SCHINDLER'S LIST - ENTERTAINMENT AS HISTORY

There is little doubt that the new movie version of Thomas Keneally's novel "Schindler's Ark" will win a multitude of Academy Awards. The movie "Schindler's List", directed by Steven Spielberg, as a work of "art" may have much technical and artistic merit. It is clearly very moving, according to the plethora of favourable reviews, but the key to the success of this latest Hollywood extravaganza is the subject matter. If the Jewish holocaust is to be regarded as a sacred event, then "Schindler's List" must be acclaimed not so much as entertainment, but as an article of faith. It would be most politically incorrect not to vote the movie a fistful of awards.

Reviewers of the movie in the United States have noted that with the increasing doubts about the authenticity of the Jewish holocaust (known as 'holocaust denial" as though it was a medical condition that must somehow be cured) the appearance of Spielberg's latest epic has been perfectly timed. If there were ever the slightest doubts about the full horror of greatest crime in human history, then "Schindler's List" will effectively dispel it.

As the public relations beat-up ensures that the move will be a huge financial success for Universal/MCA, the differences between what is history and what is 'entertainment' becomes increasingly blurry. So much so, that even some of the New York reviewers have been forced to tone down the eulogistic fervour. In an article, which surveys the response to the movie in the United States, Susan Wyndham (Weekend Australian, 5/2/94) reflects on Leon Wieseltier's review for The New Republic: "He hates the way the camera follows a group of terrified, naked women into the gas chamber (which turns out to be a shower). He dismisses as glib the scene in which a commandant at Plaszow oversees the opening of thousands of Jewish graves in order to obliterate evidence of their deaths. And anyway, he says, 'Spielberg's movie does not 'prove' a thing because it is ONLY A MOVIE ... Hollywood must not be mistaken for history.'

The same kind of debate could equally apply to other recent Holocaust projects. A museum must not be mistaken for history. Even a reconstructed concentration camp is not quite history, especially when it's crawling with camera-laden tourists... The original Keneally novel, "Schindler's Ark", was simply a story based partly upon real events. To subject this to the Hollywood dream merchants who have produced "E.T." and "Jurassic Park", and then acclaim it as an epic of historical truth is plainly ridiculous, even for the Americans.

But among all the emotion and propaganda, there are obviously elements of truth. The story of Oskar Schindler, Nazi Party member, German industrialist and confirmed womaniser, taking his slave labour from the concentration camps for his factories, is common in many essentials of the way that forced labour was used in the German war effort. There appears to be much more factual evidence for forced labour than for gas chambers. Nevertheless, such is the psychological effect of movies, that the story can be portrayed as fact, and even accepted as such by the uncritical mind. So much so that "Schindler's List" is already being credited with its first fatality in striking back against the bestial Germans. A court in San Diego, in California, is hearing a case in which a man who recently converted to Judaism, shot a woman in the back during a showing of "Schindler's List" - apparently because he wanted to protect Jews.

One issue that is studiously ignored in the Spielberg movie is that of the financial backing for many of the industries and firms that used the forced labour from the camps. The fact that the German war effort was partly financed from Wall Street, New York, by such banks as Kuhn Loeb & Co. and the Warburgs, is not quite so politically correct, and will not find its way onto Hollywood's big screen.

Recommended Reading: "Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler" by Dr. Antony Sutton, $12.50 posted. Video: David Cole Interviews Dr. Franciszek Piper, the curator of the Auschwitz State Museum, discussing the 'reconstruction' of gas chambers by the Soviet Union after World War II. $32.50 posted.

BRIEF COMMENTS

The question of who is an Aborigine has been raised by a senior official of the Federal Government's body, ATSIC, Mr. Brian Mansell, who described as "a joke" the fact that 9,000 could last year register as Aborigines or Torres Strait Islanders in Tasmania. Brian Mansell is the brother of well-known and highly publicised Tasmanian Aboriginal activist, Michael Mansell. He says, "Too many (who call themselves Aborigines) are getting taxpayers' money without legitimate claim".
A controversy inside the Tasmanian Aboriginal community has publicised the fact that some of the members of the regional ATSIC are being challenged about their alleged Aboriginality. The Hobart Mercury, commenting on this matter, pointed out "depending upon which Aboriginal estimates you can believe, there could be 3,000 or 9,000 Aborigines in Tasmania. But only 689 voted at the last ATSIC elections. This means that each member of the ATSIC Council represents 31 people. It would be interesting to hear what that great expert on Aboriginal affairs, Michael Mansell, thinks of this state of affairs.

Once again the problems associated with what passes for history have been highlighted by recent debates concerning the famous "Brisbane Line". Critics of the Menzies Government have claimed over the years that Sir Robert and his colleagues had endorsed a strategy to surrender most of Australia behind a line running from Brisbane to Adelaide. There have been allegations that General Blamey lied about the matter, and that General MacArthur allowed rumours to spread in order to get more military support from Washington for the Pacific theatre of war. Now comes a report from a John C. Lindsay, who says that his late father, Jim Lindsay, a veteran from the First World War, had drafted a contingency plan at a time when the Japanese appeared to be unstoppable. If Australians are still uncertain about the truth concerning the "Brisbane Line", how are they expected to be certain about what allegedly happened in Poland during the German occupation?

The worldwide publicity for yet another Hollywood production on "The Holocaust", "Schindler's List, confirms banned British historian David Irving's charge that "The Holocaust" is now big business. Republican leader Tom Kenneally has increasingly displayed his close alliance with organised Jewry. Addressing a Melbourne Jewish audience at a premiere for "Schindler's List", Kenneally criticised the Melbourne Club for its refusal to accept Jews as members, claiming that the "anti-Semitism" which almost destroyed Europe could also destroy Melbourne. He urged the Melbourne Club to get into the 20th century.

The recent death of Marxist writer Frank Hardy was revealing in more ways than one. The spate of favourable comment about Hardy throughout the media indicates how far the Marxist virus has spread. The ABC, which helped to publicise Hardy over many years, was full of eulogies. Former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was one of the star performers at the funeral service at the Collingwood Town Hall, mentioning Hardy's campaign in favour of land rights for Aborigines. There is no reference in any of Hardy's writings concerning the rights of the millions of Russians and others who suffered under the Communist system he eulogised.
The Australian Jewish News of February 11th devoted nearly two pages to an article Hardy wrote for the Melbourne Sun's Short Story Festival in 1978. In this article Hardy demonstrates that he was a master of the teller of "tall tales", describing how his passionate pro-Jewish father attended a Melbourne meeting of fascists "to combat a young man named Eric Butler", of whom "he had dead-set hatred". Frank Hardy allegedly also attended as a teenage boy and watched his father being brutally ejected from the meeting. No such meeting ever took place, as can easily be proved.

Any marginal increase in economic activities in a few areas are the result of some people accepting the propaganda about an "economic recovery". Suggestions that the global depression is easing are flatly contradicted by hard facts, such as the bitter trade conflict between Japan and the USA. Stories about how the GATT agreement will contribute to higher standards of living throughout members of GATT is sheer mythology. As the Japanese know, 'there is only one way- under orthodox finance - to overcome their recession: by stimulating their economy by an increase in their money supply. But such a policy generates more debt and a return of the dreaded inflation.
In the meantime Australian Treasurer Willis, after his initial glowing comments about alleged improvements in the economy, has been attempting to "play down" a new set of figures which show a big fall in retail sales in December (remember all the hoo-ha before Christmas about soaring sales!) as well as job advertisements in January. The truth is that depression conditions are going to continue.

KEATING ASSURES JEWS ON VILIFICATION LEGISLATION

PART OF THE SOLUTION

from The Australian, February 7th
I doubt if Senator Richardson's newfound interest in Aboriginal health will produce any better results than the efforts of his predecessors. Already he has started off on the wrong foot by asking 'what can the Government do?' before he has considered 'why is it so?' Thus he will end up pouring water into a leaky bucket without realising that the bucket is lull of holes.

"The problem with Aboriginal health is that 90% of Aboriginal people don't perceive that they have a health problem, and of those that do 90% see it as a problem someone else has to solve.

"The solution, Senator, is to get Aboriginal people involved in their own salvation. The need, and it is an immense need, is a massive educational effort to make Aboriginals aware of good health, its benefits, and its relation to lifestyle. "Educational spending needs to be increased a thousand fold - when that is effective you will find the Aboriginal people will be able to steer their own ship. Until it is effective the ship will be rudderless, whatever the Senator does.

Let the Minister be the first of his ilk to act on the principle of preparing people to manage their own lives, instead of making them more dependent on handouts." (Dr. Tony Colebatch, Kakadu, N.T.)

POLICY UNWORKABLE

from Herald-Sun (Melbourne), February 11th
The Senate select committee's inquiry into allegations of sexual harassment in the military (particularly in the Navy) is just another example of the unworkable policy of forcing so-called sexual equality on the armed services. "We certainly do not condone sexual harassment. Nor do we believe that placing women into combat type roles is the way forward. Do the armed forces exist for equal opportunity? Of course not.

"The experience and lessons of history and the needs of men are being brushed aside by this inane drive to get more women into nontraditional roles in the military. "Former American generals Andrew Gatsis and Theodore Mataxis have gone on record as saying that putting women into non-traditional roles is not only hurting combat readiness but also ruining the morale of the men. "Men's rights have been violated. Men's jobs and promotion opportunities in the military are being taken from them and given to women at an unprecedented rate. "This generation of young men has been betrayed by the wholesale capitulation of our political masters and top brass to the feminist lobby. "Honestly, what did the top brass expect when they decided to place young men and women together in confined spaces?

"Enlightened Western civilisation has always sought to protect women from violence, death and suffering. There are many tens of thousands of women, and men who do not want 'equal opportunity' - so-called - for women in the military. "The 'feminisation' of the military is another example of a highly developed culture in decline. It's high time sanity, commonsense and honesty were brought back into the debate on the role of women in the military - and society." (Alan Barron, Institute of Men's Studies)