WTS MILKS HOLOCAUST FOR $$$ AND P.R.

by MadApostate 39 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  MadApostate

  Chu participates at The 1999 Annual Holocaust Conference Program (April 18-19, 1999) at Millersville University

  . http://muweb.millersville.edu/~holo-con/prog-99.html

  Schedule Excerpt:

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  Session 5
  Matisse Room

  "Religious Responses to the Holocaust"

  The Holocaust in Jewish Thought: A Case for the Uniqueness of the SHOAH
  David Levy, Ballimore Hebrew University

  Political Neutrality and Spiritual Resistance - Jehovah's Witnesses Under the Nazi Regime
  Jolene Chu, Researcher, Watch Tower Society

  A Loss of Innocence: The Controversy Surrounding the Authenticity of Binjamin Wilkormirski's Fragments
  Sonja Hedgepeth, Middle Tennesse State University

  Moderator: Steve Paskuly
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  GermanXJW

  @Norm
  I think arguing about the figures of dead in this way is tasteless. It is not uncommon that historical figures are not accurate and in the beginning the WTS did not care. Firstly, they were reorganizing and did not count deaths - and how should they. So, all figures are estimates, while historians did differ in their very beginnigs.

  The Society started to care in the 90s. Garbe gives about 1.200. (BTW, it was Garbe who compared the suffering to the Jews. He is also a Protestant theologian and not as pro-JW as many may think.) Since the "Purple Triangles"-exbibition tours Germany and all congregations were encouraged to do research some new cases have been discovered so that the number is increasing again.

  But so what?
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  MadApostate

  Pellechia and Chu Participate at Russian Holocaust Conference

  Gordon Mork, Purdue University, sends this personal report:

  In Russia it is spelled with an X. From May 4-7th the Second International Symposium, "The Lessons of the Holocaust and Contemporary Russia" took place in Moscow, sponsored by the Russian Research and Educational Holocaust Centre and the Marc Bloch Centre of the Russian State University for the Humanities. There were over sixty speakers on the programme. most of whom were from Russia and the former USSR, but also from Israel, France, Poland, and the USA. It was an amazing experience.
  The opening session coincided with a Yom Hashoa commemoration, which overflowed the auditorium of the "Central House of the Men of Letters". Russian friends noted the irony of holding the ceremony there; as the seat of the "official" writers' organisation in Soviet times, it had secluded all dissidents (including many Jews) prior to 1989. Participants that evening included survivors of both the Nazi camps and the Soviet gulags, the chief rabbi of Moscow, the ambassador of Israel, a men's chorus, and a very upbeat children's choir. Representatives of Christian rescuers were honoured. We ended by rising to sing the Israeli anthem.

  The presentations over the next three days included a combination of scholarly papers, personal recollections, calls of concern about antisemitism today, and models for Holocaust education. The keynote address was by a dynamic woman. A.E.Gerber, the president of the Holocaust Centre in Moscow and a former member of parliament.

  Only one of the papers focussed directly on religious issues of special interest to our Association. James N.Pellechia and Jolene Chu, of the Watch Tower Society, presented a well-crafted paper "Teaching Tolerance: A Case Study", which explained the role of Jehovah's Witnesses as "a second witness to the Shoah" in the Nazi camps. Much of the material was drawn from the documentary video entitled "Jehovah's Witnesses Stand Firm against Nazi Assault" (See review in Newsletter no 24, Vol II, no 12 - December 1996), though this video was not shown in Moscow.

  Other presentations dealt with themes familiar to scholars of the Holocaust, themes which implied much about the underlying relationships between Christians and Jews. Was the Holocaust "unique"? Was it exclusive to Jews? Did Christians help Jews, or did they support the Holocaust? How and to whom should the Holocaust be taught? It is clear that the opening of archives. and the new freedom to publish documents, monographs, and teaching materials will provide many rich (and often disturbing) sources for historians and educators.

  One of the major points made was that there is a continuity of antisemitism in Eastern Europe, rooted in religious and economic prejudice. Antisemitism was officially suppressed during the Soviet period but in reality was still prevalent. It was vigorously and brutally promoted by Nazi propaganda during World War II. Now, in the post-Soviet world, it is becoming manifest again. Some of the same antisemitic authors who wrote for the Nazis are being published again in the 1990s. One of the most interesting exchanges was between a scholar who defended Christian peasants in the Ukraine who sheltered him and his family during the Holocaust. He could not have survived without such help, he emphasized, and he did not want to hear that all Christians in the Ukraine were antisemitic!

  A Polish scholar, Dr. Monika Adamczyk-Garbowska, spoke on attitudes in Poland about the Holocaust in particular and Jews in general. She touched on the links between Polish nationalism and the Catholic Church, but did not fully analyse them. Other papers implied a relationship between the upsurge of Slavic nationalism (including antisemitism) and Orthodox Christianity, without exploring the issue in depth.

  Overall there was a sense of exhilaration that issues, so long suppressed in Russia, were now open for full discussion. Another Symposium is planned, but a date has not yet been set. Inquiries can be sent to Dr Ilya A Altman, of the Russian Holocaust Centre in Moscow. = [email protected]
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  MadApostate

  28th Scholars' Conference on the Holocaust and the Churches

  It was a particular pleasure to attend the 28th Scholars' Conference on the Holocaust and the Churches at the University of Washington at the beginning of March. This annual event, which has been under the genial guidance of Professor Franklin Littell and his wife Marcie since its beginnings in 1970, brings together both Jewish and Christian scholars to discuss the implications oft he Holocaust for both religious communities. So it was great to meet so many old friends there, and to see how many of them are also subscribers to this Newsletter. This year, special sessions were devoted to the churches during the Nazi era. An excellent plenary session was given over to the policies of Pope Pius XII. John Pawlikowski explored Pius 'development of Catholic social teachings, which sought to overcome the long tradition of opposition to democracy and liberalism, and posed the question as to how far this influenced his attitude towards the Jewish victims of Nazism. He also repeated his call for more opening of archives, which would surely give us a broader picture of the Vatican's stance during these turbulent years. Jacques Kornberg, Toronto, outlined clearly the Holy See's reactions to the earlier genocides of the Armenians, the Ethiopians, and the Catholic Poles after the Nazi onslaught began in 1939. In each case, the Popes were outraged, but their interpretation of Catholic interests led to them to keep silence, lest their authority should be challenged, and possibly weakened. The Vatican's response to the Holocaust followed a similar path. It was only afterwards that expectations were heightened about how Pius XII should have acted, though the advocates of this view have rarely thought through the implications of their desire for a more forceful Papal intervention in political affairs. I was asked to speak on the Pope's political priorities, and sought to outline his overwhelming concern for peace, his preservation of a strict impartiality, and his desire to play the role of mediator to bring the murderous hostilities to an end. To be sure, this policy which had been established already in the first world war under Benedict XV, Pius' mentor, was not successful, and can be criticised for its illusions about the effectiveness of the Holy See's influence. But it was a noble and worthy ideal, even if it was doomed to be thwarted by the power politics of all the combatants. So too, the Vatican's heartfelt efforts to assist the victims of the war were to prove too limited, but should not be dismissed as totally insignificant. Later, we had a splendid session devoted to church policies, when we heard six papers on a variety of topics. Outstanding was the presentation by Jolene Chu, a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses, on their fate in Ravensbruck concentration camp, as also a paper by Victoria Barnett on the ecumenical movement's efforts to find a consensus on opposing Nazism. Haim Genizi, Israel, read a most interesting paper on a leading figure in the Canadian United Church, describing both his efforts to help Jewish refugees, as well as his subsequent opposition to Zionism after 1945. These were useful contributions to show the variety of Christian responses to the unprecedented challenge of totalitarian ferocity as exhibited during the Nazi era.
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  MadApostate

  JW-Featured Speaker and Pellechia Attend Arkansas Conference

  Barry Brown ( right) of Springdale gets a chance to converse with Holocaust survivor Joseph Kempler after Kempler s keynote address at
  The Holocaust Remembered: The Victims conference held recently at the Jones Center for Families in Springdale. Kempler, a Polish Jew during the Nazi regime, said he lost faith during those years, but noted that he is now one of Jehovah's Witnesses. He gave experiences ranging from ghettoization to labor and extermination camps.

  Holocaust survivor Joseph Kempler and his wife, Virginia, visit with Dr. Mark Cory, director of the European Studies Program at
  the University of Arkansas, after Kempler's keynote address at The Holocaust Remembered: The Victims conference held recently at
  the Jones Center for Families in Springdale. The conference was sponsored by The Arkansas Holocaust Education Committee.

  PHOTOS BY KANDRA SPERLING THE MORNING NEWS

  Renee Kaplan, a language arts teacher at Mabry Middle School in Cobb County, Ga. , and a Mandel Fellow of the United States
  Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D. C. , discusses course materials with Francie Bryant-Thompson, Gifted and Talented Education coordinator for Bento ville Public Schools. Kaplan conducted a workshop on using resources from the USHMM to
  teach students about the Holocaust.
  LEST WE FORGET

  Holocaust Remembered at Conference

  EDUCATORS, STUDENTS LEARN ABOUT ATROCITIES FROM SURVIVORS, SCHOLARS
  THE MORNING NEWS SPRINGDALE

  More than 228 educators and students recently attended The Holocaust Remembered: The Victims conference at the Jones Center for Families in Springdale.

  The conference, in its eighth year and sponsored by the Arkansas Holocaust Education Committee, featured a keynote address by
  Holocaust survivor Joseph Kempler who spoke, Survival at What Cost?

  Kempler, who was persecuted because he was a Polish Jew, talked about his experiences in the ghettos and in labor and extermination camps at Melk, Mauthausen and Plaszow. Kempler also spoke in detail of atrocities he witnessed there, including decapitations and cannibalism. Kempler and his wife,
  Virginia, traveled from Reno, Nev., to participate in the conference.

  Local workshop presenters included Dr. Mark Cory, director of the European Studies Program at the University of Arkansas, and Marlie McGovern, a senior at UA, majoring in European Studies and Anthropology. Cory and McGovern spoke on the topic, The Problematics of Victimhood.

  The session concluded with a comparison of two recent examples in the media where questions have arisen about the trivialization of the Holocaust: the movies: Robin
  Williams Jakob the Liar, and Roberto Benigni's Life is Beautiful. Visiting presenters were Nancy Kersell from Northern Kentucky University, Christina
  Vasquez from the Holocaust Museum Houston, Gretchen Skidmore from North Carolina School of Science
  and Mathematics in Durham, N. C. , James N. Pellechia from the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society in New York, Holocaust survivor Ruth Troxler from an Antonio, Texas, Renee Kaplan from Mabry Middle School in Cobb County, Ga., 25-year Holocaust educator Ellen Fettner from Ohio, Dr. Nathan Bracher from Texas A& M University and andra Byrd from Lake Charles, La.
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  MadApostate

  FUBAR
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  MadApostate

  bttt
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  MadApostate

  It seems that the WTS is a regular participant at the Annual Scholar's Conferences On the Holocaust and the Churches. Here is evidence that unnamed French JWs participated in the 27th Annual Scholar's Conference On the Holocaust and the Churches in 1997:

  http://www.abbc.com/aaargh/engl/AAconference.html
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  MadApostate

  Please bear in mind my previously used "cockroach" analogy. The events above, which evidence WTS participation, are only those which are internet accessible.

  For every one found there are likely dozens or hundreds which we do not know about.

  Combine this "PR agenda" with the WTS's "political lobbying agenda", and one begins to see their decade long global scheme to "cozy up" to the world in furtherance of WTS corporate goals.
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  JoRiz

  Just a point about what happens when the Watchtower Governing Body ask you to do some research for them and that research doesn't meet the expectations of that governing elite.

  As a result of Mr.Felderers information he was later disfellowshipped.
  He not only got the JW's mad at him but as a result of trying to find truth in numbers got the Jews mad at him to. You can't win.

  JoRiz

  http://www.zundelsite.org/english/dsmrd/dsmrd13felderer.html

  [Ditlieb Felderer was the first witness called by the defence. He testified on March 2, 3, 4 and 7, 1988.]

  Ditlieb Felderer, 46, first met Zündel in 1979. Both had an interest in what Felderer defined as the "extermination theory," the belief that during the Second World War, in Poland, millions of people had been exterminated in gas chambers. (18-4225)

  Felderer's interest in the subject had been aroused during his years as a researcher for the Jehovah's Witness publication Awake!, during which time he prepared a research paper for the Witnesses' governing body on the history of the Jehovah's Witnesses during World War II. Members of the sect were incarcerated in virtually every camp in Nazi Germany during the war and also in such countries as Canada because they refused to bear arms. (18-4225 to 4229) In the beginning, the Jehovah's Witnesses claimed that 60,000 of their members were killed in the Nazi concentration camps. Felderer's research on the question, which took him to the headquarters of the Jehovah's Witnesses in New York, as well as to archives in Toronto, Switzerland and Scandinavian countries, convinced him that the actual number was far lower, and that only about 200 Jehovah's Witnesses were killed. Felderer's research put him on a collision course with the sect; the leadership in New York warned members that they were not allowed to speak to him. In a subsequent Yearbook published by the Jehovah's Witnesses, however, they conceded that only 203 people were killed during the war. Felderer had told Zündel about this research