THIS WAS WRITTEN IN 1968!
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Andrew Grigorenko
Sep 15, 2009, 8:53:42 PM9/15/09
to General Petro Grigorenko Foundation
Below please find an article by Eric Hoffer written in 1968. Even I've read the article before my emigration from the defunct USSR, I believe that it would be interesting for those who did not read it or not familiar with the writings of a brilliant Eric Hoffer. The article also revive my own reminiscences of my first discovery of Eric Hoffer. It was his book "The True Believer" in Russian translation. I got the book from Vladimir Bukovsky for only one night. I gulp the book, if I may say, in one sitting. But next day I could not return the book because Vladimir has been arrested. Instead I turn it to circulation in SAMIZDAT. But the book itself became one of my favorites and was one of the first purchases when I left USSR a few years later. This time it was English original, paperback edition. The book is still on my shelf, and I recommend to read it to anybody who wants get better understanding of mass movements and totalitarian ideologies.
Andrew P Grigorenko
www.grigorenko.org
From: elena tertychnaya
Andrew P Grigorenko
www.grigorenko.org
From: elena tertychnaya
Date: Mon, Sep 14, 2009 at 7:57 PM
Subject: Fw: THIS WAS WRITTEN IN 1968!
Begin forwarded message:
THIS WAS WRITTEN IN 1968 (40 years ago) - Astonishing !
You probably don't remember the name Eric Hoffer. He was a longshoreman who turned into a philosopher, wrote columns for newspapers and some books. He was a non-Jewish American social philosopher. He was born in 1902 and died in 1983, after writing nine books and winning the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His first book, The True Believer, published in 1951, was widely recognized as a classic.
Here is one of his columns from 1968. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?
This article was written 40 years ago! Some things never change.
ISRAEL'S PECULIAR POSITION
by Eric Hoffer (LA Times 5/26/68)
The Jews are a peculiar people: things permitted to other nations are forbidden to the Jews.
Other nations drive out thousands, even millions of people and there is no refugee problem. Russia did it, Poland and Czechoslovakia did it. Turkey threw out a million Greeks, and Algeria a million Frenchman.
Indonesia threw out heaven knows how many Chinese and no one says a word about refugees. But in the case of Israel, the displaced Arabs have become eternal refugees. & n bsp; Everyone insists that Israel must take back every single one.
Arnold Toynbee calls the displacement of the Arabs an atrocity greater than any committed by the Nazis. Other nations when victorious on the battlefield dictate peace terms. But when Israel is victorious, it must sue for peace.
Everyone expects the Jews to be the only real Christians in this world. Other nations, when they are defeated, survive and recover but should Israel be defeated it would be destroyed. Had Nasser triumphed last June [1967], he would havewiped Israel off the map, and no one would have lifted a finger to save the Jews.
No commitment to the Jews by any government, including our own, is worth the paper it is written on. There is a cry of outrage all over the world when people die in Vietnam or when two Blacks are executed in Rhodesia. But, when Hitler slaughtered Jews no one remonstrated with him.
The Swedes, who are ready to break off diplomatic relations with America because of what we do in Vietnam, did not let out a peep when Hitler was slaughtering Jews. They sent Hitler choice iron ore,and ball bearings, and serviced his troop trains to Norway.
The Jews are alone in the world. If Israel survives, it will be solely because of Jewish efforts. And Jewish resources. Yet at this moment, Israel is our only reliable and unconditional ally. We can rely more on Israel than Israel can rely on us. And one has only to imagine what would have happened last summer [1967] had the Arabs their Russian backers won the war, to realize how vital the survival of Israel is to America and the West in general.
I have a premonition that will not leave me; as it goes with Israel so will it go with all of us. Should Israel perish, the Holocaust will be upon us all.
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Subject: Fw: THIS WAS WRITTEN IN 1968!
Wishing a healthy and prosperous and blessed new year regards to all
Sent from my iPhone
Sent from my iPhone
Begin forwarded message:
THIS WAS WRITTEN IN 1968 (40 years ago) - Astonishing !
You probably don't remember the name Eric Hoffer. He was a longshoreman who turned into a philosopher, wrote columns for newspapers and some books. He was a non-Jewish American social philosopher. He was born in 1902 and died in 1983, after writing nine books and winning the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His first book, The True Believer, published in 1951, was widely recognized as a classic.
Here is one of his columns from 1968. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?
This article was written 40 years ago! Some things never change.
ISRAEL'S PECULIAR POSITION
by Eric Hoffer (LA Times 5/26/68)
The Jews are a peculiar people: things permitted to other nations are forbidden to the Jews.
Other nations drive out thousands, even millions of people and there is no refugee problem. Russia did it, Poland and Czechoslovakia did it. Turkey threw out a million Greeks, and Algeria a million Frenchman.
Indonesia threw out heaven knows how many Chinese and no one says a word about refugees. But in the case of Israel, the displaced Arabs have become eternal refugees. & n bsp; Everyone insists that Israel must take back every single one.
Arnold Toynbee calls the displacement of the Arabs an atrocity greater than any committed by the Nazis. Other nations when victorious on the battlefield dictate peace terms. But when Israel is victorious, it must sue for peace.
Everyone expects the Jews to be the only real Christians in this world. Other nations, when they are defeated, survive and recover but should Israel be defeated it would be destroyed. Had Nasser triumphed last June [1967], he would havewiped Israel off the map, and no one would have lifted a finger to save the Jews.
No commitment to the Jews by any government, including our own, is worth the paper it is written on. There is a cry of outrage all over the world when people die in Vietnam or when two Blacks are executed in Rhodesia. But, when Hitler slaughtered Jews no one remonstrated with him.
The Swedes, who are ready to break off diplomatic relations with America because of what we do in Vietnam, did not let out a peep when Hitler was slaughtering Jews. They sent Hitler choice iron ore,and ball bearings, and serviced his troop trains to Norway.
The Jews are alone in the world. If Israel survives, it will be solely because of Jewish efforts. And Jewish resources. Yet at this moment, Israel is our only reliable and unconditional ally. We can rely more on Israel than Israel can rely on us. And one has only to imagine what would have happened last summer [1967] had the Arabs their Russian backers won the war, to realize how vital the survival of Israel is to America and the West in general.
I have a premonition that will not leave me; as it goes with Israel so will it go with all of us. Should Israel perish, the Holocaust will be upon us all.
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