is covering, for you it is the pivotal experience which determined the course of your life, the experience which in
the words of Mr. Safer, "compelled Wiesenthal to seek out the guilty, to bring justice."
So I wonder why Morley Safer changed your numbers? As you are the only witness adduced, Mr. Safer seems to have
lowered your figures on his own initiative. I wonder if you have contacted Mr. Safer concerning his revision of your
estimate, or if in your subsequent discussions with Mr. Safer, you might have by now arrived at a mutually-agreed
estimate? If you have, I wonder if you would be able to tell me whether Mr. Safer has agreed to raise his estimate,
or if you have agreed to lower yours?
Be that as it may, it must surprise you to learn that when I consulted Leni Yahil's The Holocaust: The Fate of
European Jewry, Oxford, New York, 1990 for further information on the Lviv pogrom, I found nothing. There is no
indication in Yahil's book that such a pogrom ever took place. If Yahil's book were cursory or carelessly researched,
then the oversight of the single largest pogrom of the War might be understandable, but if we are to believe the
book's dust jacket, then it is one of the best works on the Jewish Holocaust ever written:
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.
Well, in my continuing quest to learn more about the Lviv pogrom which you describe on 60 Minutes, I turned next
to Raul Hilberg's The Destruction of the European Jews, Holmes Meier, New York, 1985. This work too cannot be
accused of being either cursory or carelessly researched. For example, the publisher's promotional material claims:
This landmark work, now substantially revised and expanded, is destined to remain the foremost
source to which historians and others must turn in any exploration of the most infamous crime in
history.
...
This definitive edition of THE DESTRUCTION OF THE EUROPEAN JEWS is the most complete,
comprehensive, and authoritative account of the Nazi Holocaust.
As well, this same promotional material cites critical acclaim for Hilberg's work in Michael R. Marrus's review in The
Times Literary Supplement which ends in the words:
No single book has contributed more, even to its critics, to an understanding of Nazi genocide.
In its originality, scope, and seriousness of theme, this is one of the great historical works
of our time.
But what does Hilberg say about the Lviv pogrom, this most massive pogrom of the Second World War; what does he
say in his "most complete, comprehensive, and authoritative account of the Nazi Holocaust"? Why he says ... exactly
nothing! He too seems to be totally unaware of it.
Worse than that - much worse - Hilberg makes statements to the effect that no such pogrom ever took place. I
reproduce below three quotations from Hilberg, the last of which is particularly troubling, as it is his summary of
all anti-Jewish activity in Ukraine, and it flatly contradicts the possibility of the pogrom that you describe:
From the Ukraine Einsatzkommando 6 of Einsatzgruppe C reported as follows:
Almost nowhere can the population be persuaded to take active steps against
the Jews. This may be explained by the fear of many people that the Red
Army may return. Again and again this anxiety has been pointed out to us.
Older people have remarked that they had already experienced in 1918 the
sudden retreat of the Germans. In order to meet the fear psychosis, and in
order to destroy the myth ... which, in the eyes of many Ukrainians, places
the Jew in the position of the wielder of political power, Einsatzkommando
6 on several occasions marched Jews before their execution through the
city. Also, care was taken to have Ukrainian militiamen watch the shooting
of Jews.
This "deflation" of the Jews in the public eye did not have the desired effect. After a few
weeks, Einsatzgruppe C complained once more that the inhabitants did not betray the movements of