The published story begins, 'It ought to be a proud milestone in Netherlands seafaring heritage – the construction of a ship its owner claims will be the largest in the world. There's just one problem: the name.'
'Edwin Heerema, founder of the company that commissioned the vessel, wants to name it the “Pieter Schelte” after his late father, Pieter Schelte Heerema, who was renowned as a maritime engineer.'
Why is Holland in a state of collective outcry because a man wants to name a ship with his illustrious father's first two names? Note the picture which appears in the story.
PIETER SCHELTE HEEREMA
Next note the solitary source of the 'outcry': Ronny Naftaniel, director of Centre for Information and Documentation on Israel, who cried, 'For people who know his pitch-black history, this ship should not be named for him. Not now, not ever.'
'Pitch black?' A spokesman for the son explained that Pieter Schelte Heerema was widely appreciated during his life, that he joined the Nazis out of opposition to Stalin's soviet communism (as did a multitude of other non-German Europeans) rather than enthusiasm for national socialism, and by 1943 had changed his mind and worked against the Nazis. The Netherlands Institute for War Documentation says that he provided "very important" services to the resistance. There is no assertion that he ever did anything illegal or immoral in his life.
But his virtues or lack of them aren't the point here. The point is that the head of a small pro-Israel organization in the Netherlands has managed to have a minor event reported and exaggerated by news organizations all around the world.
I had never heard of the “CIDI” until this morning, but it took me about two seconds to realize its similarity to the major Jewish/Zionist pressure organizations in the U.S. which are plentifully discussed in this blog – the Anti-Defamation League of B'Nai B'rith (ADL) and AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee).
By its own account, the Centre for Information and Documentation on Israel distributes propaganda about Israel and the Jewish people. 'Our publications on the relationship between the Netherlands and Israel, anti-Semitism . . . play a large role in defining public opinion in the Netherlands.'
Ronny Naftaniel, director and outcrier of the CIDI, son of a German Jew, expanded the CIDI to 'monitoring anti-Semitism in addition to challenging criticism on Israel.' The American ADL also describes itself as 'monitoring' 'anti-Semitism', when in fact it is a bruising and unscrupulous aggressor in trying to silence all criticism of Israel or Jews.
The fictitious 'outcry' over the name of a ship which will lay pipes in offshore oil fields is typical of the ludicrous extremes to which such groups as the CIDI, the ADL, AIPAC and the Simon Wiesenthal Center will go – not least in order to stir up unease among Jews who may donate and pay their leaders' salaries.
7 comments:
I agree -- this is just a little political tempest in a teapot. I note his detractors don't even mention the enormous risk he took in defecting to the Resistance and working against the Nazis -- I recall the rather unpleasant endings for Canaris, the Black Orchestra and other anti-Nazi plotters that were caught. The lucky ones died quickly.
This guy could have simply disappeared, given his rank and connections, but chose to stay and work with the Resistance & Allies to end the Nazi terror.
So these self-righteous little bastards go after him, for obvious publicity and propaganda gains, but don't bother to criticize Wernher von Braun and a lot of other Germans (Nazi or otherwise) who caused the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians -- or more.
Bull.
There was also perhaps some suggestion that his part in sending unemployed Dutch civilians to work in Germany was somehow similar to sending them to concentration camps ... mentioning that "hundreds" died. Considering the numbers involved (tens of thousands), most of these deaths were probably either accidents or due to Allied bombing of wartime industrial facilities.
I imply no real fault to von Braun and others -- just comparing the odd selection of THIS man compared to them.
(Retired US Army M/Sgt, amateur WW2 historian)
Thank you very much, anonymous military man and historian. Your insights are impressive, and I'm pleased to get such an understanding response to my post.
If you look back through this blog you'll see that I'm as likely to get slammed as agreed with when I write about this kind of subject.
You're so right about the fallacy that every non-German who died in Germany or in German camps during the war was murdered. The Allied bombings were horrendously deadly for civilians, and people also die of natural causes as well as the accidents you mentioned.
A German friend who was a young teenager at the end of the war showed me photographs of himself and his Hitler Youth comrades, and they look exactly like the skeletons that emerged from the interment camps. Every bit as emaciated. In that condition even if one didn't starve the immune system was so low as to invite disease.
It would be interesting to discuss these subjects further with you, but because of incredibly vicious dirty tricks I was forced to withhold my email address. Maybe you'll leave a comment on one of my earlier posts, even if you don't agree with it.
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