by Jeremy Hunt
Daily Lobo
Author Robert Rosen, who was invited, uninvited and reinvited to speak at UNM, talked to about 20 people Monday in Woodward Hall about his book, Saving the Jews.
After history professor Noel Pugach invited Rosen to speak last month, the history department rescinded the invitation saying the book didn't meet academic standards for citation and use of quotes. Vera Norwood, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, reinvited the author after he sent a letter to President David Harris explaining he had already made plans to speak.
Pugach was the only person from the history department that attended the event.
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Rosen said he expected someone from the department to challenge him at the lecture after the department retracted the invitation.
"If they have complaints, they should be here," he said. "There's apparently some standard that they are referring to I'm not familiar with. In the real world - the publication world - I haven't plagiarized."
Rosen said he is glad Harris and Norwood reversed the history department's decision.
"They did the right thing," he said. "All's well that ends well."
Rosen's book is about the United States' response to the Holocaust. In it, he defends President Franklin Roosevelt and argues Roosevelt did everything he could to help European Jews, he said.
He said this view is contrary to the theory that Roosevelt and Americans were apathetic to European Jews during World War II. Rosen said history has been painted in a way that demonizes Roosevelt and American Jews.
"Most people in America believe in this history," he said.
Lenny Applebaum, who attended the event, said it was interesting to see a Jewish person defend Roosevelt.
"I've always known the Jews were very supportive of Roosevelt back in that day," he said. "Therefore, I'm surprised there's been criticism of him recently."
At the Holocaust Memorial in Boston, Rosen read that by late 1942, the U.S. and its allies were aware of the death camps but did nothing to destroy them. The statement on the memorial implies the United States could have and should have done something about the death camps, Rosen said.
"We were unable to destroy them in 1942, 1943 and 1944," he said. "Not until the invasion of Normandy could we begin the rescue of these prisoners."
The main criticisms of Roosevelt are that he did not take in Jewish refugees from Europe; he did not bomb the train tracks to the death camps; and he did not bomb Auschwitz, the largest World War II labor and death camp, Rosen said.
He said Roosevelt couldn't change immigration laws to give the Jews refuge in the United States.
"There was no political way to let the Jews in," he said.
Pugach said a distinction should have been made between immigrants and refugees to allow more Jews into the United States.
Pugach said Rosen created a straw man, because the author asserts that historians blame the United States for the magnitude of the Holocaust.
"No one has said the U.S. could have saved most Jews," Pugach said.
Rosen said that was the first intelligent criticism of his book.
Rosen said the United States could have bombed the train tracks to the death camps if it had the resources, but it wouldn't have stopped the Nazis because they were too resourceful and there was more than one railroad.
"You can bomb the railroad tracks," he said. "The next day, the Nazis will put down new tracks."
Applebaum said he doesn't know if that justifies not bombing the tracks, because the Nazis might not have been able to respond that quickly.
Rosen said Roosevelt didn't bomb Auschwitz because doing so would have killed the Jews there. American-Jewish leaders urged Roosevelt to not bomb Auschwitz, he said.
"The Jews of Europe could only be saved by the defeat of the massive Nazi army," Rosen said.
