The following is a letter I wrote to Yad Vashem.
I encourage all to send similar letters to Dani Dayan, the new head of Yad Vashem and spread the word.
My name is Shalom Pollack, licensed tour guide since 1980.
I would like to congratulate you on your new responsibility as head of Yad Vashem.
Needless to say, I have guided numerus visitors to Yad Vashem on many occasions.
One of the lesser-known aspects of the Holocaust is the part played by the "Grand Mufti of Jerusalem", Haj Amin el Husseini. His role was successfully revealed to the public in a clear way in the former museum.
Husseini was a general of the SS who raised a divsion of Muslim SS that made sure no Jews escape the journey to the death camps.
This is the man that his relative, Yassar Arafat called the "father of the Palestinian people"
The former floor to ceiling photo of the mutually admiring Hitler and Husseini did not need much explanation.
For most visitors, this bloody chapter of the Holocaust was a revelation which they appreciated learning about.
In the new Yad Vashem it is gone.
After writing to Yad Vashem, the reply was,” in the new museum, we place a greater emphasis on the victims than on the perpetrators."
I pointed out that just five paces from the now minuscule, well hidden, photo of the Mufti and Himmler (Hitler is gone) is an entire wall of perpetrators ; though German, not Arab.
German sensibilities are not spared but we don't want to upset those of Arabs in the new Yad Vashem?
So much for "not emphasizing the perpetrators".
I asked five local Yad Vashem guides where the photo of Husseini and Hitler was. They did not know or said that they never discussed it with visitors. It wasn't important, they told me.
I finally found the tiny photo in a dark corner after great effort. One might think that Yad Vashem is trying to hide something..?
I understand that the new museum is a "post Oslo" project.
I heard that PLO leader Faisal Husseini ("Oslo was a Trojan Horse") was outraged that his great uncle was exposed together with his friend Adolf Hitler.
To preserve the "peace process", Yad Vashem removed the embarrassing evidence of "Palestinian" collusion with Hitler.
Could it be?
Whether this is a true anecdote or not, I protest the scandalous manipulated narrative instituted by your predecessors.
It robs the visitors of an important piece of the Holocaust story; a shameful concealment and protection of a murderous participant in the extermination of our people.
If non Jews did this what would we say?
In a time of devastating moral relativism and Holocaust denial, Yad Vashem should be the beacon in the battle for truth about our history and not hiding it.
Mr. Dayan, knowing your background and principles I am certain that you will want to correct this immediately.
I and many, many others eagerly await your response
With respect,
Shalom Pollack
author,
"Jews, Israelis and Arabs"
