Wiesenthal Center Holocaust Historian and Swedish Professor Join to Expose Academic Scholarship  Based on Notorious Holocaust Deniers

Jerusalem, ISRAEL + Lund, SWEDEN- Thanks to collaboration between the Wiesenthal Center's chief Nazi-hunter, Dr.Efraim Zuroff, and Lund (Sweden) University Associate Professor Per Anders Rudling, a respected historian who has published extensively on the history of the Holocaust in Ukraine, a highlyproblematic case of Holocaust denial and distortion was exposed in the latest issue (Volume 34, Number 2, Summer 2021) of the International Journal of Intelligence and Counter-Intelligencean academic, peer-reviewed journal published by the respected Routledge publisher in London.

The article in question was written by Olga Bertelsen, an Assistant Professor of Intelligence Studies at Embry-Riddle AeronauticalUniversity in Prescott, Arizona, and entitled "Ukrainian and Jewish Émigrés as Targets of KGB Active Measures in the 1970s." The primary thesis of the article is that the Soviet KGB purposelyframed an innocent Ivan (John) Demjanjuk of complicity in Nazi war crimes to sow discord between Diaspora Jews and Ukrainians, for fear that they might join forces to protest against Soviet humanrights violations. Bertelsen tries to prove her theory by claiming that the primary document proving Demjanjuk's service as an auxiliary to the S.S. (his ID from the Trawniki training camp) wasforged by the KGB.

The article initially appeared in an online edition of the journal which preceded its print version by several months. It wasbrought to Zuroff's attention, upon which he expressed his serious concerns to the editor, Professor Jan Goldman of the Citadel, about the journal republishing notorious Holocaust deniers in apeer-reviewed academic forum. Goldman agreed to publish a relatively brief rebuttal, which would not include criticism of the author or the journal, and which has now been published in the printedition.
Under those conditions, Zuroff reached out to Professor Rudling, with whom he had cooperated in the past in exposing UkrainianHolocaust distortion. They jointly penned a response which exposed Bertelsen's dependence on the publications by Holocaust deniers and her refusal to accept the detailed assessments of respectedcourts in three Western democracies-the United States, Israel and Germany- as to the undeniable authenticity of Demjanjuk's original Trawniki ID.

According to Zuroff:
"It is extremely upsetting that an international peer-reviewed journal, published by a highly-respected publisher, could allow anarticle based on notorious Holocaust deniers to be published. Normally, our policy is not to debate deniers, but we felt that this article was particularly dangerous, since it granted legitimacyto several of the worst deniers of the Shoa active today."

According to Rudling:
"The publication of an article based on multiple sources by Holocaust deniers grants these persons undeserved credibility as seriousscholars. Discrediting the legal process and verdict of the Munich court which convicted Demjanjuk is not only a matter of historical accuracy, but one with important legal and politicaldimensions. In view of the recent laws passed in Eastern Europe which promote Holocaust distortion, it was imperative to respond to this article."

For additional information please contact the Israel Office of the Wiesenthal Center: Tel: 972-2-563-1274 or Tel: 972-50-721-4156, follow the Center on Facebook,or @simonwiesenthal and @EZuroff for news updates sent directly to your Twitter feed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agenciesincluding the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).