ГУЛаг Палестины

Quality of Translation

Ukrainian Homogeneity

Were Ukrainians Nazis?

Simon Wiesenthal

What Happened in Lviv?

Nazi Propaganda Film

Collective Guilt

Paralysis of the Comparative

Function

60 Minutes' Cheap Shots

Ukrainian Anti-Semitism

Jewish Ukrainophobia

Mailbag

A Sense of Responsibility

What 60 Minutes Should Do

PostScript

Mailbag

60 Minutes' Mailbag comment on October 30, 1994 - the Sunday following the original The Ugly

Face of Freedom broadcast - was inadequate. It failed to retract or correct any of the

misinformation noted above. It failed to present the other side of the story. It continued to

pour fuel on the fire.

Of what possible relevance is it that - as 60 Minutes reports a letter as saying - a fraction of

Ukrainians refuses to admit that they collaborated with the Nazis? Possibly, some minuscule

fraction does irrationally refuse to admit this (60 Minutes offered no data, of course) - but so

what? The same might be true of every other group. Possibly some minuscule fraction of Jews

irrationally refuses to admit that Jews collaborated with the Nazis (I don't have any data

either), and yet 60 Minutes does not seem to find the existence of this group noteworthy enough

to broadcast.

The following Sunday, November 6, 1994, 60 Minutes continued to focus on the Ukrainian reaction

to the original broadcast, but without correction, without retraction, without apology. 60

Minutes is willing to go as far as admitting that Ukrainians are upset, but not as far as

divulging that the cause of that upset is irresponsible and negligent reporting.

As of November 21, 1997, 60 Minutes has not broadcast any correction or retraction or apology.

CONTENTS:

Preface

The Galicia Division

Quality of Translation

Ukrainian Homogeneity

Were Ukrainians Nazis?

Simon Wiesenthal

What Happened in Lviv?

Nazi Propaganda Film

Collective Guilt

Paralysis of the Comparative

Function

60 Minutes' Cheap Shots

Ukrainian Anti-Semitism

Jewish Ukrainophobia

Mailbag

A Sense of Responsibility

What 60 Minutes Should Do

PostScript

A Sense of Responsibility

Jews have lived with no other peoples as intimately and for as long as they have with

Ukrainians. In this shared history, there have been bright periods and dark episodes. It is

possible to imagine a shared future in which the bright periods predominate and the dark

episodes are banished. This is the future that Ukrainians and Jews should strive toward, this

is the image that should guide them in their dialogues and that should have guided Mr. Safer in

his broadcast. Perhaps it is already the attitude that inspires the majority of both Ukrainians

and Jews.

The Jewish claim to a share of the newly-created nation of Ukraine is as tenable as that of the

ethnic Ukrainians and of the ethnic Russians and others who reside there. At present, all three

of these groups are beginning to mine that claim in relative peace. Differences are being

overlooked, cooperation is the norm, a bright future is possible.

Into this scene burst immature and undiplomatic people like Morley Safer needing a sensational

story, Simon Wiesenthal desperate to retain his relevance in the modern world by having it

believed that 1941 is repeating itself, and Yaakov Bleich disoriented by having been plucked

from the United States to fill this exotic role of rabbi of Ukraine and these three show no

grasp of the political situation, no comprehension of the complex world that they are

simplifying into their stereotypes, no sympathy for impulses toward reconciliation that are

manifest on all sides, certainly no sense of responsibility for nurturing these impulses. This

gang of three has no stake in Ukraine - Mr. Safer leaves for home immediately after reading his

lines into the camera, Mr. Wiesenthal lives in Vienna (where needing to get along with Germans

but not Ukrainians, he expediently concludes that Germans weren't as bad as Ukrainians), and

Yaakov Bleich - unhappy in his discovery that in slinging mud he has become muddied, every day

more deeply convinced that he has been miscast in this role of rabbi of Ukraine - we may expect

will shortly be catching a plane for home. What do any of them care if they are stirring up a

hornet's nest in Ukraine?

The Jews who are left behind in Ukraine, who have a stake in Ukraine, who need to get along - to

these 60 Minutes does not give air time. It's the irresponsible ones with nothing to lose who

are able to offer the more sensational testimonials.

And not only does 60 Minutes' trio of provocateurs have nothing to lose from chaos erupting in

Ukraine, they have this to gain - that if chaos does erupt, they will be able to play the role

of prophets who foretold its coming, and they will do this quite overlooking that they helped it

come.

CONTENTS:

Preface

The Galicia Division

Quality of Translation

Ukrainian Homogeneity

Were Ukrainians Nazis?

Simon Wiesenthal

What Happened in Lviv?

Nazi Propaganda Film

Collective Guilt

Paralysis of the Comparative

Function

60 Minutes' Cheap Shots

Ukrainian Anti-Semitism

Jewish Ukrainophobia

Mailbag

A Sense of Responsibility

What 60 Minutes Should Do

PostScript

What 60 Minutes Should Do

(1) 60 Minutes owes its viewers a detailed correction, a retraction, an apology. The product