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Moshe Ronen  Letter 10  16-Apr-2000  Two frustrated goals of the CJC?
"This individual was brought to the attention of the Commission by the Canadian Jewish Congress, whose source of information was a private individual.  It was alleged that the subject under investigation might be Dr. Josef Mengele." � Jules Deschênes

April 16, 2000
Moshe Ronen
National President
Canadian Jewish Congress
100 Sparks Street, Suite 650
Ottawa, Ontario
K1P 5B7

Telephone: (613) 233-8703
Fax:       (613) 233-8748


Moshe Ronen:

Two frustrated goals of the CJC?

The Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) web site claims that among the leading goals of the CJC are (1) the bringing to justice of Nazi war criminals, and (2) the fighting of anti-Semitism.  The purpose of the present letter is to demonstrate that the CJC is failing in both of these goals and to suggest ways of improving performance.

Much smoke, no fire

On the question of Nazi war criminals, what can be concluded from the CJC web site is that despite years of activity, not a single conviction under the Canadian Criminal Code has been achieved � which may strike some impartial observers as an absence of fire underneath a large amount of smoke.  Furthermore, searching the Deschênes Commission Report for some indication of the CJC's contribution to the pursuit of Nazi war criminals reveals a pattern of negligence and irresponsibility:

CASE NO. 202.  This individual was brought to the attention of the Commission by the Canadian Jewish Congress, whose source of information was a private citizen.  There was no specific allegation of involvement in war crimes made against this individual, and the information received was irrational.  [...]  The Commission contacted the wife of the subject, who stated that she did not know the citizen (who made the allegation) and that her husband never had any business dealings with a person by that name.  The Commission also tried to locate the complainant but to no avail.

CASE NO. 247.  This individual was brought to the attention of the Commission by the Canadian Jewish Congress, whose source of information was a private citizen.  There was no specific allegation of involvement in war crimes made against the individual.  [...]  The Commission was advised by the German Military Service Office [...] that it had a record of a person with the same name as the subject, which indicated that he was a pilot in the Allied Air Force and had been taken prisoner by the Germans.

CASE NO. 269.  This individual was brought to the attention of the Commission by the Canadian Jewish Congress, whose source of information was a private citizen.  It was alleged that this individual is a physician whose physical description resembles that of the notorious war criminal Dr. Mengele.  [...]  Personal data of the subject taken from various documentation reveal the following in comparison with the information contained in the Commission file with respect to Dr. Mengele:
 

Year of Birth
Height
Weight
Eyes
Face
Chin 		Subject

1913
6'3"+
195-215 lbs
Blue
Oval (from Photo)
� 		Dr. Mengele

1911
5'8"+
Medium build
Brown
Round
Round
  
In addition, the picture of the subject appearing in the various documents received, does not suggest that he resembles Dr. Mengele.  All other search responses were negative.

CASE NO. 526.  This individual was brought to the attention of the Commission by the Canadian Jewish Congress, whose source of information was a private individual.  It was alleged that the subject under investigation might be Dr. Josef Mengele.  [...]  The Department of External Affairs reported that it had a record in respect of the individual, but that the individual had been born in 1928 in Canada [...].  [...]  Furthermore, the subject's name is not one of the aliases used from time to time by Josef Mengele.

CASE NO. 561.  This individual was brought to the attention of the Commission by the RCMP, whose source of information was the Canadian Jewish Congress.  It was alleged that the subject was responsible for the deaths of "hundreds of Jews."  No specific evidence of the alleged war crimes was provided.  [...]  Records of the Department of Employment and Immigration [...] indicate that the subject was born in 1941 [...].

CASE NO. 658.  This individual was brought to the attention of the Commission by Mr. Sol Littman and the Canadian Jewish Congress.  Mr. Littman indicated that he had no specific allegation to evidence that this individual had been involved in war crimes, and the source of his information was the Canadian Jewish Congress.  The Canadian Jewish Congress indicated that this individual was alleged by an unnamed source to have been a member of the Gestapo in an Eastern European country.  [...]  The Commission located the subject in Canada in 1986.  [...]  The Commission determined that [...] he was a member of the Luftwaffe.


Society's double-barreled protection

To reduce the damage that false accusations such as the above inflict, society protects itself by applying two instruments � criminal prosecution and psychiatric intervention.

(1) Criminal prosecution.

With respect to criminal prosecution, perhaps the law on Public Mischief might be the most appropriate, particularly the part that I have emphasized in blue:

PUBLIC MISCHIEF / Punishment

140. (1) Every one commits public mischief who, with intent to mislead, causes a peace officer to enter on or continue an investigation by
   (a) making a false statement that accuses some other person of having committed an offence;
   (b) doing anything intended to cause some other person to be suspected of having committed an offence that the other person has not committed, or to divert suspicion from himself;
   (c) reporting that an offence has been committed when it has not been committed; or
   (d) reporting or in any other way making it known or causing it to be made known that he or some other person has died when he or that other person has not died.
(2) Every one who commits public mischief
   (a) is guilty of an indictable offense and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years; or
   (b) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.


(2) Psychiatric intervention.

In cases where criminal prosecution seems inappropriate, psychiatric screening, therapy, or confinement might be called into play, with the most fitting diagnosis perhaps being that of Delusional Paranoid Disorder, particularly of the Grandiose and Persecutory types, especially the parts that I have emphasized in blue:

Grandiose Type.  Grandiose delusions usually take the form of the person's being convinced that he or she possesses some great, but unrecognized, talent or insight, or has made some important discovery, which he or she may take to various governmental agencies (e.g., the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the U.S. Patent Office).  Less common is the delusion that one has a special relationship with a prominent person, such as being the daughter of a movie star or an advisor to the President, or that one is the prominent person, in which case the actual person, if alive, is regarded as an impostor.  Grandiose delusions may have a religious content, and people with these delusions can become leaders of religious cults.
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Third Edition � Revised), American Psychiatric Association, Washington, 1987, p. 200

Persecutory Type.  This is the most common type.  The persecutory delusion may be simple or elaborate, and usually involves a single theme or series of connected themes, such as being conspired against, cheated, spied upon, followed, poisoned or drugged, maliciously maligned, harassed, or obstructed in the pursuit of long-term goals.  Small slights may be exaggerated and become the focus of a delusional system.  In certain cases the focus of the delusion is some injustice that must be remedied by legal action ("querulous paranoia"), and the affected person often engages in repeated attempts to obtain satisfaction by appeal to the courts and other government agencies.  People with persecutory delusions are often resentful and angry, and may resort to violence against those they believe are hurting them.
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Third Edition � Revised), American Psychiatric Association, Washington, 1987, p. 200

Does irresponsible Nazi hunting incite anti-Semitism?

It appears to be a viable hypothesis deserving of further consideration that CJC participation in the hunt for Nazi war criminals in Canada has been marked by a lack of competence and of integrity, and thus consequently of success, and thus ultimately contributing to a loss of respect for Jews which some might mistake for gratuitous anti-Semitism.  Any objective observer must wonder whether when the final tally is made, the CJC will be discovered to have contributed little toward the apprehension of Nazi war criminals, and much toward the incitement of this variety of anti-Semitism.

Can anti-Semitism be reduced my making Nazi-hunting responsible?

If the CJC is serious in its proclaimed goal of fighting anti-Semitism, then the CJC might consider upgrading the quality of its contribution to the hunt for Nazis.  Such an upgrading of quality could be achieved by (1) reminding Jews that in the course of their denunciations, they are under an obligation to not commit public mischief, together with recommending for criminal prosecution the more egregious instances of public mischief that have occurred; and by (2) submitting Jewish denunciations of war criminality to psychiatric screening, together with recommending psychiatric treatment to those whom reason cannot dissuade from making irrational and unfounded denunciations.

But maybe the CJC finds anti-Semitism useful?

If, however, the CJC's true goal is to incite anti-Semitism � so as to increase Jewish group cohesion and promote the emigration of Jews to Israel � then the CJC's success cannot be denied, and its practices are in need of no revision.



Lubomyr Prytulak

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