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The Holocaust Is Over; We Must Rise From its Ashes

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I found Avraham Burg's book exactly what I was looking for. He has made a courageous statement on the negative effects of holocaust memory on the philosophy and ethics of Israel and the Jewish Diaspora. He makes the cogent point that it is time to move on from the position of 'narcisstic victimology' (not his term). He points out how Israel/Jews are seeing the Shoah (holocaust) as 'sui generis' and are deprecating some of the other 'holocausts/massacres' that have occurred in recent history. Bauer (2001,p20) states that" "the genocide of the Jews was neither better not worse than any other" In this book Burg is discussing the detrimental effects of this belief in the 'unprecedentness' of the Shoah in both Israel and the Diaspora.

Burg makes the important point in the choice of the title of the Hebrew version of his book -"Defeating Hitler" - indeed as another writer (Yehuda Elkana 1988) has stated "this is Hitler's paradoxical and tragic victory" Defeating Hitler is what it is all about.

The final chapters link the initial argument to Judaism and he propounds on "A New Judaism" in which the new prayer book (Siddur) says "You chose us with all of the nations" instead of ' You chose us above ll of the nations".

I can't speak highly enough of this book. Firstly for the courage to say the unsayable. Secondly for the insightful and skilled writing.

Margot Salom

Burg's central thesis is that Israel has changed, and become like some of the nations it abhors - specifically through its constant abuse of Palestinians and increasing belief the Israelis are "God's people" (racism), all the while using the Holocaust as cover. Doing so continues to victimize current generations of Jews.

"The Holocaust is Over" can be seen as a plea for Israelis to stop seeing themselves as victims. Hopefully it will also lead to American politicians ceasing their non-stop slathering over Israel.

Burg writes that disagreement is the essence of written and oral discussion. He delivers on his promise of controversy staking out positions that contradict almost all the positions of the major U.S. Jewish organizations especially AIPAC. This makes his book stimulating and refreshing stating, for example, that a refugee people (Jews establishing Israel) created another refugee people - the Palestinians. I think his message is weakened by some apparently unresolved issues with his father and by a surprisingly unrealistic idealism that frames his answer to the problems and contradictions he raises. The book is worth reading, however, and will surely anger pro-Israel hard-liners.

Burg, whose Jewish and Israeli pedigrees are impeccable asks Zionists and his country to put aside the Shoah industry and become less like the Nazis and more like univeralist, humanitarian people of the Book.

Burg's father served on the first Knesset, Avraham served more that once in the Israeli Cabinet and in the Knesset.

This presents an opportunity to hear this modern prophet give permission to rational people to disagree with the colonial character of the new Israel...and not be labeled Anti-Semites.

I have, along with my many fellow Jews, mailed hundreds of this book to Zionist imperialist Officials in Israel.

This book starts a debate among Israelis that should have taken place decades ago. It sheds an honest light on the situation Israel got itself stuck in through occupation, racism and the cruel subjection of the Palestinians; through the favoring of religious fanaticism over democracy, and through the use of the Holocaust as an excuse for many-many horrific crimes against humanity that are ultimately be self-defeating.

During the 2008 US presidential campaign, candidates loudly professed that they would not allow Israelis to undergo "another Holocaust." This is the hysterical preoccupation of American politicians, first and foremost with the contretemps of the chosen seed and the possibility of their imminent annihilation; all other peoples, especially the Palestinians, are secondary in terms of a possible apocalyptic destiny. No matter how egregious the war crime Israelis perpetrate against Arab civilians (for example in Qana and Jenin), all is forgiven if the atrocity can be explained as a prophylactic against "another Holocaust." The famous Israeli Yad Vashem "Holocaust" Museum is within sight of the remains of the village of Deir Yassin, where Palestinian civilians were massacred by Judaic Irgun terrorists in April, 1948, for whom Elie Wiesel labored as a publicist. There is no marker commemorating the Israeli atrocity at Deir Yassin despite the fact that it is in the shadow of Yad Vashem. Wiesel, the "Holocaust" conscience-of-the world, is utterly silent about Deir Yassin. The Israelis have used the suffering of Judaic people during World War II (categorized under the recently minted "Holocaust" Newspeak) as a means of immunizing themselves against the slow-motion genocide they have perpetrated against the Palestinians. This book, "The Holocaust is Over" is a long overdue corrective by an unimpeachable source. Unfortunately, publicity for it is minimal, relative to the latest deluge of often risible and wildly exaggerated "Holocaust" movies.

--Michael Hoffman, author of "Judaism Discovered" and co-author of "The Israeli Holocaust Against the Palestinians."

In the foreword to the English edition of his book, Burg mentions a conversation with a man criticizing him for speaking out against the Holocaust. He replied, asking whether it would be better to write in support of the Holocaust. These two brackets form the enclosure the author finds himself in and from which he wants to free both himself and the Jewish people, because he feels that it is impossible for a people - or indeed for the world as a whole - to lead a meaningful life while always looking backwards.

Obviously, such a perception is very disappointing for any honest man, and Burg realizes that if he were to go on forever feeling that he and his people are nothing but victims and therefore exempt from any other obligations, Hitler, would in the end have won out, by isolating the Jews. He does not want the Shoah to become the central pillar of the Jewish religion because this would - and does - lead the Jews to a confrontational attitude toward the rest of the world, anything happening might thus be construed as an attack on the Jewish people and would bring about possibly unwarranted defensive measures. He cannot accept the idea that the Shoah should be more present than God in the religious life of a person or a nation, as this would deprive the Israelis of any alternative to the use of force in dealing with opponents. For him, the country developed only muscles, not a common soul and this even makes the integration of non-European Jews into the new state more difficult and thus deprives Israel of this valuable natural bridge towards its Arab neighbours.

Burg deplores the fact that the American Jewry has allowed itself to be aligned to a single issue: maintaining and strengthening Israel. In the process, he tells us, the American Jewish lobby has become so strong and influential that it is very difficult to be elected to high office in America against its wishes. American Jews, Burg says, are stuck in Auschwitz, in a kind of latter-day Masada stronghold, and he wonders if a Masada-like collective suicide is not their motto.

Again and again, he draws parallels between Israel and Germany, pointing out - surprisingly - that Germany, in the early years of Nazism, was different from the way it has come to be depicted, that it was then not murderous, but deteriorated later on because the Germans were being deceived and misled by a clever use of language, and that such deceptions were now being used in Israel as well. While Burg's attitude may have roots in Israeli party politics, the mere association of present-day Israel with the early years of Hitler will be a shock for many readers and can be taken as an indication of the high degree of desparation Burg seems to feel. He evokes "our frightening similarity with those from whom we fled".

In the chapter entitled "Lessons from the Holocaust", he goes on to draw yet more parallels between the two regimes, by underlining the common interest Zionists and Nazis had in moving the Jews out of Germany and stresses that before the slaughter of Europe's Jews, the Nazis thus enabled the Zionists to build the foundations of their future state. In a very interesting side-view, he wonders what Israel would have become on the sole basis of national revival and without the impetus provided by displacement and tragedy.

Over and over he decries the run-of-the-mill power politics used by Israel when dealing with her neighbours, rather than applying the teachings of her religious texts and asks whether Jews can be Jewish only as long as they themselves feel oppressed. For him, this is especially true for the way in which Israel looks at all the other massacres history has known and he comes to the disappointing conclusion that his state, in this respect, behaves just as the nations of the world behaved when Jews were being massacred in Europe - either doing nothing, or choosing sides for selfish reasons, such as was the case for Israel in respect of Yugoslavia in the 1990s when she supported the Serbs simply because the Serbs had fought the Nazis in World War Two.

He utters very unpalatable truths all along the book. While we have all been told that the Holocaust is the only genocide worth remembering, he states quite bluntly that "the final solution was launched somewhere in the new world, decades before Auschwitz. Extermination took place in the New World of North America, ...". Over and over again he reminds us and his countrymen that in their state, the Zionists have shot themselves to an Auschwitz planet, separating themselves from the rest of the world, refusing to accept the idea that they are not unique, and thus fulfilling Balaam's biblical prophecy that this "people shall dwell alone and not be reckoned among the nations". He analyzes the original Hebrew meaning of "Yad Vashem" and concludes that it is a "tombstone", a memorial for an infertile man, and that Yad Vashem ignores "all the other sons of foreign lands".

To combat this useless tendency of isolation, he proposes that Yad Vashem be greatly extended, to become an international and extraterritorial fortress against violence towards any nation, with wings for the victims of all genocides. To bring this about, though, the Jews will have to revolt and change their prayer "You [God] chose us from among all nations" to "You chose us with all nations". Whether one should also go along with Burg's suggestion to create a "World Religion Authority" is another matter - such institutions do not always live up to their promises.

Burg believes that God will smile again once this has been achieved; he points to India and to the way its philosophy has been able to make human beings accept a diversity that is alien to his people. Only then can Judaism break out from the two walls between which it has always been wedged: absolute universalism and high-walled isolationism.

It is widely believed that Jesus spent many years in Buddhist lands studying the teachings of Buddha and then attempted to make them known in his homeland. We know that he was not successful there, but in spite of this we must hope that Avraham Burg's words will be heard and implemented before it is too late.

Throughout this book, the reviewer feels reminded of Götz, the protagonist in Sartre's play "The Devil and the Good Lord" who suddenly switches from a life as an all-out villain to the life of a saint who will do nothing evil; in the end, though, he has to realize that this change of course causes him to misjudge the situations he finds himself in and ultimately makes him go on acting as before, albeit for different reasons. He eventually frees himself from this dilemma by discarding all a priori judgments and by deciding to judge any problem on its own merits, even at the risk of making mistakes.

The reviewer also finds in Burg's description an amazing similarity between present-day Germans and the Israelis, a kind of mirror image of their attitudes to their common recent past. The Germans, like Götz, have decided, once and for all, to break with the past and live the life of a saint; whether, in the end, this will result in a better world, is very doubtful indeed.

Avraham Burg's The Holocaust is Over... is an extraordinary contribution to a possible peace in this world.
I am german of origin. The book was sent to me by a lifelong friend. We are of the many who suffer our impotence of doing something effective about our tragic history...
I thank Avraham Burg for the metaphore of the Siamese twins... and for reminding us that "In the detention cell of humanity there is only one detainee left from the dark days, and it is Germany" and we need our Jewish brothers to release us... Perhaps by so doing many others will find the way of being released or releasing themselves from the thousand prisons we have built together to control "our very own enemies"...
Having lived in Castilian speaking countries, please remember that there are many millions who need to read your book in this language. Thank you again for dedicating your life, your experience and your knowledge to create for us all, children of Adam and Eve, new paradigms which permit us to take the responsibility in our own human hands. Hannecam.

The present book is a human appeal from Avraham Burg to the Israelis to stop using the Holocaust as a tool in order to cover their crimes against the Palestenians, simply because it is not ethical to produce new victims by using the victims of the Holocaust. Namely to avid using the Holocaust to make another Holocaust for the Palastenian, and to cause another Holocaust for the Israelis in the future. Also it is a message for the world to stop accepting the Israelis use of the Holocaust against the international low and human rights. Just read it please and you can decide then.

This great book is written for Jews, Zionists and Israelis, not about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict; and for sure not about Palestinians.

The central theme of this book that Jews, Israelis and Zionists have allowed the Shoah (Holocaust) to shackle them; and how the Zionist movement have effectively exploited the Shoah and its memories and its survivors for political purposes. This book really contains lots of good materials which was not known to me, such as the African Herero Genocide by the Germans and the Armenia Genocide by the Turks and how how they were the prelude to the Jewish Holocaust only couple of decades earlier. Ironically, I was amazed how little the events of the Holocaust were covered in the Zionist press (in Palestine before 1948) even as it was being executed in Europe, and how most Zionists looked down on the survivals for not fighting back. It was really shocking to me how Israelis are helping the Turks cover up the Armenian Genocide (which inspired Hitler to commit the Holocaust) and to down play the Herero Genocide when it was recognized by the world community 100 years later in 2004; in my opinion that is really shameful; the Holocaust survivors and victims deserve much better.

He clearly stated that without the Holocaust the state of Israel could not have existed. Before I read the book I used to think anti-Semitism and the Holocaust were the major causes for the state of Israel, but after I read his arguments & facts I think he is right. Without Shoah Israel could not have been founded. For example he showed that the Bunds were VERY strong in Europe and their organization was almost completely wiped out during WWII and the Holocaust. In other words, the playing field was empty post WWII and the Zionists survived because they were not in European, and that was exploited by Zionist. In the book, as well as in the 7th Million for Tom Segev, he showed that most of the Jews who fought back Pogroms in Europe were Bunds, not Zionists. Zionists wanted to leave, Bunds wanted to stay and to fight for equal rights. I was shocked to know that most of the Ghetto Warsaw Uprising was led by Bunds who were anti-Zionists at the time, and the true story was ONLY translated to Hebrew 50 years later in 2001! Ironically, Zionist now use as it is their victory; same goes to Massada!

No question about it; this book scratches many taboos in the Jewish community and will challenge them to the core. As an amateur historian; it was very helpful to me.

On the other hand, if you are a Palestinian or a supporter of the Palestinian cause; you will find this book a great great disappointment. The word "Palestinian" was not mentioned until page 50 or so and when Mr. Burg spoke about them, he lectured Palestinians on what they should and should not do, such as giving up their right of return to their homes and farms which they have been dispossessed and ethnically cleansed from. In my opinion; this tells me that deep at heart Mr. Burg is still a Zionist and he delude himself in attempting to "reform" Zionism instead of abolishing it; sadly Zionism is beyond repair and in a way this great book is a major indictment against Zionist and its supporters. The central problem with Zionists (inclusive of Mr. Burg) that they think they have the "right" to immigrate to Palestine irrespective of the wishes of the indigenous populations', no wonder how most Zionists Jews actually believe that Palestine was empty; it is easier to colonize other countries when the indigenous population simply do not exist; easily their human rights can be taken away. Mr. Burg does the same exact thing, he is acting as if we Palestinians don't exist and we should forgo our rights as if we simply not there. On top of that he is praising the defunct Geneva Accord! Mr. Burg, can you be really out of touch to this degree! Most of the Palestinians "intellectuals & politicians" who lent their names to this defunct Accord were voted out of office in West Bank and Gaza in the latest election; I guess you know what happened to them.


Mr. Burg failed to recognize that Palestinians are the most important factor needed to unlock or liberate Jews from Shoah's shackles. Palestinians are needed Mr. Burg to forgive Jews (at least the Zionists amongst them). Palestinian forgiveness is REQUIRED for Jews to move on post-Shoah; it will free them from the shackles of "The Never Again" and "The whole world is Against us" slogans. Palestinians' forgiveness is the KEY Mr. Burg and in your book they have been marginalized as if we don't exists; as if our wishes and opinions are not needed. In that respect, Mr. Burg, you really have failed to make this book a master piece; what a shame. I was really hoping that you take it to the next level

Since this book attempts to tackle taboos in the Jewish Community; that is why I will give it 5 stars, I wish I can give it 4.5, but the system in Amazon does not allow me to do so.


Finally, I have written a short article called "The Spartan Jew" (written before the release of English version of this book) which is similar to the book's main idea, but I have taken it to the next level. I hope one day it will become a book which in my opinion will complete this book.