Newsgroups: alt.revisionism
Subject: Holocaust Almanac: David Irving's Hitler: Postscript
Summary: H. David Kirk's commentary on Irving's work and the Jaeckel
         Essays
Followup-To: alt.revisionism
Reply-To: kmcvay@nizkor.org
Organization: The Nizkor Project, Vancouver Island, CANADA
Keywords: Kirk,Irving,Jaeckel

Archive/File: pub/people/i/irving.david/jackel/postscript-kirk-6
Last-Modified: 1996/12/27

                        A NOTE ON SPELLING 
                   American vs. British spelling 

   Although the author of the Foreword, the translator of the essays,
   and the publisher are Canadians, American spelling was used for the
   sake of wider distribution.  It is hoped that this will not stand in
   the way of our Canadian and British friends and European readers. 

          Why 'antisemitism' rather than 'anti-Semitism'?  

   Let us begin anecdotally.  A perplexed Hugh Whitney Morrison, our
   erudite and highly competent editor, called to say that no standard
   dictionary shows the term 'antisemitism,' even as an alternate
   spelling to 'anti-Semitism.' Was it a consistent error in the
   manuscript?  If not, why had we used this peculiar, perhaps
   idiosyncratic spelling?

   When all grammatical authorities seem to contradict us and we
   persist, an explanation is called for.  In response to Mr.  Morrison
   we note that 'Semitism,' in the composite term 'anti-Semitism,' is
   meaningless.  But 'Semitic' refers to a group of languages spoken by
   peoples like the ancient Phoenicians and modern Arabs.  Ancient and
   modern Hebrew also belong to that language group.  In addition to
   being meaningless, the term has served as a cover for racist
   agitation against the Jewish people.  Gobineau's mid-19th century
   work on 'the inequality of the human races' initiated a pseudo-
   scientitic theory, whereby early anthropologists confused the idea of
   race in a biological sense with the social and men~al productions of
   human civilizations.  In that context 'Semitic' came to be applied,
   first erroneously and then intentionally, as a racist epithet in
   politics.

   In Germany the term 'Antisemitus' appears to have been first
   used by Wilhelm Malr (around 1879), in connection with movements
   intent on reducing Jewish influence in economic and social life.  It
   was put in circulation by Adolf Stocker, Imperial Palace Preacher,
   and founder of the first overdy antisemitic party, the Christian
   Social Movement.  In German, 'antisemitism' was never hyphenated .

   In English, in a different context, the term 'antisemitism' probably
   stems from the work of Dr.  James Parkes, a Church of England priest
   and long-time student of Christianity's anti-Jewish ideology,
   actions, and sentiments.  His An Enemy of the People, Antisemitism
   appeared in the critical year 1945, and in 1963 a revised and
   expanded version appeared under the title Antisemitism.  Unable to
   find a passage in which Parkes explained the use of his spelling, the
   translator (HDK) asked friends of the late James Parkes for
   information.  The American scholars Professors Alice and Roy Eckardt
   recall the following words of explanation by Dr.  Parkes at the time
   of a 1953 visit: 'Antisemitism is not a scientific word, and it is
   entitled to neither a hyphen nor a capital.' 

                     Another look at both terms 

   Actually there is reason for avoiding both terms, especially since
   neo-Nazi propaganda claims that its ideology is directed against Jews
   but not against 'Semites' as such.  In accord with Hitler's wartime
   dalliance with Amin al-Husayni, the Mufti of Jerusalem, neo-Nazis
   consider Arabs their friends.  For that reason, and for the sake of
   clarity, we would have preferred to speak of 'Jew-hatred,' but
   customary usage urged one or the other spelling of the many-sidedly
   false l9th century term.  In honor of Jarnes Parkes we chose his
   spelling.  

   Some additional works by James Parkes 

   The Conflict of the Church and the Synagogue, 1934, 1962 
   Jesus, Paul and the Jews, 1936 
   The Jew in the Medieval Community, 1938 
   Judaism and Christianity, 1948 
   A History of Palestine from AD. 135 to Modern Times, 1949 
   End of an Exile: Israel, the Jews and the Gentile World, 1954 
   The Foundations of Judaism and Christianity, 1960

   Footnotes:

   <48> Fleming here quotes Guido Knopp, ed Hitler heute (Aschaffenburg,
   1979).  I am grateful to Professor Fleming for having drawn my
   attention to his Hitler and the Final Solution, Berkeley, University
   of California Press, 1984.  In it he has indeed dealt in a masterly
   way and in much greater detail with much tbat the Jaeckel essays and
   my annotations could only indicate.  His book is a 'must' for anyone
   wanting to follow tbese issues in greater depth 

   <49> Martin Broszat, op.  cit., pp.  742-745 and footnote 12.  All
   quotations from Broszat are translated by HDK, except for sentences
   that Broszat has directly quoted from Irving's 'Hitler's War.'

   <50> Ibid., p. 763, footnote 51.
   <51> Ibid., p. 727.
   <52> Landsgericht Munchen 11.
   <53> Broszat, op.cit., p. 768 and footnote 62.
   <54> Translator's emphasis.

   <55> For an account of Jewish ghetto fighters' weapons, ammunition,
   and their sources see Raul Hilberg, The Destruction of the European
   Jews, Chicago, Quadrangle Books, 1961, pp.  322-324.

   <56> Eventually the Polish government relented and room was made in
   the country for the unfortunate expellees.

   <57> I am indebted to Edward Alexander's incisive discussion of Lucy
   Dawidowicz in his article 'What the Holocaust Does Not Teach,'

   <58> Lucy S. Dawidowicz, op. Cit., pp. 34-38.

   <59> In deciphering Himmler's Gothic script and its meaning,
   Dawidowicz acknowledges the help of Dr.  Fred Grubel, director of the
   Leo Baeck Institute.  

   <60> Reprinted from the Times-Colonist, Victoria, B.C., November
   1992.

   <61> Ibid., 9 November 1992." (Jaeckel, 39-56)

Followups have been directed to alt.revisionism, where discussions about
David Irving's scholastic dishonesty belong. Those who have not yet read the
Jaeckel essays, which were published to this newsgroup recently, will
find them on the web at http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/i/irving-david/jackel.

                              Work Cited

Jaeckel, Eberhard. David Irving's Hitler: A Faulty History Dissected. H.
David Kirk, Translator. Port Angeles, Washington: Ben-Simon Publications,
1993. Library of Congress Catalog Number 93-072355, ISBN 0-914539-08-6.

Ben-Simon Publications, P.O. Box 2124, Port Angeles, Washington, 98362
Ben-Simon Publications, P.O. Box 318, Brentwood Bay, British Columbia,
V0S 1A0. 

Home ·  Site Map ·  What's New? ·  Search Nizkor