication date:	01/06/2015
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	46,871
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.50(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Norman G. Finkelstein taught political theory and the Israel–Palestine conflict for many years. He is the author of eight books, which have been translated into more than forty foreign editions, including What Gandhi Says; This Time We Went Too Far; Beyond Chutzpah; and Image and Reality of the Israel–Palestine Conflict.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	ix
	Foreword to the Second Paperback Edition	xi
	Foreword to the First Paperback Edition	xv
	Introduction	1
Chapter 1	Capitalizing The Holocaust	9
Chapter 2	Hoaxers, Hucksters, and History	39
Chapter 3	The Double Shakedown	79
	Conclusion	141
	Postscript to the First Paperback Edition	151
	Postscript to the Second Paperback Edition	179
	Appendix to the Second Paperback Edition	207
	Index	275

Editorial Reviews

The most controversial book of the year.” —Guardian

“Finkelstein’s downright pugilistic book delivers a wallop – mostly because few authors have had the courage or nerve to say, as he does, that the Nazi genocide has been distorted and robbed of its true moral lessons and instead has been put to use as ‘an indispensable ideological weapon.’ It’s a provocative thesis that makes you want to reject it even as you are compelled to keep reading by the strength of his case and the bravura of his assertions.” —LA Weekly

“If his indictment is a true one, it should prompt prosecutions, sackings, protest. The book shouts scandal. It is a polemic, communicated at maximum volume.” —The Times

“Finkelstein has raised some important and uncomfortable issues.” —Jewish Quarterly

“Into this minefield, through which most have trodden perhaps a little too gingerly, has bust Norman Finkelstein, a Jew and a self-professed iconoclast, heretic and enemy of the American-Jewish establishment – and he is lobbing grenades.” —Spectator

“A short, sharp, and copiously noted polemic.” —Times Higher Educational Supplement

“Finkelstein is at his best when he skewers those who would sacralize the Holocaust.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review

“His basic argument that the memories of the Holocaust are being debased is serious and should be give its due.” —Economist

“Clever, explosive, sometimes even wryly funny.” —Salon

“This is, in short, a lucid, provocative and passionate book. Anyone with an open mind and an interest in the subject should ignore the critical brickbats and read what Finkelstein has to say.” —New Statesman

“He deserves to be heard ... he is making some profound points that many younger and more thoughtful Jews have quietly been attempting to debate, but whose voices have been stilled by the establishment, particularly in the US.” —Evening Standard

“Finkelstein should be credited for writing a well-researched book that can help shut down the Holocaust Industry when the public becomes aware of its dishonesty and its vulgar exploitation of Jewish suffering.” —Z Magazine

“The reality of the Nazi holocaust remains. Memory can still enable us to recognise new victims, extend sensitivity and monitor signs of impending genocide. Books like The Holocaust Industry can help us if we let them.” —Red Pepper

From the Publisher

[S]cathing in his denunciation of the institutions and individuals who have cropped up around the issue of reparations.

New York Press

A lucid, provocative and passionate book.

New Statesman

Finkelstein's downright pugilistic book delivers a wallop.

LA Weekly

The most controversial book of the year.

Guardian

Breathtaking in [its] angry accuracy and irony.

Jewish Quarterly

When it comes to analyzing how 'The Holocaust' has been employed to advance political interests, Finkelstein is at his best.

Nation

His basic argument that memories of the Holocaust are being debased is serious and should be given its due.

Economist

Finkelstein (City U. of New York) provocatively argues that US Jewish organizations and others have capitalized on the Holocaust as an ideological tool for their own agendas. The book lacks an index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

Finkelstein has raised some important and uncomfortable issues.

The Jewish Quarterly

His basic argument that memories of the Holocaust are being debased is serious and should be given its due.

The Economist

The most explosive book of the year.

The Guardian