Controversy in the Russian-speaking Jewish community in the US: "Chicago Holocaust Museum Makes Political Use of the Holocaust" - Walla! Judaism

Illinois Holocaust Memorial Museum (Photo: from the museum's website)

Senior figures in the American Jewish community, including; A member of the New York State Assembly and heads of Jewish organizations strongly criticize the Chicago Holocaust Museum for its political use of the Holocaust: A few months ago, the museum published against the government in Azerbaijan that they were about to commit genocide against the Armenian people. In a letter sent to the museum's management, the officials complain that they are disparaging the Holocaust and sinning against the truth.

The letter written by the museum (Photo: PR)

Less than two months ago, the Holocaust Museum in Illinois, Chicago, published a letter in which it made serious allegations against the Azeri government that it was "planning to commit genocide against the Armenian minority in the country."

The Azeri Jewish community in the United States said: "This is a complete lack of understanding of the incident and an unrelated intervention. Those who do not understand the subject claim that this is a siege by Azerbaijani operatives on an area called Karabakh - an area officially belonging to Azerbaijan, but populated by Armenian separatists, which causes great tension between the country and the separatists."

As noted, a letter published by the museum described that for about two months, the Azerbaijani government blocked the separatists' route to the site, cutting off electricity and stopping almost all movement of people and goods entering and coming. It is also claimed that children have been separated from their parents, food is rationed, and there is a shortage of medicines and other essential objects.

Senior officials' letter, published in full on the Institute for Jewish Strategic Studies website (Photo: PR)

The museum's letter further noted that the Azerbaijani government cut off the natural gas pipeline to the area, causing the local population to freeze in winter, and the state flagrantly violated minimal human rights.

"But in fact," stresses the Azeri source, "there is no siege on the Armenian population of the region, and the claims that the state is starving the citizens there are also untrue, to say the least. The museum's letter had a one-sided political and propaganda character that had nothing to do with the history of the Jewish people and the Holocaust – and vice versa."

As noted, the Holocaust Museum's letter drew strong criticism from very senior members of the Jewish communities in the United States and Russia for blatant interference in relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, ostensibly in the name of the Holocaust.

Among those who criticized the museum's one-sided letter were; Member of the New York State Assembly, Alec Brock-Krasny; Director of Russian and Eurasian Affairs of the American Jewish Committee Dr. Sam Kliger; President of the Cultural Center of Caucasian Jews in the United States, Yaakov Abramov; Founder and co-chair of the International Diaspora Assembly Leonid Bard, President of the Brooklyn Baku Friendship Association Marietta Rosenthal and editor of the Bukharian Times newspaper Raphael Nektarov.

Illinois Holocaust Memorial Museum (Photo: from the museum's website)

Dr. Sam Kliger (Photo courtesy of the photographer)

These officials sent an unusual joint letter to the director general and chairman of the museum's board of directors, requesting and demanding that they reconsider their position in light of the distortion of the facts and the dragging of the Jewish institution into matters that it does not have, the letter should be noted, has not received a response for more than a month since it was sent more than a month ago.

As widely reported, relations between Azerbaijan and Israel have recently strengthened and reached a level of diverse strategic cooperation. It is also important to mention the sympathetic treatment of the Azerbaijani Jewish community by the regime, while at the same time a rapprochement between Armenia and Iran began.

The American Jewish Committee's Director of Russian and Eurasian Affairs, Dr. Sam Kliger, says: "I do not think it is appropriate for a Jewish institution to take political positions in conflicts far from it East and West, much less when the position expressed rests on a baseless factual basis. This is especially wrong when the Holocaust is used for such purposes."

David Berger, in collaboration with Shova Israel

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