My newly published book, “Auschwitz on the Potomac 1943: Hillel Kook, The Attempt to Save European Jewry, and the Birth of the Israeli Nation,” is the culminating work of my 45 years of research and analysis.

he events of the Holocaust and the American response to this event have been analyzed by numerous American scholars over the past decades. My personal involvement with this subject matter was initiated through my work with Professor David S. Wyman at the University of Massachusetts from the mid-1970s through the 1980s. His book, “The Abandonment of the Jews,” published 40 years ago, benefited from the extensive research I did as his research assistant.

It was through Wyman that I was introduced to the most important Jew of the past 2,000 years, Peter Bergson (Hillel Kook). Why I make this assertion is explored in my book. In short, he was the only person in the world during the Holocaust who understood, and acted on his belief, that unless the United States government got involved in saving Jews, the massacre of European Jewry would not stop.

Furthermore, he was the only Jew in the world who had the courage to raise the Hebrew flag in Washington, D.C., in May 1944, and to declare the possibility of a future Hebrew Republic in the Land of Palestine. Unfortunately, the current disaster in Israeli politics is the inability of anyone in the Jewish/Israeli world to comprehend his vision. And, none of the Holocaust museums around America, Israel or the world has displayed any recognition of his courageous acts during World War II.

Following my formal academic work extending from the mid-1970s, I became involved for more than 35 years employed in New York City as a salesman/office manager in the stationery business. But even while trying to make a living and survive in the Big Apple, I continued doing research on the subject that I had begun years before. The interval of time between trying to write a doctoral dissertation and my retirement in 2016 provided me the opportunity to meditate on many issues I had studied in the past.

This current book, published in 2022, is the result of a deep look at and examination of all the materials I was able to collect throughout these 45 years. The ultimate urge to publish the book was inspired by Ken Burns and his 2022 fiasco presentation of the whitewashed and fabricated story of America and the Holocaust.

Any reader of this book will understand that the current Israeli crisis situation is connected to events that happened in 1943-1944 in Washington, D.C. This book that I have written presents not only the story of America’s involvement in the Holocaust, but critically explores the possibility of the current Israeli situation, as well as a possibility for peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Therefore, it is important that the reader recognizes that my work is not only historical, but that it also deals with intellectualism and political philosophy that are tied hand-in-hand; without each of these elements, it is very difficult to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the Holocaust and its aftermath.

Eliyho Matz lives in Great Barrington.

]]>