French
German
Hebrew
Noruegan
Russian
Spanish
Swedish
Polish
Portuguese
In November 2022, IAM reported that “(Hebrew U) Amos Goldberg Continues Comparing the Palestinian Self-Inflicted Nakba to the Holocaust of the Jews by the Nazis.”
Professor Amos Goldberg, a Hebrew University Holocaust researcher, and Dr. Bashir Bashir of the Van Leer Institute, Jerusalem, co-authored a 2018 book that contends “the Shoah [Holocaust] and the Nakba are two interlinked catastrophes.” According to them, when a Palestinian is asked about the Holocaust, he often brings up the Nakba, “the displacement of Palestinians associated with the founding of the state of Israel.” Goldberg and Bashir have “developed a concept aimed at promoting dialogue about these two interlinked national traumas.”
According to Goldberg and Bashir, The “Shoah was, in terms of its scale, not comparable with any other event that as such is considered singular.” But since “the Holocaust has become the ultimate symbol of evil… any attempt to connect it even loosely with other chapters of the history of violence is quickly suspected of being an attempt to trivialize the Holocaust.” They argue, “while the Shoah is over as an historical event and the Jewish people have, despite the trauma, been able to get back on its feet again, the Palestinians are to this day, in a position of political, military, economic, and cultural weakness because of the consequences of the Nakba.” This “asymmetry in the national catastrophes of both peoples from a moral point of view: the Palestinians were not to blame for the Holocaust, but the Israelis were responsible for the displacement and flight of the Palestinians and for their discrimination in Israel and oppression in the Occupied Territories.” The “rapprochement between Israelis and Palestinians, who both see themselves as victim communities, is made more difficult above all because the Shoah and the Nakba are used equally to legitimize national claims.” They wish to integrate the catastrophe of the other into one’s own narrative without abandoning the “ultimate claim to justice.”
As IAM explained, an event hosting Goldberg and Bashir titled “Understanding the pain of the others.” by the Goethe institute in Tel Aviv and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation was supposed to take place on November 13, 2022, but a week earlier, Goethe institute postponed the event.
According to the Goethe Institute, “The public discourse that has developed in Germany and Israel in the run-up to the event has made it impossible to carry out the event appropriately. Since we are expecting disruptions to the event, we cannot guarantee a safe implementation of the panel discussion at this point. The important topic of remembrance culture cannot be addressed in the way it needs to under these circumstances. The Goethe-Institute and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation have therefore decided to postpone the event.”
Dani Dayan, the chairman of Yad Vashem, announced that the event would be canceled entirely.
However, disregarding the protest, the event took place in Germany on February 2, 2023. The Einstein Forum at the University of Potsdam held the roundtable discussion.
The speakers included Bashir, Goldberg, and Charlotte Wiedemann. According to the invitation, “In her book Understanding the Pain of Others, the author Charlotte Wiedemann pleads for a new inclusive memory culture that promotes solidarity instead of competition among victims. Doing justice to the victims of colonial crimes and their descendants does not call into question the specificity of the Shoah. On the contrary: the importance of human rights for all is a central lesson from the Holocaust. But tragically, Holocaust memory has not brought us much closer to such universal values. In their co-edited volume The Holocaust and the Nakba: A New Grammar of Trauma and History Amos Goldberg, Bashir Bashir, and the contributors to the volume explore the possibility of creating a shared language for discussing the memories of two entangled, but entirely different historical events: the genocide of European Jews and the displacement of Palestinians. At the center of this new language is the concept of empathic unsettlement which challenges the mutual denial of the suffering of the Other, recognizes the political asymmetries in Israel-Palestine, and gives rise to an egalitarian binationalism.”
The following day, Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt, wrote on Twitter: “‘Understanding the Pain of Others: The Holocaust, the Nakba and German Memory Culture’- An outstanding event yesterday night at the @einsteinforum , in Potsdam. I was deeply moved by it, & the eloquence & strength of the speakers on such a sensitive topic.”
As IAM indicated, efforts to equate the Holocaust and the Nakba are insidious cases of propaganda to demonize the Jewish state.
Goldberg, a Professor of Holocaust Studies, should know well that Jews had no choice when loaded on trains to be murdered in extermination camps. On the other hand, the Palestinians made their own choice, albeit flawed. The Palestinian leader, Mufti Haj Amin al Husseini, a Nazi collaborator, ordered the riots of 1936-39, where numerous Jews were killed. His ultimate goal, which he discussed with Hitler in Berlin, was establishing extermination camps in Palestine. The British victory over the Nazis in El Alamein spared the Jews in Palestine the fate of their European brethren.
In 1947, when the United Nations voted to divide Palestine into two states – a larger one for the Palestinians and a smaller one for the Jews – the Palestinians made another flawed decision. They rejected the Partition Proposal and – together with their Arab Allied States started a war against the new Jewish states, which they lost.
It is easy to understand why the Palestinians would want to minimize their responsibility. It is more difficult to explain why Goldberg would spend much of his academic career producing propaganda-like literature to this effect. Unfortunately, he is not the only one. IAM has repeatedly pointed out that radical academic activists have used the lax rules of academic freedom to write about topics that further their political agenda. The Israeli taxpayer who supports the universities deserves better.
Bashir Bashir, Amos Goldberg, Charlotte Wiedemann
Understanding the Pain of Others
The Holocaust, the Nakba and German Memory Culture
Live im Einstein Forum. Das Tragen einer medizinischen Maske wird empfohlen.
Auch im Live-Stream via Zoom (hier registrieren)
In her book Understanding the Pain of Others, the author Charlotte Wiedemann pleads for a new inclusive memory culture that promotes solidarity instead of competition among victims. Doing justice to the victims of colonial crimes and their descendants does not call into question the specificity of the Shoah. On the contrary: the importance of human rights for all is a central lesson from the Holocaust. But tragically, Holocaust memory has not brought us much closer to such universal values.
In their co-edited volume The Holocaust and the Nakba: A New Grammar of Trauma and History Amos Goldberg, Bashir Bashir, and the contributors to the volume explore the possibility of creating a shared language for discussing the memories of two entangled, but entirely different historical events: the genocide of European Jews and the displacement of Palestinians. At the center of this new language is the concept of empathic unsettlement which challenges the mutual denial of the suffering of the Other, recognizes the political asymmetries in Israel-Palestine, and gives rise to an egalitarian binationalism.
This debate was originally scheduled to take place in the Goethe Institute Tel Aviv but was cancelled due to political pressure.
Charlotte Wiedemann is a journalist and author. She has published numerous books on international topics, most recently Den Schmerz der Anderen begreifen. Holocaust und Weltgedächtnis (2022). Afflicted by silence in her own family, she has followed debates about German responsibility for National Socialism for four decades.
Bashir Bashir is associate professor of political theory at the Open University of Israel and senior research fellow at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. His research interests are: democratic theory, nationalism and citizenship studies, liberalism, decolonization, and reconciliation. His most recent publication is The Arab and Jewish Questions: Geographies of Engagement in Palestine and Beyond (2020).
Amos Goldberg is associate professor of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. For decades he has researched Holocaust memory at the intersection of history, critical theory, and literature. His publications include Trauma in First Person: Diary Writing during the Holocaust (2017) and his co-edited volume Marking Evil: Holocaust Memory in the Global Age (2015).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bs-JNnCv-k
Bashir Bashir, Amos Goldberg, Charlotte Wiedemann: Understanding the Pain of Others
Einstein Forum
3.29K subscribers
Feb 5, 2023
Understanding the Pain of Others: The Holocaust, the Nakba and German Memory Culture In her book »Understanding the Pain of Others«, the author Charlotte Wiedemann pleads for a new inclusive memory culture that promotes solidarity instead of competition among victims. Doing justice to the victims of colonial crimes and their descendants does not call into question the specificity of the Shoah. On the contrary: the importance of human rights for all is a central lesson from the Holocaust. But tragically, Holocaust memory has not brought us much closer to such universal values. In their co-edited volume »The Holocaust and the Nakba: A New Grammar of Trauma and History« Amos Goldberg, Bashir Bashir, and the contributors to the volume explore the possibility of creating a shared language for discussing the memories of two entangled, but entirely different historical events: the genocide of European Jews and the displacement of Palestinians. At the center of this new language is the concept of empathic unsettlement which challenges the mutual denial of the suffering of the Other, recognizes the political asymmetries in Israel-Palestine, and gives rise to an egalitarian binationalism. This debate was originally scheduled to take place in the Goethe Institute Tel Aviv but was cancelled due to political pressure. Chair: Susan Neiman, Potsdam Charlotte Wiedemann is a journalist and author. She has published numerous books on international topics, most recently »Den Schmerz der Anderen begreifen. Holocaust und Weltgedächtnis« (2022). Afflicted by silence in her own family, she has followed debates about German responsibility for National Socialism for four decades. Bashir Bashir is associate professor of political theory at the Open University of Israel and senior research fellow at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. His research interests are: democratic theory, nationalism and citizenship studies, liberalism, decolonization, and reconciliation. His most recent publication is »The Arab and Jewish Questions: Geographies of Engagement in Palestine and Beyond« (2020). Amos Goldberg is associate professor of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. For decades he has researched Holocaust memory at the intersection of history, critical theory, and literature. His publications include »Trauma in First Person: Diary Writing during the Holocaust« (2017) and his co-edited volume »Marking Evil: Holocaust Memory in the Global Age« (2015).
, in Potsdam. I was deeply moved by it, & the eloquence & strength of the speakers on such a sensitive topic. Recording available.
Views
German event comparing Holocaust to ‘Nakba’ canceled after Yad Vashem intervenes
The planned panel faced stark criticism from the Israeli Foreign Ministry and Jewish organizations.
The German state-funded Goethe Institute pulled the plug on a slated Sunday event in Tel Aviv that draws a line of connection between the Holocaust and the Palestinian “Nakba,” Yad Vashem chairman Dani Dayan announced on Friday.
Nakba (catastrophe) is the term Palestinians use for their defeat and exile at the hands of Israeli forces during the 1948 War of Independence.
Dayan wrote on Twitter: “At the end of our in-depth conversation, [Goethe Institute Board chairman Mr. Johannes] Ebert assured me that the event will not take place. Wise decision.”
Earlier today, I spoke at length with the Chairman of the Board of the worldwide Goethe Institute Mr. Johannes Ebert. At the end of our in-depth conversation, Mr. Ebert assured me that the event will not take place. Wise decision. https://t.co/O60L0CYtQM
— Dani Dayan (@AmbDaniDayan) November 11, 2022
When The Jerusalem Post queried the institute on Monday, Jessica Kraatz Magri, a spokeswoman for Goethe, told the Post that the organization “postponed the event” until Sunday and provided an updated link to the discussion. The event was sponsored by left-wing German political party Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (RLS).
Foreign Ministry, Jewish and Zionist organizations express outrage at planned panel
Following a hailstorm of criticism on Wednesday about the event just as Jews around the world were commemorating Kristallnacht, Goethe stuck with its postponement.
The Foreign Ministry called for the cancellation of the event and expressed “shock and disgust” after the original announcement, calling it “blatant contempt of the Holocaust” and a “cynical and manipulative intent to create a connection whose entire purpose is to defame Israel.”
Dayan tweeted prior to the event that it “constitutes intolerable distortion of the Holocaust. Holding it on the anniversary of the November Pogrom (‘Kristallnacht’) is unforgivable.”
The event planned by the German cultural institute @goetheinstitut in Israel constitutes intolerable distortion of the Holocaust. Holding it on the anniversary of the November Pogrom (“Kristallnacht”) is unforgivable. pic.twitter.com/T1ifmEwVqc
— Dani Dayan (@AmbDaniDayan) November 8, 2022
Israel’s Ambassador to Germany Ron Prosor told 103FM Radio that the event is “an attempt to make an inappropriate comparison at the expense of Holocaust survivors.” He added that “if it wasn’t ironic it would be tragic. This must not become an accepted discourse under the pretense of ‘holding a civilized discussion.’ It’s not.”
Alrun Kaune-Nüßlein, the director of political communication for RLS, told the Post that “we try to enable a debate between different democratic and emancipatory positions, as it corresponds to the tasks of an institution for social analysis and political education. As a left-wing institution in and from Germany, dealing with the numerous Nazi mass crimes – and in particular the murder of six million Jews – is central to us. Relativizing the Shoah is unacceptable for the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation,” she said.
“We regret that the date of the event caused irritation. We are therefore postponing the event to November 13, 2022.”
Journalist at center of panel has faced criticism for anti-Israel views
At the now-canceled event, journalist Charlotte Wiedemann was set to discuss her book Grasping the Pain of the Others with Bashir Bashir, associate professor of Political Theory at the Open University of Israel; Amos Goldberg, associate professor of Holocaust History and director of the Research Institute for Contemporary Judaism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; and Inge Gunther, a journalist covering Israeli and Palestinian affairs.
Wiedemann has faced criticism for her attacks on Israel’s existence. She wrote in the left-wing German daily newspaper taz: “There is no need to agree on the extent to which the founding of the State of Israel was also an act of settler colonialism.”
The left-wing and pro-Israel weekly paper Jungle World criticized the author for her pro-Iran regime views. Danyal Casar wrote that “Charlotte Wiedemann can nowhere see such an opposition in the taz.” Wiedemann wrote that ‘there is no opposition’ which could take responsibility in Tehran if the current system implodes.”
Tzvi Joffre contributed to this report.
