Chabad Wants Righteous Gentile Status For Nazi Who Saved Rebbe

Nazi officer saved rebbe at request of US.

Chabad requests 'righteous gentile' status for Nazi commander
Matthew Wagner , THE JERUSALEM POST

Chabad Lubavitch presented a request Monday to Yad Vashem to recognize a high-ranking military commander in the Third Reich as a righteous gentile for saving Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef Schneerson, the sixth Chabad rebbe.

Admiral Canaris, commander of the Nazi Abwehr, or intelligence, had a central role in securing Schneerson's escape from the Warsaw Ghetto along with members of Schneerson's family and entourage, said Yosef Kaminetzky, a writer who recently completed a book on the escape story.

Kaminetzky, along with Kfar Chabad secretary Rabbi Binyamin Lipshitz sent a letter of request to Yad Vashem to consider Canaris as a candidate for righteous gentile status.

"He saved the rebbe, why shouldn't he be recognized as a righteous gentile?" said Kaminetzky, explaining why it was important to Chabad.

"What makes Canaris even more worthy of praise is the fact that he came from the Nazi leadership."

However, Dr. Ephraim Zuroff, director of the Wiesenthal Center in Israel called Chabad's request "problematic."

"It smacks of a certain particularism," said Zuroff in a telephone interview. "It is not fair to judge Canaris by a specific good deed when at the same he was in the upper hierarchy of the Third Reich."

A Yad Vashem spokesperson said that since they had not yet received an official request they could not comment on the Canaris issue.

Chabad's effort was based on new information revealed by historian Danny Orbach, the author of a new book in Hebrew entitled Valkyrie -German Resistance to Hitler.

Orbach, a doctoral student at Harvard University of modern Japanese history, said he has devoted the last six years to researching German opposition to the Nazi regime.

Orbach said that in 2002 he issued a request to Yad Vashem that was later rejected to recognize Canaris as a righteous gentile.

Orbach said that Yad Vashem's rejection of the request was based on two claims: first, that Canaris did not risk his life to save Jews, rather he used his authority as a commander; second that Canaris helped the war effort and did not oppose it.

"For the sake of historical justice I believe Canaris should be recognized as a righteous gentile," said Orbach.

"I have proof that he did risk his life to save Jews and that he also actively attempted to hurt the Nazi war effort by convincing Franco the Spanish dictator not to join the Nazis."

Another request presented by Orbach in 2002 was accepted. Canaris's aide Hans von Dohnanyi, who acted on Canaris's behalf, was named a righteous gentile in 2003.

Both Von Dohnanyi and Canaris were executed by the Nazis.

Canaris was executed in the last days of the war after it was discovered that he had tried to assassinate Hitler.

He was hanged naked by SS guards on April 9, 1945 together with Hans Oster, deputy head of the Abwehr under Canaris, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor and theologian who opposed the Nazi regime.

This version of the rescue is incorrect. US Military Intelligence asked its German counterpart to save the rebbe. The US did so because a lobbyist Chabad hired – but never paid – worked nonstop for weeks on end to make the arrangements.

The rebbe's first request on reaching a neutral country was to have the US save his silver and his book collection.

There is no record of the rebbe ever asking the US to save Jewish lives.

Canaris was basically a good man trapped in a bad situation. He did what he could and eventually paid with his life for doing it.

But what Canaris did to save the rebbe was done before US entry in WW2 and before Germany had shifted from mass killings of Jews to full fledged extermination. What he did to save the rebbe was not especially risky for him or for the men he sent to do the job.

Bryan Mark Rigg wrote the seminal book on this rescue.

That the Jerusalem Post does not mention Rigg or his book shows again how sloppy (and, I would argue, how biased) the Post can be when covering Chabad.

[Hat Tip: Joel Katz.]

Comments

[Isa]

I think,Admiral Canaris,was really executed because the Nazis searched his office and found documents indicating he was giving intelligence to the Allies.
Perhaps they should have another category as, 'righteous gentile' means someone who RISKED their life.

[itchiemayer]

I will grant you that Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman, ZT"L made a mistake in not accepting offers he had to bring his talmidim and himself to the United States. However, the least one could say about R' Elchanan is he would not separate himself from his talmidim, and he was devoted to them. The fact that he made a grave error does not, IMHO, mean he wasn't devoted to them. Contrast with the actions of the second to last Grand Rabbi of Lubavitch - He just wanted out, and didn't care who he left behind. Can you imagine how heartbroken his followers must have been when he left.

[seymour]

if the same circumstance had hhpened but it was not Schneerson nobody would say he was a
righteous gentile.

Including him in would diminish the sacrifices that the others righteous gentile endured to save Jews.

If the rebbie had influence why only him and his family? Smells bad?

[SJ]

Wasserhomo was also very anti-zionist. If Wasserhomo had it his way there wouldn't be an Israel.

[Nachum]

Don't the people pushing for this realize how bad it looks? Some of the "righteous" saved thousands of people, without favor, and it took them years to be recognized.

[Andrew]

"The US did so because a lobbyist Chabad hired – but never paid – worked nonstop for weeks on end to make the arrangements."

Who was this Lobbyist? Why was he not paid?

[effie]

Canaris both helped and hurt the nazi war effort. He was turning over intelligence and also plotted against Hitler. He risked nothing by letting Schneerson escape. And, yeah, this looks bad.

[feivish]

itchiemayer,

I'm not sure exactly what you are talking about. The overwhelming majority of the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe's followers and talmidim were in the former USSR. He was expelled from that country after a death sentence on him was overturned** Yes, while being in Latvia and Poland he opened a Yeshiva for Local students (most of them had absolutely no connection to Chabad and very little of them actually learned Chassidus. at the onset of the war, all the talmidim scattered, some of them managed to escape (with his advice and blessings) via Japan and Shanghai. the Rebbe was trapped in Warsow, which was bombarded many times a day and thus with G-d's help was saved from there and brought to the blessed shores of the USA

**
for the crime of being the only Frum leader (yes the ONLY) continuing to keep the flame of yidishket alive under the communists - a task that he continued to lead from America, and his son in law - the 7th Chabad Rebbe continued until the fall of the iron curtain! aside from the ones affected by the rebbe's efforts, the is virtually no trace of all the other illustrious large prestigious yeshivos from these years that has any survivors - in terms of people that continued to live as Jews.

see this First Secretary in the Israeli Embassy describe the involvement of the rebbe he witnessed behind the iron curtain
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BFUIeY4_7w&feature=channel_page

[Chazak]

I am tired of chabad being perceived as the Go-To front for Jews.

Something has to be done. Now I know chabad serves lots of vodka to underage teens every friday night at least in my experience. Ain't this illegal? If not illegal then um I think i can arrange for a few million college kids to show up at chabad.

[Dave Marshall]

Chazak, I quite agree with you. I suggest that some Modern Orthodox rabbis join together with some Sephardic rabbis and with those Hasidic rabbis, possibly Breslover? Bratslaver?, and all jointly work together to set up a parallel network, ie. do what Chabad now does, but without the Elokistim/ Mechistim stuff.
But I am probably dreaming.

[Dave Marshall]

I meant to say "with those Hasidic rabbis who are willing to work with "secular" people".

[Yosef ben Matitya]

"I am tired of chabad being perceived as the Go-To front for Jews."

it's worse than many imagine, chazak!
yesterday, a domestic aircraft had an accident in koh samui thailand. some israeli tourists were on board. the israeli journalists reporting interview and quote one 'rabbi' Vilhelm of habad on site. They don't even attempt to hear what the consul knows or have to say.

[Yosef ben Matitya]

Dave
sorry to disappoint you, breslov is possibly as bad as it gets as habad.

[mb]

for the crime of being the only Frum leader (yes the ONLY) continuing to keep the flame of yidishket alive under the communists "

While not wishing to diminish the work of the previous Rebbe in the Soviet Union, it is not true he was the only one. You should see what Dayan Abramsky Zt'l did before finally being thrown out.

[Shmarya]

for the crime of being the only Frum leader (yes the ONLY) continuing to keep the flame of yidishket alive under the communists - a task that he continued to lead from America, and his son in law -

Please. Pure PR. See here:

Yud Beis Tammuz.

A Moral Failure

[Daniel Botnick]

"But what Canaris did to save the rebbe was done before US entry in WW2 and before Germany had shifted from mass killings of Jews to full fledged extermination."

"...before Germany had shifted from mass killings of Jews to full fledged extermination"???

What kind of imbecilic distinction is that? You talk about sloppy journalism; this statement reveals your sloppy thought processes.

[Shmarya]

"...before Germany had shifted from mass killings of Jews to full fledged extermination"???

What kind of imbecilic distinction is that? You talk about sloppy journalism; this statement reveals your sloppy thought processes.

Not at all.

There was no final solution in September 1939. The Rebbe was saved in December, I think, or early January of 1940.

Most mass killings of Jews happened after.

But the point is, Germany's INTERNAL policy was unclear, and a man like Canaris could do what he did with little risk.

[Shmarya]

Who was this Lobbyist?

Read Rigg's book.

Why was he not paid?

Why launder money, cheat on taxes and do countless other frauds?

[shalom]

Yosef ben Matitya,

It so happens to be that the Israeli consulate in these far east countries that have lots of Israeli backpackers rely heavily and work closely with local chabad shluchim. check it out yourself

[shalom]

mb,
what years are you talking about? the first several years, you may be right but very quickly all the yeshivos closed down and most jews sent their kids to yidish speaking communist atheist schools... and eventually turned on their parents... r"l

[Colin Fraser]

I don't think anyone really knows what Canaris did for or against the Nazi war effort as his actual dealings are clouded in the secrecy normally acccorded the chief of a secret intelligence service. Most biographers recognize that his character is impenetrable.

Would Canaris care if he was admitted or not? I doubt it. I choose to remember him as someone who died opposing Hitler and therefore worthy of my respect. That doesn't mean I have to treat him as a saint. It seems that becoming a RG is akin to gaining access to some kind of high brow club with obscure membership requirements and a back room admissions committee.

[WoolSilkCotton]

He was probably bribed a fortune to let YYS leave. Nothing altruistic about his 'saving' YYS.

Since Chabad can't get over worshipping their rebbes, even a nazi is labeled 'righteous' if he did a favor for a rebbe.

[Ben]

Many Nazis had their favorite one or two Jews including Hitler himself who issued orders to keep his childhood doctor alive throughout the war in Vienna.

There is nothing that matches righteous gentile status in Kanaris's behaviour. The Chabad is full of BS in this case. By this standard most of Nazi murderers would joing RG ranks because many of them covered for at least one Jew who in their eyes was not like any other Jews.

[Nachum]

I don't want to deny that those who plotted against Hitler were brave and, on balance, on the right side of history. But I object to making them out as the big heroes of the war, the way this new movie with Tom Cruise would have us believe. Let's be honest here: Most of them were just fine with the Nazis and going along with Hitler until the war started to go bad for Germany. Most of them were far from motivated by feelings of democracy and very, very few of them gave the Jews a second thought.

[Chicago Samson]

MMS believed that his father-in-law was the Moshe Rabbanu of his generation (sic)

[Menachem]

Scott,
You are one sad story...
I can't believe that anyone would take you seriously.

[Steven in uk]

While the ploters depitted in the Tom Cruse had mixed motives and maybe should not be heros of ours.

We should however bear in mind had they been successful, they would undoubtedly have terminated the Holocaust, even just out of self interest .

[Nachum]

Oh, for sure. But that doesn't make them worthy of Yad Vashem. If Germany (or even Israel) wants to make an "anti-Hitler" museum, kol hakavod.

[Ben]

Should we also put mad Adolph himself on the alley of righteous gentiles for saving his Jewish childhood doctor?

I think not and I think Chabad request is really sick.

[Eshel]

Rghteousness for one deed would be in the "even a blind hog finds an acorn now and again" category of righteousness.