If you were given the opportunity to meet ten historical figures of interest either living or dead and could only ask one or two questions  about present day knowing you would get truthful answers, who would you want to meet and what would you ask? I am not speaking of a  top ten list of the most important historical figures.  I am speaking of figures whose beliefs and actions have somehow influenced your personal space.  Questions you consider personally important regardless of what anyone else thinks.  Here is my list and the questions I would ask in no particular order.  They may or may not be questions you would ask but it’s my space.

1. Adolph Hitler.  Why do you really hate me as a Jew?

2  Susan B. Anthony:  Is there gender equality ?

3. Thomas Jefferson:  When you drafted the Declaration of Independence did you have visions of the democracy of the distant future?  Is democracy  what you envisioned in 1776?

4.   Jesus Christ:  What really happened?

5.   Franklin Delano Roosevelt:  How much did you really know about the Holocaust?  Would you have handled it differently?

6.  Martin Luther King:  Is racial equality where you dreamed it would be?’

7.   Samuel Morse(the inventor of the telegraph):  What do you think of cell phones?   Is the internet a positive influence on society?

8.   All authors Of The Bible:  If you were not there, who told you?

9.   John F. Kennedy:  How would you address the terrorist threat and Iran?

10.   Albert Einstein:  How much further can we go?

Who and what would you ask?

Brothers Alexander Adolph, Louis and Brian William live in a quiet working- class suburb in Long Island ,New York. They are all native New Yorkers. None have ever married or had children. Two of them have their own landscaping business and one is a social worker. Their brother Howard died in an auto accident. It has been reported that these brothers have lived a sad life by most standards. Living in seclusion, loneliness and fear. An existence with no vision or concept of what the American dream could or should mean to them. The dream of marriage, family children, grandchildren. The hope and dreams that we all grab hold of. The hope that our children will have better lives than we have. The hopes that our name and bloodline will be carried well into the future long after we are dust. Hopes not denied by death, disease or inability to enjoy the anticipation of the future. Hopes these boys have apparently denied themselves with purpose and resolve.

Why is this story any different or any more important than the struggles others living in the same neighborhood the same street, their next door neighbors? What has eliminated the hopes of the future of family and the continuation of family name to be carried proudly into future? Two words that are vilified world-wide have apparently crushed this middle class America family. Those words are “Adolph Hitler“.

The nephews of Adolf Hitler are alive and well in Long Island, New York. The only American descendants of Adolph Hitler are living quietly under assumed names. In about 40-50 years, barring death by unnatural causes, this bloodline of Adolph Hitler will be severed for all time. The brothers have reportedly entered into a pact that none will marry or have children. This will put an end to the irony and curse of the Hitler legacy in the United States.

How did relatives of Adolph Hitler end up living a middle class life in Long Island, New York? It is certainly not something we would envision.

William Patrick Hitler was born in Liverpool in 1911. He was the son of

Adolph Hitler’s half-brother Alois. William moved to Berlin in the 1930′s. He attempted to capitalize on the notoriety of the Hitler name using various ploys and his resemblance to Hitler to make money. It is reported that Hitler himself regarded William as a freeloader and buffoon calling him one of his “most repulsive” relatives. Just prior to the German invasion of Poland, William took his show on the road to the United States.

Much as modern day celebrities, he charged per appearance to regale not yet “Hitler sensitized” American audiences with life “inside the Nazi Reich”. As America was drawn into the war and Americans became aware of the brutal nature of the Hitler regime, the glamour and appeal of profiting off the Hitler name undoubtedly waned and quickly turned to fear of reprisal and ridicule. He later attempted to enlist in the military and was rejected. Not happy with this he wrote a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. As one can imagine a letter from a blood relative to the man considered “evil incarnate” caused quite a stir. The letter triggered an investigation by the FBI. He was determined not to be a threat and eventually was allowed to enlist in the United States Navy. After the war, he made his way to New York City and then Long Island, NY, where he married, had children and lived the rest of his years. William Patrick Hitler passed away in 1987.  In addition to the material things  he handed down to his children he passed on an incurable disease.  A disease no less insidious than had he passed on Leprosy. A disease marked by seclusion, ridicule and shame. The disease of the Hitler name and genetics. A disease deemed so terrible by the nephews that they determined the only way to cure it was to deny themselves all that we love and cherish by entering into the Hitler Pact to end the blood-line forever.

While there certainly is curiosity value to the existence of the Hitler blood descendants in the United States, there are fascinating questions in both psychology and science.

What internal and external psychological forces drive three brothers to voluntarily choose to suppress those basic biological drives that we all possess and strive to fulfill? How has this denial of these basic instincts affected their psychological health?

What can genetic testing of these brother tell us? Are the brothers carrying any genetic markers that would offer some explanation for Hitler’s psychopathic behavior?

Can genetic testing tell us whether Hitler had any Jewish lineage? One of the most historically fascinating remaining question about Hitler unresolved to this day is whether Adolph Hitler had any Jewish ancestors or as he would put it “Jewish blood”. It is a popular wives tail that Adolph Hitler was part Jewish but this has never been confirmed. If DNA testing on Hitler blood relatives can not tell us, it will probably remain a mystery for all time. It has been reported that Hitler himself was obsessed with this possibility. Hitler tried his best to hide his origins. According to Dr. Fritz Redlich in his book, Diagnosis of A Destructive Prophet, Hitler feared that his paternal grandfather was Jewish. As noted in the book, Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers, there are few publications that examine this issue and none have verified sources. Pages 172-175 of the book contain a fascinating discussion of the various arguments on both sides of the coin.

In order to get a more complete perspective on the DNA issue I consulted author and historian Dr. Bryan Mark Rigg Ph.D. He is the author of Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers and Rescued From The Reich. Here is what he had to say:

“If the DNA shows anything, it will show how interconnected we all are. It could possibly answer the question of his possible Jewish background. While a gene study might give us some insight into his psychopathic behavior, it was probably more of a product of his abusive upbringing. Regardless of his background, he was an angry, evil man. In the end, it would help us all realize that we need to learn how to embrace the good in us and fight the evil regardless of our genetics. In the end you do not need proof of Hitler’s genetics to learn this truth about humanity.”

Will Alexander Adolph, Louis or Brian William ever tell us what their hopes and dreams have been and what they are now? Will they tell us why they entered into a pact never to marry or have children? Was it to spare their spouses and children the ridicule and loneliness they must have suffered.? Could it be much simpler in that they foresaw certain rejection from any women who discovered their secret and were sparing themselves the pain. Did they fear the uncertainly of the “Hitler genetics”? While this “societal sterilization” was self-imposed, it was also pushed on them by the thread of intolerance that often dooms generations upon generations to pay for the sins of their parents. These three healthy boys who were born with no future as if they had an incurable disease that will be genetically passed down for all time, the only solution was apparently to stop the bleeding by ceasing to exist. The Hitler Nephews are reportedly writing their own book about their experiences. Can they offer more than science? In the meantime the heart of humanity beats on…

©2009 Brian Cuban

Enjoy this piece?  Be sure to join the Cuban Revolution Fan Club and/or subscribe to my newsletter to stay abreast of future posts and live celebrity interviews on The Revolution Rant

John Demjanjuk(photo AP)

Should the passage of time mitigate punishment for war crimes so heinous that they shock the conscience? The Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations(OSI) continues to aggressively pursue aging Nazi War Criminals. They vow to continue until the last one hiding in the United States is caught and brought to justice. The only **constitutional brand of justice the United States can inflict is to strip these Nazi geriatrics of their citizenship and deport them to their homelands hopefully to face a much harsher justice if prosecuted and convicted of World War II war crimes. The U.S. government has won 105 cases against former Nazis. Cases are pending against 16 others.

An appeals court has ruled against accused 87 year old Nazi guard John Demjanjuk bringing him one step closer to deportation. Demjanjuk, a retired auto worker, was once wrongly convicted of being the sadistic Nazi death camp guard “Ivan the Terrible” and sentenced to death in Israel. The Israeli Supreme Court later overturned the conviction, saying another man was probably “Ivan,” a sadistic guard at the Treblinka death camp where 870,000 people died. He was stripped of his U.S. citizenship again in 2002, with a judge ruled that he had worked as a guard at other death camps. He is still living free in the United States. The problem has been that no country would take him. This issue appears to be nearing closure as both Germany and Spain have now stepped up and demanded his extradition. Germany wants him for his alleged part in the torture of Jews at the Sobibor Death Camp. Spain wants him for the torture of Spaniards at Nazi concentration camps. Edward Nishnic, a spokesman for Demjanjuk’s family stated:

“This is taking it to the ridiculous……. It’s another form of harassment against a very and very frail man.”

There is no doubt that there is sympathy and support for Demjanjuk. Should there be?

Josias Kumpf(photo AP)
On June 16, 2008, a U.S. appeals panel upheld an order to deport 83-year-old Josias Kumpf. Kumpf is accused of serving as a Nazi SS guard whose duty was to finish off dying Jews in a two-day mass execution in Poland that killed more than 40,000.

On June 10, 2008 retired Pennsylvania steelworker Anton Geiser 83, was ordered deported. Geiser served as an armed SS guard at Sachsenhausen concentration camp. He later escorted prisoners to and from the Buchenwald concentration camp where tens of thousands of Jews and others were exterminated.

According to an article in the Pittsburgh Tribune:

“Geiser’s neighbors in Sharon said they were shocked by the lawsuit and will stand behind Geiser, describing him as a wonderful person. One neighbor, Diane Dach, said the government should not attempt to punish Geiser now....”

Paul Henss and wife

Last year U.S. authorities began deportation proceedings against an 85-year-old Georgia man who they say served as a Nazi guard and trained and handled attack dogs at the Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps in Germany. Paul Henss is a German citizen who lives in suburban Atlanta. The Justice Department stated that he entered the U.S. in 1955 after hiding his concentration camp service.

When asked about the allegations Henss said:

“That was in 1942,I didn’t know what they were doing with the people.”

Elfriede Rinkel led a quiet life in America for over 40 years with her Jewish husband, a German born Jew whose parents had died in the Holocaust. She had a dark secret. Her past included her job as a dog handler at the Nazi concentration camp at Ravensbrück. She kept the secret from her late Jewish husband for forty-two years, living quietly in San Francisco. When he died the 84-year-old German woman, Elfriede Lina Rinkel, admitted that she served as a guard at the Ravensbrück concentration camp during World War II. She has since been deported back to her native Germany. When asked about her concentration camp activities Rinkel stated that she had “done nothing wrong” and had only watched prisoners so they would not “run away” She went on to state:

“I am not a Nazi. My relatives are not Nazis. I did nothing wrong,“

During World War II, many atrocities were committed against civilians by the Nazis and other Axis nations. These atrocities were committed as part of Hitler’s genocidal quest to rid Europe of all Jews and “inferior races”. Many of those responsible were captured and tried. Many managed to escape capture and slip undetected into countries all over the world. They hid their Nazi past when entering the United States and other countries. They managed to live quiet, peaceful lives. Many died of old age peacefully in their beds without ever having to face the brutality of their past having denied that peaceful passing to thousands.

Most scholars agree on a figure of between 1,000 and 3,000 war criminals who have found haven in the United States since the war’s end. Most have already died. Those still alive are in their eighties or older and often claim poor health as an excuse not to stand trial. You can view a list of the world’s most wanted Nazi War Criminals on the Simon Wiesenthal Center web site.

Time is running out to apprehend these geriatric fugitives. There is a general consensus that within a decade all but a few will be dead of old age or other illness. These are just the ones who may be residing in the United States. They are being hunted world wide by the Simon Wiesenthal Center. It is estimated that there are 480 suspected Nazi war criminals living in 20 countries. In the United States they often have wives, children,grandchildren and great-grandchildren who they will leave if deported. Most are suffering from multiple age related physical ailments. Should this be a consideration? Should the fact that they led quiet lives as model citizens matter? Should we now have mercy on those whose atrocities so transcended humanity that most were hanged or sentenced to long prison terms after the war. I f your father was murdered while you were a child and the murderer is caught 50 years later, does the passage of time lesson the heinous nature of what was taken from you? This and more was taken from millions of Jews, Poles, Christians, Gypsies and others by a regime so viscous that to even invoke the word “Nazi” in some forms or to deny the events took place is a crime in some countries.

Has the United States immigration bureaucracy made it a haven for geriatric Nazis wanting to live out their last days as free men? The deportation process including appeals in the United States can last years. Even when a deportation order is issued and the appeals exhausted there is often no country willing to accept these war criminals. The 8th amendment prohibits them from being incarcerated indefinitely until a country is found willing to accept them so they are set free. They should feel very fortunate. Nazis hiding in other countries are sometimes not so lucky. In 1960 Israeli agents kidnapped suspected Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann and spirited him back to Israel for trial. He was tried on public television(broadcast live on ABC). He was found guilty and hanged. Some Nazis in hiding are never apprehended. Dr. Josef Mengele, “The Angel Of Death”, was one of the most wanted war criminals in history. He performed gruesome genetic experiments on the children and adult inmates of the Auschwitz concentration camp. Despite a massive Israeli manhunt, he died a free man in 1979. He allegedly drowned while swimming.

Milivoj Asner(Interpol)
Some suspected Nazi war criminals are very lucky and enjoying life abroad. 95 year-old Milivoj Asner holds the number 4 spot on the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s most wanted Nazi criminals’ list. He was recently spotted(photos) taking in the Euro 2008 soccer championship. Mr. Asner is wanted in Croatia to stand trial for deporting hundreds of Jews, gypsies and Serbs to World War II death camps. His native Austria has refused to extradite him citing his alleged failing health. The photos of him at Euro 2008 have sparked outrage in the Jewish community. They show him in apparent good health. The Asner case spotlights the criticism certain countries/nations have received for their refusal to take action with regards to Nazi war criminals living within their borders. Some of these are the United Kingdom, Australia and Sweden. You can read a report on who is doing what here.

Does the passage of time in itself provide absolution for genocidal conduct during World War II? Should a 90 year old who murdered in the concentration camps or who aided said genocide suffer any less penalty because he is 90, has children or grandchildren? Should that person be deported and tried under the same laws that resulted in the hanging and imprisonment of the Nazi’s tried at Nuremberg?

Heinrich Bore(Photo AP)
This is an international dilemma. Germany is preparing for what will probably be its last World War II war crimes trial against 86-year-old former Waffen SS death squad soldier Heinrich Bore. Bore previously been sentenced to death by a Dutch court in 1949 but has never been extradited. He is currently living in a senior citizens home. Health issues may prevent his trial in Germany from ever going forward. Should it go forward?

Who is the oldest suspected Nazi war criminal living in the United States? That dubious honor belongs to 92 year old grandfather Vladas Zajanckauskas. He is suspected of being part of a Nazi “extermination squad” and of having participated in the Warsaw Ghetto Liquidation. His orders were as follows:

“You will kill every Jewish man, women and child you can lay your hands on….”

When asked about the allegations and his possible deportation Zajanckauskas stated:

“I hope they wouldn’t deport me. Last my days….and I already bought a grave for myself in cemetery, with stone and everything. My name. My wife’s name.”

In August 2007 Mr. Zajanckauskas was ordered deported to his native Lithuania where he is also facing a war crimes investigation. It is unclear as of this writing whether he has left the United States or is even living.

Vladas Zajanckauskas(photo BBC)
Should Mr. Zajanckauskas and other Nazi geriatrics be left alone to spend their few remaining days, months or years in peace with only the torment of the outraged masses that they are still free while millions died both out of genocide and fighting to end the genocide? It is a rhetorical question to those of us of Jewish Faith. It however is not a Jewish World.

**The thought of the United States actually “prosecuting” Nazi war criminals is a misnomer. All the U.S. can constitutionally do is strip them of their citizenship and deport them. These are civil and not criminal actions.

©2008 Brian Cuban

The United States Congress established the Days of Remembrance as our nation’s annual commemoration of the Holocaust. This year Holocaust Remembrance Day is Sunday, April 11 2010. In honor of that, here is my list of Holocaust films worth seeing.

The Holocaust has always been sporadic material for Hollywood. Every few years a small budget independent or documentary will show up. Mainstream Hollywood rarely invests big dollars. While many Holocaust films are done very few are big budget. A great documentary on the subject of how Hollywood has addressed the Holocaust is Imaginary Witness:Hollywood and the Holocaust.

There is no denying that sentiments and views of the Holocaust have changed over the years since the end of World War II. Hollywood has changed right along with those sentiments and views and changed the types of movies and the way events are depicted. A review of the Internet Movie Database reveals that from 1945-2008 there were over 400 theatrical productions and documentaries made which addressed the Holocaust in one form or another. Of those, the majority were foreign-made documentaries.

Here is my list of Hollywood movies and television media that I feel offer the most to the viewer in the portrayal of events and figures of the Holocaust. I include foreign films if they had mainstream United States release. I am only including films whose main focus was the Holocaust as compared to the Holocaust being just one historical event in the movie. An example would be Band Of Brothers. This mini-series addresses the Holocaust but is not about the Holocaust.

Defiance is the story of the Jewish Bielski brothers. succeeded in escaping from the massacre of the German in their village where their parents were killed. They hide in the woods and sooner other runaway Jews join them. They guerrilla resistance created a makeshift village in the woods to shelter and protect more than 1,200 Jews. Five generations later, “20,000 Jewish people are alive because of the work the Bielski brothers.

“The Boy In The Striped Pajamas” and “The Reader”.

The Boy In The Striped Pajamas. Adapted from the book of the same name by John Boyne. A short, faithful adaption to the book. A movie similar to Life Is Beautiful. This time the story is told from the side of the child of a Concentration Camp Commandant who befriends a Jewish child imprisoned in the a camp. The child has been shielded by his father from the horror, brutality and the truth of the purpose of the camp.

The Reader(2009). Ralph Fiennes reminds us of his brilliant performance in Schindler’s List to once again tackle the Holocaust in a much different light. His character has an affair with his care-taker. Years later, while a law student observing a Nazi war crime trial, he is re-united in a shocking way. She is a defendant charged with war crimes. The Reader has sparked some revisionist sentiment in the Jewish community. The criticism is that the film through its central theme attempts to legitimize a notion that ordinary Germans were completely ignorant of The Final Solution until after the war. The producers were certainly more interested in producing an Oscar winning film than staying true to history. The Reader brought Holocaust sensitivities in Hollywood portrayals front and center again.

Paperclips(2004) An extraordinary documentary that I stumbled across surfing cables channels once night. Whitwell Middle School in rural Tennessee is the last place you would think would be a hot bed of Holocaust study. It however is the setting for this documentary about a unique experiment in Holocaust understanding. The students at Whitewell collect six-million paper clips to better understand the extent of Holocaust and share that understanding with Holocaust survivors.

The Diary Of Anne Frank(1959). The 1959 version appears to be Hollywood’s first mainstream attempt to bring the Holocaust to the masses although it did so by sacrificing the depth and emotion of the Holocaust to give the public a Hollywood blockbuster movie. The movie itself was a Hollywood hit by the standards of the day. It won three Oscars. An interesting side note is that Audrey Hepburn turned down the role of Anne Frank because she herself lived in occupied Holland and witnessed Nazi atrocities first-hand. To get a feel for early Hollywood treatment of the Holocaust, the Diary of Anne Frank is a must see, but be sure to view the original before viewing the remakes.

Holocaust(1978). A four-part made-for-TV mini-series. That was the first major network big time portrayal of the subject. The series was a monstrous success, drawing a 49 percent market share. So many people watched this mini-series in New York City when first broadcast, that when commercials were on, the local water pressure dropped due to the large number of people using their toilets at once. It won Golden Globe and Emmy awards. It was instrumental in rocketing the career of Meryl Streep. Michael Moriarty is brilliant as an out of work lawyer who enters the Nazi party and advances through brutality and helping implement “The Final Solution.”

Schindler’s List(1993). The Holocaust comes to Generation X with the Steven Spielberg story of Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist and Nazi party member who started out getting rich off the backs of Jewish slave labor and ended up finding his own humanity. He went on to save thousands of Jews from the gas chamber, risking both his personal wealth and his safety to save as many Jews as possible. He spent his entire fortune to bribe Germans and buy the lives of the Jews who worked for him. He kept them for the most part safe until Germany’s surrender. He ended up penniless. Today, there are more than 6000 descendants of “Schindler Jews” living around the world. The movie is done in and black and white and riveting from beginning to end. The movie itself was a huge critical and box office success winning seven Oscars

Sophie’s Choice(1982). Sophie’s Choice is a brilliant performance by Meryl Streep as a Holocaust survivor with dark secrets in her family’s past. Her performance as Sophie Zawistowska is ranked #3 on Premiere Magazine’s 100 Greatest Performances of All Time. She won an academy award for her performance. It should be noted that this film was released 11 years prior to Schindler’s list. It contains one of the most heart wrenching moments in movie history when Sophie recounts the night she arrived at Auschwitz with her children, and of how she was forced by a Nazi officer to choose life for one child and death for the other.

Life Is Beautiful(1997). Life Is Beautiful is told from the view of a man who uses the gift of humor to protect his only son from the inhumanity while in a concentration camp. The film is incredible in that it allows you to smile and laugh with Guido right up until the tragic end and not feel sad. This movie won three Academy Awards. While classified as a Holocaust film, this film is also a joyous celebration of the human spirit.

The Pianist(2002). This movie is told from the viewpoint of a very talented piano player played by Adrian Brody. He hides out in the Warsaw Ghetto throughout the Warsaw Ghetto Liquidation and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. When the German occupation begins, he simply wonders when he will be able to return to his music. When the killing begins, he is forced to hide and change his priorities to simply trying to survive. Even though he can no longer play, music is the hope and salvation that keeps him alive.

The Grey Zone(2001). The Grey Zone is gritty, dark and sometimes hard to follow. It is, however, a must-see for all those who want an understanding of the Holocaust beyond the basics. The Grey Zone deals with an issue that is very sensitive to Holocaust survivors. Jews sending other Jews to the gas chamber. These Jews were called “Sonderkommandos“. Sonderkommando members did not participate directly in the killing which was reserved for the guards. While their primary responsibility was disposing of the corpses, they often took a much more active role in getting the inmates ready to enter the gas chambers. These inmates were kept in close groups and had much better living conditions than the average inmate. They were also killed off at regular intervals to prevent any word of the inner workings of the Nazi death apparatus from leaking to the outside world. This movie is about one of several Sonderkommado revolts that took place. It features an outstanding peformance by Harvey Keitel.

Playing for Time. Playing for Time is a made-for-T.V piece that is worth seeing. It ias another movie that gives a perspective on the inner workings of Nazi concentration camps in which some inmates were forced to play music for the others as they marched to the gas chambers or life-death selection process. The purpose was to keep them calm and reduce the chances of revolt.

Europa Europa(1991). A young Jewish boy poses as a German “Aryan” orphan and joins the Hitler Youth in the early days of World War II. An interesting look at the racial, moral and religious identity struggles faced by Jews as they did what they could to prevent their extermination in Nazi Germany.

Music Box(1989). This is one of the few movies dealing with the issues of aging former Nazis and Nazi sympathizers who committed war crimes living in the United States. Jessica Lange and Armin Mueller-Stah give great performances. The movie is based on the true story of John Demjanjuk. While the premise of a daughter representing her father on trial with such high stakes is a stretch, it works well here. Jessica’s emotional opening statement is also unrealistic and inadmissible. The movie is incredibly moving on all levels. You are torn between her father as a loving grandfather and a brutal murderer guilty of terrible war crimes. In an interesting twist of life imitating art, the father of Joe Eszterhas who wrote the screenplay, was accused of writing anti-Semitic propaganda before and during World War II. Like the character in Music Box, his father denied being the person who wrote these materials. Mr. Ezterhas denies knowing anything about his father’s past at the time he wrote the screenplay.

Also of interest is that the real life John Demjanjuk has been deported to Germany. He is currently standing trial for war crimes committed at the Sobibor Concentration Camp in what will be the last major Nazi war crimes trial of our lifetime.

That is my list of Holocaust films that I feel are must sees for anyone wanting to get a good understanding of the subject through Hollywood. Is this a definitive list? Absolutely not. There are numerous foreign films and documentaries dealing with general and specific issues surrounding the Holocaust.

Please feel free to comment and add you own movies to the list with an explanation of why you feel it is an important film or simply why you enjoyed it