whole no impelling desire to cooperate in a process of such utter
ruthlessness. The fact that the Soviet regime, fighting off the
Germans a few hundred miles to the east, was still threatening to
return, undoubtedly acted as a powerful restraint upon many a
potential collaborator. (Raul Hilberg, The Destruction of the
European Jews, 1985, p. 308)
First, truly spontaneous pogroms, free from Einsatzgruppen
influence, did not take place; all outbreaks were either organized
or inspired by the Einsatzgruppen. Second, all pogroms were
implemented within a short time after the arrival of the killing
units. They were not self-perpetuating, nor could new ones be
started after things had settled down. (Raul Hilberg, The
Destruction of the European Jews, 1985, p. 312)
Fearing that substantiation for the Wiesenthal-Safer Lviv pogrom did exist somewhere
and that I had merely overlooked it, I made enquiry to leading Holocaust historian,
Raul Hilberg, on 15Sep97. Professor Hilberg was good enough in his reply of 15Dec97
to outline for me instances that he knew of anti-Jewish activity conducted in that
area at that time, and none of these instances gave credence to the Wiesenthal-Safer
Lviv pogrom.
Perhaps the most telling piece of evidence that the Wiesenthal-Safer Lviv pogrom was
a fabrication is unearthed upon trying to substantiate it in Simon Wiesenthal's own
writing. In one place, Simon Wiesenthal has the anti-Jewish activity postdating the
arrival of the Germans, and mentions neither the number of fatalities nor the
duration:
The Ukrainian police ... had played a disastrous role in Galicia
following the entry of the German troops at the end of June and the
beginning of July 1941. (Simon Wiesenthal, Justice Not Vengeance,
1989, p. 34, emphasis added)
And later in the same account, Simon Wiesenthal does mention a Lviv pogrom of three
day's duration, but again without mentioning the number of fatalities, and again
unambiguously placing it after the German occupation:
Thousands of detainees were shot dead in their cells by the
retreating Soviets. This gave rise to one of the craziest
accusations of that period: among the strongly anti-Semitic
population the rumour was spread by the Ukrainian nationalists that
all Jews were Bolsheviks and all Bolsheviks were Jews. Hence it
was the Jews who were really to blame for the atrocities committed
by the Soviets.
All the Germans needed to do was to exploit this climate of
opinion. It is said that after their arrival they gave the
Ukrainians free rein, for three days, to 'deal' with the Jews.
(Simon Wiesenthal, Justice Not Vengeance, 1989, p. 36, emphasis
added)
Also, whereas on your 60 Minutes broadcast you gave the impression that Simon
Wiesenthal was making his appearance on 60 Minutes in the role of an eyewitness to
the Wiesenthal-Safer Lviv Pogrom, or at least as a researcher who had documented it,
yet in the quotation immediately above, Simon Wiesenthal's use of "It is said that"
gives the contrasting impression that he is no more than passing along a rumor
concerning events that he has neither witnessed nor verified.