the Lviv pogrom, I again found nothing. In Yahil's book too I thought that I had in my
hands a thoroughly researched work which could not have overlooked a massive,
pre-German, Lviv pogrom, if one had ever occurred:
When The Holocaust first appeared in Israel in 1987, it was hailed as
the finest, most authoritative history of Hitler's war on the Jews ever
published. Representing twenty years of research and reflection, Leni
Yahil's book won the Shazar prize, one of Israel's highest awards for
historical work. (From the dust jacket)
And so, I would very much appreciate your opinion on this discrepancy. What
appears to be the case to myself and to others in the Ukrainian community is that the
Lviv pogrom, as described by Safer and Wiesenthal, did not take place, and we have been
attempting, with no success whatever, to get 60 Minutes to issue a retraction. If you
were to join your voice to ours in however simple and brief a statement, I think that a
retraction might be forthcoming in short order.
I should explain by way of background that my attitude to this sort of
misstatement is that it is disrespectful to the memory of the Holocaust dead. I do not
believe that the Holocaust dead authorized Messrs Safer and Wiesenthal to replace the
real Holocaust with a grander one which would do more to advance their respective
careers. I believe that by means of their fabrications, Messrs Safer and Wiesenthal do
a great disservice to the perception of Jewish credibility, provide ammunition for
Holocaust deniers, and at the same time harm Ukrainian-Jewish relations.
Thus, if it were true that the Lviv pogrom in question did not take place, and if
you were to release a statement to that effect (if only in a letter to me which I could
quote), I think you would be performing an invaluable service toward enhancing the
perception of Jewish credibility, toward disarming Holocaust deniers, and as well
toward improving Ukrainian-Jewish relations.
Sincerely yours,
Lubomyr Prytulak
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Hilberg reply to Letter 1 15Dec97 Lviv pogrom implicitly denied
Raul Hilberg
236 Prospect Parkway
Burlington, VT 05401
802-863 4653
December 15, 1997
Mr. Lubomyr Prytulak
[...]
Dear Mr. Prytulak,
I have had to delay a reply to your letter of September 15, because I had an almost
impossible deadline for a manuscript, plus two trips, one to Europe and one to
Alberta. Now I have had a chance to reexamine some sources with respect to actions in
Lviv and a few other places within eastern Galicia during the early phase of the
occupation.
Here then are a few more details to complement the sections you have taken from the
1961 edition of my book, The Destruction of the European Jews. The historian Philip
Friedman writes on pages 246-47 of his Roads to Extinction, New York 1980:
By inciteful proclamations, pamphlets, and oral propaganda, the Germans
stirred up mass hatred of the Jews. Persecution and pogroms began
immediately after the entry of the German army. From June 30 to July