he threatened that, he was bound, and when he had somewhat recovered, it continued
... to the greater glory of the devil!
I refer to Simon Wiesenthal's drawing as a "1946" drawing because that was the date of publication of the book in
which the drawing appeared. A reader using a recent version of a NetScape browser can click here to be taken to a
discussion of the Lviv pogrom referred to in the letter below. A reader using an Internet Explorer browser can go to
the top of the page which contains that discussion by clicking here, and once on that page, can click "What happened
in Lviv?" to arrive at the same discussion of the Lviv pogrom.
January 18, 1998
Simon Wiesenthal
Jewish Documentation Center
Salztorgasse 6
1010 Vienna
Austria
Dear Mr. Wiesenthal:
In the course of the October 24, 1993 60 Minutes broadcast The Ugly Face of Freedom, you leveled the accusation,
echoed by Morley Safer, that immediately prior to the occupation of Lviv by German forces in 1941, Ukrainians killed
some 5 to 6 thousand Jews. I have already brought to your attention evidence that your accusation is unfounded, and
that the more likely reality is that during approximately that same interval, the NKVD - dominated by Jews - killed
approximately that same number of Ukrainians. This evidence was presented to you in five letters, dated September 8,
9, 12, 13, and 14, 1997.
That the NKVD was dominated by Jews is not an irrelevancy which I am introducing gratuitously, but, rather, is germane
in that it offers a motive for your reversal of the truth. That is, it is possible that your reason for falsely
portraying Ukrainians killing Jews is to cover up the reality that Jews were killing Ukrainians, and to make any claim
on behalf of the latter seem implausible should it ever be put forward.
What I ask you in the present letter is whether you had not begun a comparable reversing of victim and victimizer
earlier in your career - almost five decades earlier, as a matter of fact - and on a smaller scale?
Specifically, I am enclosing copies of two similar, and yet contrasting, images:
Three LIFE magazine photographs, 1945
Enclosed you will find a photocopy of three photographs from LIFE magazine (June 11, 1945, p. 50) which appear at the
end of a photo essay titled "FIRING SQUAD: Army executes three German spies who were caught in U.S. uniforms." The
story appears on three pages - 47, 48, and 50. There are a total of nine, mutually-consistent photographs in the
essay. The first paragraph of the story is:
During Nazi breakthrough at Bastogne last December the Germans managed to smuggle
some of their intelligence officers behind U.S. lines. Three of these spies were
captured, tried and shot. Last week the War Department released pictures on this and
the following pages, taken by LIFE Photographer Johnny Florea, which show their
speedy execution. (p. 47)
One Simon Wiesenthal drawing, 1946
Enclosed you will also find a photocopy of one of your drawings, signed "SWiesenthal," from p. 64 of your 1946 book of
drawings KZ Mauthausen showing three individuals in striped uniforms, tied to stakes, and apparently either
unconscious or executed. As your book is dedicated to depicting the suffering of Jews at the hands of the Nazis at
the Mauthausen concentration camp, and as your caption indicates that the drawing depicts victims of Nazi torture, the
reader is encouraged to the conclusion that the drawing represents a scene witnessed by yourself of Jews tortured to
the point of unconsciousness or executed by Nazis at Mauthausen.
However, the similarity between the three individuals shown in the 1945 LIFE magazine photographs and in your 1946 KZ
Mauthausen drawing is striking and unmistakable, and suggests the alternative conclusion that you copied the LIFE
magazine photographs, added striped uniforms to the victims, and then misattributed the result.
Questions
I would appreciate your answering the following three questions: