Letters and Documentation
on Kalman Brattman (K. K. Brattman)
and the Holocaust Survivors Network
Letters and Documentation Regarding Solly Ganor:
Letter to K. K. Brattman from the Director of the Dachau State Museum regarding Solly’s authenticity as a Holocaust survivor. Despite receiving this letter from Barbara Distel, K. K. Brattman maintains his libelous attack on Solly Ganor.
Letter to K. K. Brattman from the Director of the Dachau State Museum regarding Solly’s authenticity as a Holocaust survivor. Despite receiving this letter from Barbara Distel, K. K. Brattman maintains his libelous attack on Solly Ganor.
KZ-Gedenkstaette Dachau Museum-Archiv-Bibliothek
Alte Roemerstrasse 75
D-85221 Dachau
Isurvived.org
Holocaust Survivors’ Network
NatureQuest Publications Inc.
Harvard Square Station
PQ Box 381797
Cambridge MA 02238 - 1797
USA
Dachau, April 15th, 2004
To whom it may concern
This is to protest with vigour against chapter V "The Holocaust Controversy Page" of your web-site "I survived the 20th Century Holocaust". It is inconceivable that you dare to spread your slander story titled "The Solly Ganor Case of Deceit: Solly Ganor the Lithuanian Holocaust Survivor, Seeking Fame and Glory out of the Ashes of the Holocaust" in the name of Holocaust survivors and supposedly in their interest. It is proven irrefutably by documentary evidence that Solly Ganor (Zali Genkind) was deported together with his father from Stutthof concentration camp to Dachau concentration camp on August 18th, 1944. The content of his book "Light one candle" which has been published in Germany by the prestigious Fischer Taschenbuchverlag in Frankfurt (Das andere Leben, 1997) has been confirmed by other Lithuanian survivors as well as by historian specialists.
Mr. Ganor has been in Germany on various occasions. He has met with students and other groups, has had discussions with groups and individuals and spoke of his traumatic experiences as victim of the Holocaust. Again and again his audience was deeply impressed by his sincerity and his gift for finding words to describe boundless suffering. "Präzise Erinnerungsprosa - precise prose of recollection" read one newspaper headline.
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.
Dr. Barbara Distel, Director
Alte Roemerstrasse 75
D-85221 Dachau
Isurvived.org
Holocaust Survivors’ Network
NatureQuest Publications Inc.
Harvard Square Station
PQ Box 381797
Cambridge MA 02238 - 1797
USA
Dachau, April 15th, 2004
To whom it may concern
This is to protest with vigour against chapter V "The Holocaust Controversy Page" of your web-site "I survived the 20th Century Holocaust". It is inconceivable that you dare to spread your slander story titled "The Solly Ganor Case of Deceit: Solly Ganor the Lithuanian Holocaust Survivor, Seeking Fame and Glory out of the Ashes of the Holocaust" in the name of Holocaust survivors and supposedly in their interest. It is proven irrefutably by documentary evidence that Solly Ganor (Zali Genkind) was deported together with his father from Stutthof concentration camp to Dachau concentration camp on August 18th, 1944. The content of his book "Light one candle" which has been published in Germany by the prestigious Fischer Taschenbuchverlag in Frankfurt (Das andere Leben, 1997) has been confirmed by other Lithuanian survivors as well as by historian specialists.
Mr. Ganor has been in Germany on various occasions. He has met with students and other groups, has had discussions with groups and individuals and spoke of his traumatic experiences as victim of the Holocaust. Again and again his audience was deeply impressed by his sincerity and his gift for finding words to describe boundless suffering. "Präzise Erinnerungsprosa - precise prose of recollection" read one newspaper headline.
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.
Dr. Barbara Distel, Director
The following letter was written by the Association of Survivors Landsberg/Kaufering/ Outer camps of Dachau Affiliate of Dachau International. This letter was written by people who were with Solly both in the Kovno, Lithuania, ghetto and in the Landsberg/Kaufering concentration camps.
Association of Survivors Landsberg/Kaufering/ Outer camps of Dachau Affiliate of Dachau International.
Registration number in Israel 58-017-598-2.
P.O.B 17510, Tel Aviv, 61174
Fax: 972-3-962399
April 18, 2004
Dear Friends,
Dr. Barbara Distel, the director of the Dachau Museum, has already expressed our feelings concerning Mr. Brattman and his I.Survived.Org, fictitious allegations against one of the members and directors of our association, Solly Ganor. (See Dr. Barbara Distel's letter below.) What makes his twenty-five-page diatribe against Solly Ganor bizarre is the fact that he openly declares the following:
"With this being said, let us begin by noting that we have no direct evidence of any sort on Solly Ganor. The only thing left in rendering our opinion IS OUR RATIONAL DEDUCTIVE REASONING."
What Mr. Brattman is actually telling us is that the twenty-five-page hate mail against Solly Ganor is nothing but a figment of his imagination! We leave it to your judgment as to how rational his reasoning is.
Here is our statement confirming the veracity of Solly Ganor as a Holocaust survivor and his book Light One Candle‚ as our genuine story.
Let it be known that Mr. Solly Ganor is known to all the members of our association since childhood. Most of us went through the Holocaust in Lithuania, Stutthof and the outer camps of Dachau together. Therefore Brattman's outrageous lies and defamation about his person in unacceptable. Let it also be known that any attack on Mr. Solly Ganor we consider an attack on all the members of our Association.
We further declare that we consider his book, Light One Candle: from Lithuania to Jerusalem, our own genuine story. The survivors and the editors of the English version and the German version of his book inspected the manuscript for any possible mistakes before it was published.
It is almost sixty years since our liberation and in all these years, we have never come across anything so malevolent and vicious as this document written by K. Brantman and his I.Survived Organizaton against a Holocaust survivor.
Since Brattman's main contention is that Solly Ganor has never been to the concentration camp of Stutthof or Dachau, and that he is in fact a Holocaust impostor, and that his book "Light One Candle" is a bogus book, we present the following two documents which will once and for all refute Brattman’s lies against Solly Ganor and his book.
(1) Dr. Barbara Distel's letter. (Dr. Barbara Distel is the director of the Dachau Museum and Archives.) As you can see, she leaves no doubt as to how she feels about Brattman’s slanderous statements against Solly Ganor.
(2) From the Dachau archives: The arrival of Solly Ganor and his Dachau inmate’s number.
(1) Letter from the Dachau Museum
April 15th, 2004 [see copy of letter above]
(2) From the Dachau Archives
KZ-Gedenkstaette Dachau Museum-Archiv-Bibliothek
Alte Roemerstrasse 75
D-85221 Dachau
The following is a translation from the German:
Excerpt from the archives of the concentration camp of Dachau the names of the registered prisoners by alphabetic order
Explanation of the abbreviations:
Name: Genkind Solly (Solly Ganor)
Born: 18.5.1928, Kauen
Last known address: Kauen, Kalviu 13
Prisoner's number: 92298
Nationality: Lithuanian Jew
Arrived in Dachau 18.8.1944, from Stutthof.
Liberated on 2.5.1945
KZ-Gedenkstaetter Dachau, 24.3.2004
i.A Anne Stiller
______________
We have now presented irrefutable evidence against the malevolent website of I.Survived .org by Brattman. We expect an apology to Mr. Ganor, and the immediate removal of the slander pages against him.
Board of Directors,
Association of Survivors, Landsberg/Kaufering, Outer camps of Dachau.
Registration number in Israel 58-017-598-2.
P.O.B 17510, Tel Aviv, 61174
Fax: 972-3-962399
April 18, 2004
Dear Friends,
Dr. Barbara Distel, the director of the Dachau Museum, has already expressed our feelings concerning Mr. Brattman and his I.Survived.Org, fictitious allegations against one of the members and directors of our association, Solly Ganor. (See Dr. Barbara Distel's letter below.) What makes his twenty-five-page diatribe against Solly Ganor bizarre is the fact that he openly declares the following:
"With this being said, let us begin by noting that we have no direct evidence of any sort on Solly Ganor. The only thing left in rendering our opinion IS OUR RATIONAL DEDUCTIVE REASONING."
What Mr. Brattman is actually telling us is that the twenty-five-page hate mail against Solly Ganor is nothing but a figment of his imagination! We leave it to your judgment as to how rational his reasoning is.
Here is our statement confirming the veracity of Solly Ganor as a Holocaust survivor and his book Light One Candle‚ as our genuine story.
Let it be known that Mr. Solly Ganor is known to all the members of our association since childhood. Most of us went through the Holocaust in Lithuania, Stutthof and the outer camps of Dachau together. Therefore Brattman's outrageous lies and defamation about his person in unacceptable. Let it also be known that any attack on Mr. Solly Ganor we consider an attack on all the members of our Association.
We further declare that we consider his book, Light One Candle: from Lithuania to Jerusalem, our own genuine story. The survivors and the editors of the English version and the German version of his book inspected the manuscript for any possible mistakes before it was published.
It is almost sixty years since our liberation and in all these years, we have never come across anything so malevolent and vicious as this document written by K. Brantman and his I.Survived Organizaton against a Holocaust survivor.
Since Brattman's main contention is that Solly Ganor has never been to the concentration camp of Stutthof or Dachau, and that he is in fact a Holocaust impostor, and that his book "Light One Candle" is a bogus book, we present the following two documents which will once and for all refute Brattman’s lies against Solly Ganor and his book.
(1) Dr. Barbara Distel's letter. (Dr. Barbara Distel is the director of the Dachau Museum and Archives.) As you can see, she leaves no doubt as to how she feels about Brattman’s slanderous statements against Solly Ganor.
(2) From the Dachau archives: The arrival of Solly Ganor and his Dachau inmate’s number.
(1) Letter from the Dachau Museum
April 15th, 2004 [see copy of letter above]
(2) From the Dachau Archives
KZ-Gedenkstaette Dachau Museum-Archiv-Bibliothek
Alte Roemerstrasse 75
D-85221 Dachau
The following is a translation from the German:
Excerpt from the archives of the concentration camp of Dachau the names of the registered prisoners by alphabetic order
Explanation of the abbreviations:
Name: Genkind Solly (Solly Ganor)
Born: 18.5.1928, Kauen
Last known address: Kauen, Kalviu 13
Prisoner's number: 92298
Nationality: Lithuanian Jew
Arrived in Dachau 18.8.1944, from Stutthof.
Liberated on 2.5.1945
KZ-Gedenkstaetter Dachau, 24.3.2004
i.A Anne Stiller
______________
We have now presented irrefutable evidence against the malevolent website of I.Survived .org by Brattman. We expect an apology to Mr. Ganor, and the immediate removal of the slander pages against him.
Board of Directors,
Association of Survivors, Landsberg/Kaufering, Outer camps of Dachau.
Letters and Documentation Regarding Hiram Bingham, IV:
There are numerous letters and documents regarding the courageous actions of Hiram Harry Bingham, IV, in issuing thousands of visas to Jewish and non-Jewish refugees in Marseille, France, 1940-1941. Eric Saul presented an extensive nomination form to Yad Vashem outlining Bingham’s actions during this period. American foreign policy was written with the express intention of limiting aid to refugees throughout Europe. This has been documented in numerous books and articles, including the books While Six Million Died: A Chronicle of American Apathy by Arthur D. Morse (Random House, 1967), The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust, 1941-1945 by David S. Wyman (Pantheon, 1984), and Paper Walls: America and the Refugee Crises, 1938-1941, also by David Wyman. Varian Fry, Director of the Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC) was aided in his rescue efforts by Bingham. In fact, many of the ERC’s rescue list were issued visas personally by Bingham and Myles Standish of the Marseille office. Fry discuss this in his memoir, Surrender on Demand, published in 1945. In Bingham’s personal copy, Fry wrote, “To my partner in the crime of saving human lives.”
Bingham’s rescue activities were also documented in Andy Marino’s book A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry, published by St. Martin’s Press (1999).
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, curated an extensive exhibit on Varian Fry as its opening exhibit in 1993. Bingham was mentioned extensively throughout the exhibit as helping Fry in his rescue activities. One of the senior curators of the exhibit, Elizabeth Berman, recommended to Eric Saul that Hiram Bingham be included in the Visas for Life exhibition, which was developed in 1996 to honor diplomats who rescued Jews from the Holocaust.
In the ensuring years, the Bingham family has received numerous tribute letters from Holocaust survivors who received the life-saving visas in Marseille from Hiram Bingham, IV. Copies of these letters and the visas can be accessed on Kim Bingham’s website.
All this documentation was presented to Yad Vashem and reviewed by Dr. Mordecai Paldiel, then-director of the Righteous Among the Nations program at Yad Vashem. It was his and the Commission’s conclusion that Bingham did not violate American law or policy in issuing visas and aiding refugees. Many historians in the field, as well as Holocaust survivors and surviving members of the ERC, disagreed with Yad Vashem’s findings. Yad Vashem, however, did issue the following letter of commendation to Bingham:
The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority
Jerusalem, 7 March, 2005
Dear Mrs. Bingham-Endicott,
The Commission for the Designation of the Righteous, after examining all the elements in this interesting case, wishes to express its appreciation for the behavior of your late father, Hiram Bingham IV, in facilitating the emigration of Jewish persons from France, during 1940-41, when your father served in the U.S. consulate in Marseilles.
The Commission was impressed by your father's positive and friendly disposition to all who approached him for obtaining visas to the USA, and especially to Mr. Varian Fry, and for his efforts to obtain these visas through diplomatic channels. This included facilitating the exit of Mr. Lion Feuchtwanger and his wife from France, after a visa was received for them through the intervention of Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of the President.
Yad Vashem wishes to express its thanks for the humanitarian disposition of your father at a time of persecution of Jews by the Vichy regime in France. Hiram Bingham's assistance in this regard stands out by contrast to certain other officials who rather acted suspiciously toward Jewish refugees wishing to enter the United States. Please be assured that your father's positive behavior, which has been richly documented, will remain inscribed in our archives for the benefit of future generations.
With best wishes to you and to the other members of the Bingham family.
Sincerely yours,
s/ ...Yad Vashem
File #10404 P.O.B. 3477, JERUSALEM 91034
TEL. 02-6443400 FAX. 02-6443443 02-6443443
www.yadvashem.org
Jerusalem, 7 March, 2005
Dear Mrs. Bingham-Endicott,
The Commission for the Designation of the Righteous, after examining all the elements in this interesting case, wishes to express its appreciation for the behavior of your late father, Hiram Bingham IV, in facilitating the emigration of Jewish persons from France, during 1940-41, when your father served in the U.S. consulate in Marseilles.
The Commission was impressed by your father's positive and friendly disposition to all who approached him for obtaining visas to the USA, and especially to Mr. Varian Fry, and for his efforts to obtain these visas through diplomatic channels. This included facilitating the exit of Mr. Lion Feuchtwanger and his wife from France, after a visa was received for them through the intervention of Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of the President.
Yad Vashem wishes to express its thanks for the humanitarian disposition of your father at a time of persecution of Jews by the Vichy regime in France. Hiram Bingham's assistance in this regard stands out by contrast to certain other officials who rather acted suspiciously toward Jewish refugees wishing to enter the United States. Please be assured that your father's positive behavior, which has been richly documented, will remain inscribed in our archives for the benefit of future generations.
With best wishes to you and to the other members of the Bingham family.
Sincerely yours,
s/ ...Yad Vashem
File #10404 P.O.B. 3477, JERUSALEM 91034
TEL. 02-6443400 FAX. 02-6443443 02-6443443
www.yadvashem.org
All of this information was sent to Brattman to try to persuade him that his attack on Bingham was completely unjustified. He did not respond.
It became clear that Brattman merely wanted a vehicle to promote his hate agenda against innocent victims Hiram Bingham, IV, Eric Saul, and others, and to promote his bogus Isurvived.org website.