Report
on Kalman K. Brattman (K. K. Brattman)
and the Holocaust Survivors Network
Purpose:
The purpose of this report is to provide information about the pattern of libelous Internet attacks by Kalman K. Brattman, editor of the Isurvived.org website, on survivors and rescuers of the Holocaust and on other innocent individuals and Holocaust organizations. These attacks have continued unabated for more than 14 years. These attacks have been characterized by historians and other experts in the field as a form of hate and Holocaust denial.
This report will make readers aware of the background, behavior and lack of credibility of K. K. Brattman, and will answer concerns about his Internet attacks. This information is intended to aid in the defense of innocent individuals and organizations whom he has attacked and libeled.
This report is particularly important as the Internet remains a largely unregulated entity, where unverified information abounds. Much information that is taken as truth is, in fact, wildly inaccurate. This is especially true in regard to Holocaust denial. In addition, there is little protection for the privacy of individuals. We hope that this report helps to protect those individuals who have been maligned by Kalman K. Brattman and his website.
There is actually little recourse to prevent individuals with hate agendas from plying their disturbing agendas on the Internet. The Internet providers and search engines have been generally unwilling to regulate this relatively new, highly profitable medium.
Another purpose of this report is to provide information on cybertrolling, harassment and cyberstalking. These are very serious issues that plague the Internet. Countless individuals have been attacked and have had their reputations ruined on the Internet by cyberstalkers like Kalman Brattman. On this website, we are providing a resource guide to these issues. Resource guide.This section will provide scholarly articles, news stories, and other useful information on cyberharrassing/cyberstalking on the Internet, with links. We will include a bibliography and recommendations for what can be done to protect oneself from cyberharrassment/cyberstalking. We hope this will be helpful to others.
Summary:
In 2003, Kalman Klim Brattman (K.K. Brattman) of Malden, Massachusetts launched a web site called "Isurvived." "Isurvived" was ostensibly the official web site of the "Holocaust Survivors Network," which Brattman claims to direct. At first glance the web site appears to be a typical Holocaust education site, but deeper examination reveals that the site is primarily a vehicle for several elaborate character assassinations disguised as investigative reports.
The targets of these attacks include several Holocaust educators and Holocaust survivors, as well as respected organizations such as Yad Vashem – The World Holocaust Remembrance Center, Jerusalem, Israel, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Los Angeles, California, and venerable historical figures such as diplomat and Holocaust rescuer Hiram Bingham, IV.
More extensive research has revealed that Brattman's "Holocaust Survivor Network" is a hoax with no meaningful membership other than Brattman writing under several aliases. Brattman has aggressively promoted his web site and has attempted to damage the reputations of numerous people. By passing himself off as a leader of an authentic survivor organization and a Holocaust expert, Brattman has attempted to prejudice several organizations against his victims. For years Brattman has with impunity used the internet to willfully defame and harass respected and honorable people, while avoiding accountability through deceptive web sites and manufactured identities.
Brattman has produced virtually no original content for his website, with the exception of his attacks on innocent individuals. His website is almost entirely made up of pirated material from legitimate Holocaust educational websites on the Internet, such as the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, Yad Vashem, and others. Brattman gives the illusion that this is material he has produced by putting a header and footer "frame" around the information, such as: "Holocaust Survivors’ Network – iSurvived.org / Referenced Material" and "Thank You for Visiting!" or "I Survived the 20th Century Holocaust – iSurvivied.org." K. K. Brattman has not asked for or received permission to link his site to legitimate Holocaust sites. Supervisors of a number of the sites to which K. K. Brattman links were contacted and they had no knowledge of his links to their sites. Many of these webmasters asked K.K. Brattman to stop linking to their site. He has refused to do so. He gives little or no credit for the many photos and quotes or other information he uses. On his site, he states: “We do not copy any material from the linked website as there is no rational [sic] for it.”
A review of some of K. K. Brattman's character assassinations posted on Isurvived as "reports" will suffice for this document. Brattman's first target was the late Hiram Bingham, IV, who was commended by Yad Vashem. Hiram Bingham, IV, was an American diplomat who issued life-saving visas to Jewish and non-Jewish refugees in Marseille, France, 1940-1941. When Eric Saul, a respected Holocaust educator, came to Bingham's defense, Brattman branded Saul a devious scam artist, imposter, and fraud. Solly Ganor, a Lithuanian Holocaust survivor, wrote Brattman to defend Eric Saul's reputation, and Brattman promptly attacked Ganor as a "fake" and made the outrageous claims that Ganor had never been in the Dachau concentration camp and that his autobiography, Light a Candle was "bogus." Brattman also cast slurs on Bingham's family members by accusing them of perpetrating fraud along with Eric Saul. Brattman's derogatory attacks also included the Director of its Righteous Program at Yad Vashem, Dr. Mordecai Paldiel, and Dr. Lance Hill, Director, and Plater Robinson, Holocaust Education Director at the Southern Institute for Education and Research at Tulane University, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean, Simon Wiesenthal Center, Dr. Stephen Feinstein, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, University of Minnesota, and noted broadcast journalist Dennis Praeger.
After journalist Jonathan Tilove, of the Newhouse News Group, wrote an article exposing Brattman’s methods, Brattman then targeted Tilove for attack. (See appendix.)
Legal Recourse
Several individuals and organizations who were victims of Brattman’s libelous attacks have considered suing him in court. This is highly impractical, because it would cost thousands of dollars in legal fees and countless hours to pursue this remedy. We have calculated that Brattman is “judgment-proof” because he has no assets or money that could be attached if a case was won. Further, it could be assumed from his previous legal actions that he would enjoy the attention drawn to him.
We have explicitly asked that Internet providers and search engines exclude Brattman’s screeds on the Internet and remove him from search engine results. Their policies and business models have not allowed for this. However, several Internet providers and search engines in Europe that have removed Brattman’s web pages due to policy and laws against Holocaust denial in the various countries.
Brattman's Background:
Little is known about K. K. Brattman's past before his abrupt manifestation on the internet in 2003. Based on a short autobiographical website penned under the name "Kalman," we now know that Kalman K. Brattman is a 72 year-old Romanian immigrant who claimed he was trained in science in Europe (we have found no evidence of this) but apparently failed to find a position in his claimed academic field in the United States. (He regularly accuses his victims of having no academic credentials.)
It is not clear what Brattman has done over the past 35 years for income. He tells people that he works at a local college, but there is no record of him as an employee. He is most likely on some form of public assistance.
K.K. Brattman has been careful to conceal his physical address and phone number and generally operates under aliases and a post office box in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (He gives his address as: Isurvived.org, Holocaust Survivors' Network, NatureQuest Publications, Inc., Harvard Square Station, P.O. Box 381797, Cambridge, MA 02238-1797.) His federal tax identification number, as provided in public records, is 042632524.
Brattman claims to be of Jewish descent, but admits that his family changed their Jewish name and that he never had religious training. Based on the content of his websites, his claims of Jewish background are highly dubious.
In December 1978 in Boston he was convicted of sexual assault with intent to commit rape, a charge arising from an assault on a college student he met in Harvard Square.
In court documents in COMMONWEALTH V. KALMAN K. BRATTMAN, the court summary read, "At the trial of a defendant [Kalman K. Brattman] charged with assault with intent to commit rape, evidence that the defendant had committed an assault and battery on the victim, had attempted to restrain her, and had made sexual advances to the victim against her will was sufficient to warrant denial of the defendant’s motion for a directed verdict."
He had the conviction overturned on appeal on a technical error committed by the judge in his jury instructions. Brattman was then retried and found guilty of assault in 1982. He was given a six-month suspended sentence. For more information, see appendix.
In an email, Brattman was questioned about his rape conviction. The reply to journalist Jonathan Tilove was as follows:
"As you have been advised, we no longer can assist you with your inquiries. Whatever you are working on is of no interest to us. You are wasting your time and our in fishing for additional information. Best regards, First Assist Service Team (FAST)" (Kalman Brattman).
Brattman’s use of an elaborate web of links, including his own junk websites the link to each other, has enabled him to manipulate search engines like Google into ranking his attack web pages at the top of search return lists. Brattman has been able to convey, at virtually no cost, patently false and defamatory information to a medium that can be instantly accessed by the unwary public--and a medium that enjoys good measure of credibility.
Brattman's principal web sites, Isurvived and academiaexchange operate under various corporate entities, non-profit or otherwise, which include NatureQuest Publications, Inc., NatureQuest Corporation, Academiaexchange, Holocaust Survivors Network, Von Brattman Publications, International Institute for Fundamental Studies, Inc., and numerous others. In the 1990's Brattman formed at least two private foundations for which he files annual IRS form 990-PFs. In 1981 the IRS granted Naturequest Publications Inc. nonexempt charitable trust status under section 4947(a)(1) of the tax code. Brattman is the president of the organization and claims to work 20 hours a week for it. The foundation's principal charitable activities are listed as maintaining the websites of inmemoriamonline, academiaexchange, naturequest, and Isurvived. Brattman also heads at least one tax-exempt organization, "Naturequest Corporation" which has tax-exempt 501(c) (3) status, making gifts to it tax exempt, unlike the above private foundation.
These corporations appear to be shell organizations with no staff, income, or expenses. Brattman uses the corporations as tax umbrellas for soliciting tax-exempt contributions, including appeals for funds to support a web site dedicated to the victims of 9/11 (fund appeal was posted at inmemoriamonline). On the Isurvived.org website, he states, “We are eligible to receive tax deductible donations and bequests that are most welcomed and appreciated here. We welcome sponsors and corporate or individual tax deductible donations/contributions/bequests…” Yet the organization has reported no income, assets, or expenses in year after year of federal tax filings. Brattman also sells commercial advertising on his web sites and carries several corporate sponsors, although a sampling of his sponsors revealed that none of them had heard of Brattman and did not know that their businesses were being touted as Brattman's clients. Since Brattman obviously expends funds to maintain his web sites, in the form of service provider and hosting fees, he is either (1) receiving no charitable donations or advertising revenue or (2) not reporting foundation and tax-exempt income and expenditures in violation of federal and Massachusetts state law. There is no evidence that Brattman is complying in any way with Massachusetts charitable organization regulations, nor the regulations in other states where he solicits.
It is not known how many web sites Brattman operates under assumed aliases. On academiaexchange [website accessed January 28, 2017], he is marketing approximately 30 web site domain names for a minimum of $20,000. He freely uses copyrighted and trademarked materials that he apparently does not have permission to use. This includes institutional logos that appear to give the organizations’ imprimatur to Brattman, photographic images, and reference materials lifted from other web sites. These include websites of the American Astronomical Society, the University of Chicago, Harvard University, the Royal Astronomical Society, the Royal Astronomical Society of New Jersey, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM).
When asked who the "I" in "Isurvived" represents, Brattman answered:
"Questioning the first letter ‘I’ in the name of our website is as meaningful as questioning Apple Computer Company of the names placed on their products such as the iMac or the iPod, etc."
A reading of Brattman’s websites, including “Klim’s Great Escape” (formerly “Kalman’s Great Escape”), "The RealDeal® / Science Forum of Debates," and “Kalman Brattman Official Site of Webville” gives an insight into his mental health [websites accessed January 2017]. His narrative is highly narcissistic, grandiose, and histrionic. In his postings, he claims the role of defender of Holocaust truth. He even suggests that he be appointed an overseer for Yad Vashem’s historic programs. He is prone to gross confabulations, wild associations, and paranoid delusions. When confronted with an alternative perspective, he becomes highly combative and posts ever-vitriolic attacks. Brattman exhibits behavior characteristic of a pathological liar and antisocial individual. There is no indication in his writings that he knows right from wrong. Rambling discourses and word salad may indicate serious mental health issues.
The person who answered a telephone call to Brattman’s residence stated that Brattman has no personal contact with anyone.
An examination of Brattman's websites indicates that he writes under a number of fictitious personas (often using Jewish-sounding names), including: Avi, Editor; Ilan, Editor; Miriam, Editor; Eva, Assistant Editor; Judith, Book Review Editor; Jennifer; Bruce Attman; Steve Attman; Steve Grunfeld, Webmaster; and the First Assist Team (FAST).
Character Assassination:
For the last 14 years, Brattman has used email and his deceptive web sites to willfully defame several Holocaust survivors and Holocaust educators. In addition, he has misattributed historical material on the Internet and has consistently infringed on copyrights. He avoids accountability by using a number of phony personal and organizational aliases.
Brattman’s attacks on Holocaust educator Eric Saul have been damaging. For many years Saul organized a traveling Holocaust education exhibit on diplomats who helped rescue Jews during the Holocaust, titled "Visas for Life: The Righteous and Honorable Diplomats." The exhibit was shown in more than 100 venues, including the United Nations in New York and Geneva and the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration in New York City. (See appendix.) In Brattman’s dogged attacks against Saul, he accused him of being a "crook" and a "liar." Time and again coordinators of exhibit venues have been misled by Brattman’s correspondence smearing Saul and have asked Saul to explain the controversy.
In fact, the attacks on Eric Saul were used as a way to discredit Israel’s Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem. This point was communicated to Jan Zwartendijk in an email from Brattman. The following was received from "Avi, Assistant Managing Editor" (Brattman) of Isurvived in an email dated July 4, 2003:
"In my view, the ‘discovery’ of Eric Saul was the perfect vehicle for our Editor-in-Chief, Mr. Brattman, to go after what he really wanted for quite some time--that of discrediting in totality the ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ title."
After the broadcast of an acclaimed documentary on diplomat rescuer Chiune Sugihara, to which Saul and Ganor were significant contributors, K. K. Brattman contacted WGBH, the Public Broadcasting System station in Boston , posed as Holocaust expert and challenged the credibility of the project. Saul and Ganor were asked to respond. Even Yale University’s student newspaper was duped and cited Brattman as an expert on the Holocaust and diplomat rescuers. The Raoul Wallenberg tribute website edited by Baruch Tennenbaum maintains links to Isurvived.org. Tennenbaum has since been advised about this.
The purpose of this report is to provide information about the pattern of libelous Internet attacks by Kalman K. Brattman, editor of the Isurvived.org website, on survivors and rescuers of the Holocaust and on other innocent individuals and Holocaust organizations. These attacks have continued unabated for more than 14 years. These attacks have been characterized by historians and other experts in the field as a form of hate and Holocaust denial.
This report will make readers aware of the background, behavior and lack of credibility of K. K. Brattman, and will answer concerns about his Internet attacks. This information is intended to aid in the defense of innocent individuals and organizations whom he has attacked and libeled.
This report is particularly important as the Internet remains a largely unregulated entity, where unverified information abounds. Much information that is taken as truth is, in fact, wildly inaccurate. This is especially true in regard to Holocaust denial. In addition, there is little protection for the privacy of individuals. We hope that this report helps to protect those individuals who have been maligned by Kalman K. Brattman and his website.
There is actually little recourse to prevent individuals with hate agendas from plying their disturbing agendas on the Internet. The Internet providers and search engines have been generally unwilling to regulate this relatively new, highly profitable medium.
Another purpose of this report is to provide information on cybertrolling, harassment and cyberstalking. These are very serious issues that plague the Internet. Countless individuals have been attacked and have had their reputations ruined on the Internet by cyberstalkers like Kalman Brattman. On this website, we are providing a resource guide to these issues. Resource guide.This section will provide scholarly articles, news stories, and other useful information on cyberharrassing/cyberstalking on the Internet, with links. We will include a bibliography and recommendations for what can be done to protect oneself from cyberharrassment/cyberstalking. We hope this will be helpful to others.
Summary:
In 2003, Kalman Klim Brattman (K.K. Brattman) of Malden, Massachusetts launched a web site called "Isurvived." "Isurvived" was ostensibly the official web site of the "Holocaust Survivors Network," which Brattman claims to direct. At first glance the web site appears to be a typical Holocaust education site, but deeper examination reveals that the site is primarily a vehicle for several elaborate character assassinations disguised as investigative reports.
The targets of these attacks include several Holocaust educators and Holocaust survivors, as well as respected organizations such as Yad Vashem – The World Holocaust Remembrance Center, Jerusalem, Israel, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Los Angeles, California, and venerable historical figures such as diplomat and Holocaust rescuer Hiram Bingham, IV.
More extensive research has revealed that Brattman's "Holocaust Survivor Network" is a hoax with no meaningful membership other than Brattman writing under several aliases. Brattman has aggressively promoted his web site and has attempted to damage the reputations of numerous people. By passing himself off as a leader of an authentic survivor organization and a Holocaust expert, Brattman has attempted to prejudice several organizations against his victims. For years Brattman has with impunity used the internet to willfully defame and harass respected and honorable people, while avoiding accountability through deceptive web sites and manufactured identities.
Brattman has produced virtually no original content for his website, with the exception of his attacks on innocent individuals. His website is almost entirely made up of pirated material from legitimate Holocaust educational websites on the Internet, such as the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, Yad Vashem, and others. Brattman gives the illusion that this is material he has produced by putting a header and footer "frame" around the information, such as: "Holocaust Survivors’ Network – iSurvived.org / Referenced Material" and "Thank You for Visiting!" or "I Survived the 20th Century Holocaust – iSurvivied.org." K. K. Brattman has not asked for or received permission to link his site to legitimate Holocaust sites. Supervisors of a number of the sites to which K. K. Brattman links were contacted and they had no knowledge of his links to their sites. Many of these webmasters asked K.K. Brattman to stop linking to their site. He has refused to do so. He gives little or no credit for the many photos and quotes or other information he uses. On his site, he states: “We do not copy any material from the linked website as there is no rational [sic] for it.”
A review of some of K. K. Brattman's character assassinations posted on Isurvived as "reports" will suffice for this document. Brattman's first target was the late Hiram Bingham, IV, who was commended by Yad Vashem. Hiram Bingham, IV, was an American diplomat who issued life-saving visas to Jewish and non-Jewish refugees in Marseille, France, 1940-1941. When Eric Saul, a respected Holocaust educator, came to Bingham's defense, Brattman branded Saul a devious scam artist, imposter, and fraud. Solly Ganor, a Lithuanian Holocaust survivor, wrote Brattman to defend Eric Saul's reputation, and Brattman promptly attacked Ganor as a "fake" and made the outrageous claims that Ganor had never been in the Dachau concentration camp and that his autobiography, Light a Candle was "bogus." Brattman also cast slurs on Bingham's family members by accusing them of perpetrating fraud along with Eric Saul. Brattman's derogatory attacks also included the Director of its Righteous Program at Yad Vashem, Dr. Mordecai Paldiel, and Dr. Lance Hill, Director, and Plater Robinson, Holocaust Education Director at the Southern Institute for Education and Research at Tulane University, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean, Simon Wiesenthal Center, Dr. Stephen Feinstein, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, University of Minnesota, and noted broadcast journalist Dennis Praeger.
After journalist Jonathan Tilove, of the Newhouse News Group, wrote an article exposing Brattman’s methods, Brattman then targeted Tilove for attack. (See appendix.)
Legal Recourse
Several individuals and organizations who were victims of Brattman’s libelous attacks have considered suing him in court. This is highly impractical, because it would cost thousands of dollars in legal fees and countless hours to pursue this remedy. We have calculated that Brattman is “judgment-proof” because he has no assets or money that could be attached if a case was won. Further, it could be assumed from his previous legal actions that he would enjoy the attention drawn to him.
We have explicitly asked that Internet providers and search engines exclude Brattman’s screeds on the Internet and remove him from search engine results. Their policies and business models have not allowed for this. However, several Internet providers and search engines in Europe that have removed Brattman’s web pages due to policy and laws against Holocaust denial in the various countries.
Brattman's Background:
Little is known about K. K. Brattman's past before his abrupt manifestation on the internet in 2003. Based on a short autobiographical website penned under the name "Kalman," we now know that Kalman K. Brattman is a 72 year-old Romanian immigrant who claimed he was trained in science in Europe (we have found no evidence of this) but apparently failed to find a position in his claimed academic field in the United States. (He regularly accuses his victims of having no academic credentials.)
It is not clear what Brattman has done over the past 35 years for income. He tells people that he works at a local college, but there is no record of him as an employee. He is most likely on some form of public assistance.
K.K. Brattman has been careful to conceal his physical address and phone number and generally operates under aliases and a post office box in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (He gives his address as: Isurvived.org, Holocaust Survivors' Network, NatureQuest Publications, Inc., Harvard Square Station, P.O. Box 381797, Cambridge, MA 02238-1797.) His federal tax identification number, as provided in public records, is 042632524.
Brattman claims to be of Jewish descent, but admits that his family changed their Jewish name and that he never had religious training. Based on the content of his websites, his claims of Jewish background are highly dubious.
In December 1978 in Boston he was convicted of sexual assault with intent to commit rape, a charge arising from an assault on a college student he met in Harvard Square.
In court documents in COMMONWEALTH V. KALMAN K. BRATTMAN, the court summary read, "At the trial of a defendant [Kalman K. Brattman] charged with assault with intent to commit rape, evidence that the defendant had committed an assault and battery on the victim, had attempted to restrain her, and had made sexual advances to the victim against her will was sufficient to warrant denial of the defendant’s motion for a directed verdict."
He had the conviction overturned on appeal on a technical error committed by the judge in his jury instructions. Brattman was then retried and found guilty of assault in 1982. He was given a six-month suspended sentence. For more information, see appendix.
In an email, Brattman was questioned about his rape conviction. The reply to journalist Jonathan Tilove was as follows:
"As you have been advised, we no longer can assist you with your inquiries. Whatever you are working on is of no interest to us. You are wasting your time and our in fishing for additional information. Best regards, First Assist Service Team (FAST)" (Kalman Brattman).
Brattman’s use of an elaborate web of links, including his own junk websites the link to each other, has enabled him to manipulate search engines like Google into ranking his attack web pages at the top of search return lists. Brattman has been able to convey, at virtually no cost, patently false and defamatory information to a medium that can be instantly accessed by the unwary public--and a medium that enjoys good measure of credibility.
Brattman's principal web sites, Isurvived and academiaexchange operate under various corporate entities, non-profit or otherwise, which include NatureQuest Publications, Inc., NatureQuest Corporation, Academiaexchange, Holocaust Survivors Network, Von Brattman Publications, International Institute for Fundamental Studies, Inc., and numerous others. In the 1990's Brattman formed at least two private foundations for which he files annual IRS form 990-PFs. In 1981 the IRS granted Naturequest Publications Inc. nonexempt charitable trust status under section 4947(a)(1) of the tax code. Brattman is the president of the organization and claims to work 20 hours a week for it. The foundation's principal charitable activities are listed as maintaining the websites of inmemoriamonline, academiaexchange, naturequest, and Isurvived. Brattman also heads at least one tax-exempt organization, "Naturequest Corporation" which has tax-exempt 501(c) (3) status, making gifts to it tax exempt, unlike the above private foundation.
These corporations appear to be shell organizations with no staff, income, or expenses. Brattman uses the corporations as tax umbrellas for soliciting tax-exempt contributions, including appeals for funds to support a web site dedicated to the victims of 9/11 (fund appeal was posted at inmemoriamonline). On the Isurvived.org website, he states, “We are eligible to receive tax deductible donations and bequests that are most welcomed and appreciated here. We welcome sponsors and corporate or individual tax deductible donations/contributions/bequests…” Yet the organization has reported no income, assets, or expenses in year after year of federal tax filings. Brattman also sells commercial advertising on his web sites and carries several corporate sponsors, although a sampling of his sponsors revealed that none of them had heard of Brattman and did not know that their businesses were being touted as Brattman's clients. Since Brattman obviously expends funds to maintain his web sites, in the form of service provider and hosting fees, he is either (1) receiving no charitable donations or advertising revenue or (2) not reporting foundation and tax-exempt income and expenditures in violation of federal and Massachusetts state law. There is no evidence that Brattman is complying in any way with Massachusetts charitable organization regulations, nor the regulations in other states where he solicits.
It is not known how many web sites Brattman operates under assumed aliases. On academiaexchange [website accessed January 28, 2017], he is marketing approximately 30 web site domain names for a minimum of $20,000. He freely uses copyrighted and trademarked materials that he apparently does not have permission to use. This includes institutional logos that appear to give the organizations’ imprimatur to Brattman, photographic images, and reference materials lifted from other web sites. These include websites of the American Astronomical Society, the University of Chicago, Harvard University, the Royal Astronomical Society, the Royal Astronomical Society of New Jersey, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM).
When asked who the "I" in "Isurvived" represents, Brattman answered:
"Questioning the first letter ‘I’ in the name of our website is as meaningful as questioning Apple Computer Company of the names placed on their products such as the iMac or the iPod, etc."
A reading of Brattman’s websites, including “Klim’s Great Escape” (formerly “Kalman’s Great Escape”), "The RealDeal® / Science Forum of Debates," and “Kalman Brattman Official Site of Webville” gives an insight into his mental health [websites accessed January 2017]. His narrative is highly narcissistic, grandiose, and histrionic. In his postings, he claims the role of defender of Holocaust truth. He even suggests that he be appointed an overseer for Yad Vashem’s historic programs. He is prone to gross confabulations, wild associations, and paranoid delusions. When confronted with an alternative perspective, he becomes highly combative and posts ever-vitriolic attacks. Brattman exhibits behavior characteristic of a pathological liar and antisocial individual. There is no indication in his writings that he knows right from wrong. Rambling discourses and word salad may indicate serious mental health issues.
The person who answered a telephone call to Brattman’s residence stated that Brattman has no personal contact with anyone.
An examination of Brattman's websites indicates that he writes under a number of fictitious personas (often using Jewish-sounding names), including: Avi, Editor; Ilan, Editor; Miriam, Editor; Eva, Assistant Editor; Judith, Book Review Editor; Jennifer; Bruce Attman; Steve Attman; Steve Grunfeld, Webmaster; and the First Assist Team (FAST).
Character Assassination:
For the last 14 years, Brattman has used email and his deceptive web sites to willfully defame several Holocaust survivors and Holocaust educators. In addition, he has misattributed historical material on the Internet and has consistently infringed on copyrights. He avoids accountability by using a number of phony personal and organizational aliases.
Brattman’s attacks on Holocaust educator Eric Saul have been damaging. For many years Saul organized a traveling Holocaust education exhibit on diplomats who helped rescue Jews during the Holocaust, titled "Visas for Life: The Righteous and Honorable Diplomats." The exhibit was shown in more than 100 venues, including the United Nations in New York and Geneva and the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration in New York City. (See appendix.) In Brattman’s dogged attacks against Saul, he accused him of being a "crook" and a "liar." Time and again coordinators of exhibit venues have been misled by Brattman’s correspondence smearing Saul and have asked Saul to explain the controversy.
In fact, the attacks on Eric Saul were used as a way to discredit Israel’s Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem. This point was communicated to Jan Zwartendijk in an email from Brattman. The following was received from "Avi, Assistant Managing Editor" (Brattman) of Isurvived in an email dated July 4, 2003:
"In my view, the ‘discovery’ of Eric Saul was the perfect vehicle for our Editor-in-Chief, Mr. Brattman, to go after what he really wanted for quite some time--that of discrediting in totality the ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ title."
After the broadcast of an acclaimed documentary on diplomat rescuer Chiune Sugihara, to which Saul and Ganor were significant contributors, K. K. Brattman contacted WGBH, the Public Broadcasting System station in Boston , posed as Holocaust expert and challenged the credibility of the project. Saul and Ganor were asked to respond. Even Yale University’s student newspaper was duped and cited Brattman as an expert on the Holocaust and diplomat rescuers. The Raoul Wallenberg tribute website edited by Baruch Tennenbaum maintains links to Isurvived.org. Tennenbaum has since been advised about this.
K.K. Brattman’s most harmful and unconscionable attack has been against respected Lithuanian Holocaust Survivor Solly Ganor, author of Light One Candle: A Survivor’s Tale from Lithuania to Jerusalem (Kodansha International, 1995). Brattman’s lies about Ganor have followed Ganor around the world. When Ganor traveled to Germany to speak in 2004, the event’s sponsors asked Ganor about the attack. A search on the internet using Ganor’s name produces Brattman’s completely fabricated attack at the top of the return list. This attack has been on the Internet since 2003. This has caused Ganor, a highly regarded author and Holocaust survivor, considerable and continuing distress.
In the middle of this attack of Solly Ganor, buried deep in the diatribe is the following statement:
"Let us begin by noting that we have no direct evidence of any sort on Solly Ganor… [it] "is our opinion for what it’s worth."
On April 15, 2004, Dr. Barbara Distel, Director of the Dachau museum and historic site, wrote the following to Kalman K. Brattman:
"As the director of the Dachau concentration camp memorial site I object firmly to your outrageous attempt to damage the reputation of the Nazi victim and Holocaust survivor Solly Ganor. There are laws in Germany which make slander of Holocaust victims a punishable offence. I cannot take legal proceedings against you. But I will send copy of this letter to all institutions related to the history of the Nazi Holocaust in the USA." [See below for full text of this letter.]
Brattman ignored this letter. When asked in an email for his response to this letter, he gave the nonsensical and evasive reply:
"We do not discuss any private emails received from Dr. Distel or anyone else as we scrupulously protect all our private contacts received."
Since that time, Brattman has attempted to alter the text of diplomatic rescuer Hiram Bingham, IV, on Wikipedia. Using several aliases, he submitted unsupported and deleterious edits to the article. He was quickly exposed by the Wikipedia editors and was barred from making further attempts at editing Bingham’s entry.
In April 2010, Brattman attacked a respected member of the Washington community for proposing that Yad Vashem honor a helper of Jews in Tunisia during the Holocaust. Dr. Robert Satloff, the Executive Director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Washington, DC, petitioned Yad Vashem to award Khaled Abdul-Wahab to be honored as Righteous Among the Nations. Yad Vashem turned down the request, saying that his actions were admirable, but that he broke no laws in hiding Jews on his estate during the Nazi occupation. Brattman again took up the mantle of the self-righteous defender of Jewish history and remembrance. On April 17, 2010, Brattman insulted Dr. Satloff on Isurvived.org: “Dr. Satloff’s campaign is in fact about something totally different: it is about himself and nothing else, using the Holocaust, in a cynical way, to advance his own personal glorification and nothing else. It is utterly absurd indeed to think, even for one second, that the finding of a Righteous Arab (real or imaginary) will change anything in any way. […] The sacred grounds of the Holocaust need not be transformed into playgrounds of advancing personal agendas.” Again, Brattman set himself up as a defender of Holocaust truth. Satloff is indeed justified in trying to have a rescuer of Jews honored in the one place that does so. Because the rescuer he proposed to honor does not meet Yad Vashem’s strict criteria does not mean that Satloff should be insulted and demeaned for his efforts.
In May 2010, Brattman attacked the Adas Israel Congregation in Washington, DC. He questioned their placing of a memorial plaque on temple grounds to honor individuals who helped Jews during the Shoah. The temple called their memorial “The Garden of the Righteous.” In his 5-page screed, Brattman states: “That Garden of the Adas Israel Congregation has been transformed into a front to use the Holocaust and its tragic legacy into a cynical devise, through a despicable scheme, to make a quick buck at the expense of History, of the Holocaust, and of the true heroes and heroines of the Holocaust as recognized by Yad Vashem.” Brattman, in his paranoid rant, insults this innocent act of recognizing rescuers of the Holocaust, stating: “There are ways and ways to make a buck. There is nothing, but absolutely nothing, lower in ethics, morality, or ordinary decency than that of using the Holocaust and its tragic legacy, to make money out of a deceiving scheme to circumvent the judgment of Yad Vashem and of the Jewish State, and—in the process—of tarnishing the names of the true heroes and heroines of the Holocaust. If Adas Israel Congregation is not corrupted to its core and still has left one ounce of decency, then it should return the money pocketed from those that provided to circumvent Yad Vashem and make sure that all its honorees, in the future, are in fact true Righteous Among the Nations as recognized by Yad Vashem and no one else and, stop including those that were specifically rejected by Yad Vashem regardless how lucrative such a disgusting scheme could be.” Brattman continually accuses others of attempting to make money on the Holocaust, when clearly that is his goal in soliciting donations for his bogus websites.
Conclusion:
It would be a mistake to dismiss Brattman as another Internet crank or mentally ill person. His character attacks concealed as investigative reports have fooled some organizations, including Holocaust survivor organizations. He aggressively and widely disseminates his reports and attacks and has attempted to destroy the reputations and professional careers of dedicated Holocaust educators.
The most dangerous and offensive outcome of K.K. Brattman's attacks is that he is quoted on numerous hate sites as a legitimate source of Holocaust information. Solly Ganor and Hiram Bingham have been libeled on these hate sites, using Brattman's Isurvived.org website as a source. A number of Holocaust experts who examined Brattman’s attack on Solly Ganor have concluded that Brattman’s writings on Ganor constitute a form of Holocaust denial. As stated earlier in this report, Barbara Distel, former Director of the Dachau Memorial Museum, commented, “There are laws in Germany which make slander of Holocaust victims a punishable offense.”
K.K. Brattman is a common school-yard bully who hides behind the anonymity of a website. He is a recluse sitting alone in an attic at his keyboard who would, in fact, be no more than a pitiful character were it not for the damage he has inflicted on numerous innocent people.
The Holocaust community has recently come to the defense of Solly Ganor, Hiram Bingham, IV, and others.
The report was prepared by Eric Saul with the help of others. If you have any comments or if you have been attacked by Brattman, please feel free to send me an email: VisasForLife@cs.com. Here is a link to information about the author of the report: www.EASaul.com.