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Ezra Pound discussion list of the University of Maine <[log in to unmask]>
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Bill Wagner <[log in to unmask]>
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Sun, 17 Oct 1999 22:02:59 +0000
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There are thousands of books about the WWII, the Holocaust and anti-Semitism in
general, which goes back far before HItler.  The book While Six-Million Died by
John Gardner is a very thorough documentation of  the world's reaction to the
plight of Jews trying to flee the Nazis.  If memory serves correctly, France was
the most liberal in opening its borders to Jewish refugees, but most fell back
into Hitler's hands when France fell.
 
Another book that stands out in my memory is Kaputt by Curzio Malaparte (sp?), who
was conscripted (he claims) to serve as a diplomatic attaché to Mussolini.  I
don't remember any mention of Pound, but the insights into the workings of the
fascist state & it's relations to the other Axis powers is worth reading.
 
sshulman wrote:
 
> Having litle desire to delve into Poundian politics, at this juncture,
> I should like, however, to comment on the political/historical myth of,
> 'The Myth of Rescue: Why the Democracies Could Not Have Saved More Jews
> >From The Nazis'.
> Canada's motto toward Jews during WWII, was, "none is too many", FDR's
> advisors found certain dollar sums per Jew, too high a ransom and it was
> British troops, who refused ships carrying European Jews, entry to
> Palestine.
> Shall we continue, 'democracy' by 'democracy'?
>
> Leon Surette wrote:
> >
> >         I have refrained from participating in the thread on Pound and
> > anti-Semitism which has bee ngoing on for some weeks or months now because
> > it did not seem to me that people were interested in informing themselves on
> > the topic so much as they were concerned to vent their own settled views on
> > the matter.
> >         But let me recommend two very well informed and measured discussions
> > of the matter: Albert S. Lindemann,_ Esau's Tears: Modern Anti-Semitism and
> > the Rise of the Jews_, Cambridge: Cambridge UP 1997; and William D.
> > Rubinstein, _The Myth of Rescue: Why the Democracies could not have Saved
> > mor Jews from the Nazis_, New York: Routledg 1997. These two books provide
> > an excellent survey of recent literature on anti_Semitism and the Holocaust
> > as well as offering their own analysis of the issue.
> >
> >         As for Pound, I have forthcoming from Illinois UP _Pound in
> > Purgatory: From economic Radicalism to Anti-Semitism_. In that book I
> > carefully examine Pound unpublished letters and ephemeral journalism with a
> > view to gaining a better understanding of his economic opinions. Incidental
> > to that research I found a very clear shift on Pound's part from the casual
> > anti-Semitism of his class to the full-blown racism and conspiracy theory
> > evinced in the Rome broadcasts and the Agresti correspondence editeddby
> > Demetres Tryphonopoulos and me. There is little doubt that Pound's
> > preoccupation with economics and politics after 1933 was motivated by his
> > outrage at the Great Depression. But that outrage did not express itself as
> > anti-Semitism until he read an anti-Semitic article by William Pelley.
> > Ironically, the journal in which it appeard was sent to Pound by Louis
> > Zukofsky--as an example of the ludicrous exaggerations of extreme right-wing
> > American opinion. Unfortunately Pound was sufficiently impressed by Pelley's
> > article that he set William Drummond to research the "Jewish problem," and
> > also sought out allies of Pelley--most importantly the German-American
> > Gesellite and anti-Semite, Hugo Fack.
> >
> > Leon Surette

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