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

August 11, 2021

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 highly problematic 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-Intelligence an 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 Aeronautical University 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 purposely framed 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 human rights 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) was forged by the KGB.

The article initially appeared in an online edition of the journal which preceded its print version by several months. It was brought 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 a peer-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 print edition.
Under those conditions, Zuroff reached out to Professor Rudling, with whom he had cooperated in the past in exposing Ukrainian Holocaust 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 respected courts 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 an article 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 legitimacy to 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 serious scholars. 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 political dimensions. 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.