Guenter Lewy

Guenter Lewy (born 1923, Germany) is an author and historian, and a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Massachusetts. His works span several topics, but he is most often associated with his book on the Vietnam War and works that deal with the applicability of the genocide label to various historical contexts.

In 1939, he immigrated to British Palestine and then to the United States. He has been on the faculties of Columbia University, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts. He currently lives in Washington, D.C. and is a frequent contributor to "Commentary".

Areas of research

The Catholic Church and Nazi Germany

First published in 1964, Lewy's "The Catholic Church and Nazi Germany" has proven both controversial and influential. [Marchione, Margherita. "Pope Pius XII: Architect for Peace". 2000, page 213] Rolf Hochhuth's controversial play "The Deputy" had appeared only a year earlier, indicting the Vatican for failing to act to save the Jews during the Holocaust; amidst the Vatican's outrage with the play, Lewy's text continued in the same vein:

One is inclined to conclude that the Pope and his advisers--influenced by the long tradition of moderate anti-Semitism so widely accepted in Vatican circles--did not view the plight of the Jews with a real sense of urgency and moral outrage. For this assertion no documentation is possible, but it is a conclusion difficult to avoid.Marchione, Margherita. "Pope Pius XII: Architect for Peace". 2000, page 16-7]

When Lewy's text was well-received, the Vatican opted to answer the critical allegations by releasing a series of documents aiming to refute the growing perception of the Vatican having been conniving in the Holocaust. One Jesuit priest answering Lewy's text on behalf of the Vatican suggested that Lewy's conclusions were based "not on the record but on a subjective conviction... This ready acceptance of a Nazi-inspired wartime legend is a measure of Lewy's inability to plumb the motives of Pius XII... There is no proof, in this book or anywhere else, that Pius XII thought Nazism was a 'bulwark' in defense of Christianity."

In the context of other historical works examining the legacy of the Vatican in the era of the Holocaust, Lewy's work has been described as "exceedingly harsh" [Grobman, Alex. "Genocide: Critical Issues of the Holocaust". page 292-3.] but also seminal and well-received.

America in Vietnam

Lewy had suggested that his "America in Vietnam", published in 1978, would "clear away the cobwebs of mythology that inhibit the correct understanding of what went on -- and what went wrong -- in Vietnam." [Campbell, Neil and Kean, Alsdair. "American Cultural Studies: An Introduction to American Culture" p. 255] The text, which argues against traditional or "orthodox" interpretations of the war as an unnecessary, unjust, and/or unwinnable war replete with disastrous mistakes and widespread American atrocities, has proven influential for many western scholars that share similar views of the conflict. It predated and influenced other reinterpretations including those of Norman Podhoretz, cite journal
first =James
last =Fellows
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =1982
month =March 28
title =In Defense of an Offensive War
journal =New York Times
volume =
issue =
pages =
id =
url =http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9407E6DB1439F93BA15750C0A964948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2 ] Mark Moyar, and Michael Lind. "America in Vietnam" thus attracted both criticism and support of Lewy for belonging to the "revisionist" school on Vietnam. cite journal
first =Ian
last =Horwood
authorlink =
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year =
month =
title =Book review: Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954–1965
journal =Institute of Historial Research
volume =
issue =
pages =
id =
url =http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/paper/horwood.html ] cite journal
first =Lance
last =Morrow
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coauthors =
year =1979
month =April 23
title =Viet Nam Comes Home
journal =Time Magazine
volume =
issue =
pages =
id =
url =http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,920247-6,00.html ] cite journal
first =Robert A.
last =Divine
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coauthors =
year =1979
month =September
title =Review: Revisionism in Reverse
journal =Reviews in American History
volume =7
issue =3
pages =433–438
id =
url = http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0048-7511%28197909%297%3A3%3C433%3ARIR%3E2.0.CO%3B2-C
doi =10.2307/2701181 ] It was praised by current US Senator Jim Webb (then of the House Committee on Veteran's Affairs staff). Critics included historians of the "orthodox" school as well as polemical critics such as linguist and famous Vietnam War opponent Noam Chomsky. [Noam Chomsky's review of "America in Vietnam" is titled " [http://www.winkestleak.net/vietnam1.html On the aggression of South Vietnamese peasants against the United States] ", collected in his book, "Towards a New Cold War", (New York: Pantheon/Random House, 1982), ISBN 0-394-74944-8. ...every state has its Guenter Lewys who will stretch an elastic legal code to accommodate whatever atrocities "military necessity" and available military technology find convenient." ...] Chomsky was criticized in Lewy's book for his role in proliferating charges of widespread American war crimes through the aegis of the Committee of Concerned Asia Scholars, characterized as being part of a "veritable industry" of war crimes allegations. [ Lewy, Guenter. "America in Vietnam", p. 224.]

Lewy contends that the Vietnam War was legal and not immoral. In recalling the 1971 congressional testimony of some US veterans who were critical of the war, one of whom compared US action in Vietnam to genocide, Lewy suggests that some "witnesses sounded as if they had memorized North Vietnamese propaganda."Lewy, Guenter. "America in Vietnam". p. 317]

The book is broadly critical of domestic opponents of American participation in the Vietnam War. In using the phrases "peace activists" or "peace demonstrations", Lewy often puts quotation marks around the word "peace", implying alternative motivations for the activism. The author discusses the allegation of a connection between cases of sabotage in the Navy and the anti-war movement:

Between 1965 and 1970, the Navy experienced a growing number of cases of sabotage and arson on its ships, but no evidence could be found that antiwar activists had directly participated in a sabotage attempt on a Navy vessel. Cases of fragging and avoidance of combat may well have been instigated at times by antiwar militants, though no hard evidence of organized subversion was ever discovered. [Lewy, Guenter. "America in Vietnam". p. 159]

Winter Soldier Investigation

"America in Vietnam", which appeared seven years after the Winter Soldier Investigation, became controversial in the context of the 2004 US Presidential Election. Presidential hopeful John Kerry had been involved with the Winter Soldier Investigation; in the context of the campaign, Lewy's suggestion that the Winter Soldier Investigation was dishonest and politically motivated was frequently cited to impugn John Kerry's reputation. cite journal
first =
last =
authorlink =
coauthors =
year = 2004
month =August 23
title = Swift Boat Veterans Anti-Kerry Ad: "He Betrayed Us" With 1971 Anti-War Testimony. Group quotes Kerry's descriptions of atrocities by US forces. In fact, atrocities did happen.
journal =factcheck.org
volume =
issue =
pages =
id =
url =http://www.factcheck.org/swift_boat_veterans_anti-kerry_ad_he_betrayed.html ]

Vietnam Veterans Against the War, the group of which Kerry had been a part, alleged that American troops had committed atrocities in Vietnam. Lewy suggests that the group used "fake witnesses" in the Winter Soldier hearing in Detroit, and that its allegations were formally investigated:

The results of the investigation, carried out by the Naval Investigative Service, are interesting and revealing. Many of the veterans, though assured that they would not be questioned about the atrocities they might have committed personally, refused to be interviewed. One of the active members of the VVAW told investigators that the leadership had directed the entire membership not to cooperate with military authorities. A black marine who agreed to be interviewed was unable to provide details of the outrages he had described at the hearing, but he called the Vietnam war "one huge atrocity" and "a racist plot." He admitted that the question of atrocities had not occurred to him while he was in Vietnam, and that he had been assisted in the preparation of his testimony by a member of the Nation of Islam. But the most damaging finding consisted of the sworn statements of several veterans, corroborated by witnesses, that they had in fact not attended the hearing in Detroit. One of them had never been to Detroit in all his life. He did not know, he stated, who might have used his name.

Government officials today have no record of any such Naval Investigative Service report, although they suggest that it could have been lost or destroyed. cite journal
first =G.W.
last =
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =2004
month =September 13
title = Stolen Honor producer Sherwood falsely claimed Winter Soldier investigation "utterly discredited"
journal = Media Matters
volume =
issue =
pages =
id =
url = http://mediamatters.org/items/200409130003 ] Lewy later said that he could not recall if he had actually seen the alleged report or simply been told of its contents. [Rejali, Darius. "Torture and Democracy". 2007, page 588]

The Nazi Persecution of the Gypsies

Lewy argues in "The Nazi Persecution of the Gypsies" that the Gypsies' overall plight does "not constitute genocide within the meaning of the genocide convention."Lewy, Guenter. "The Nazi Persecution of the Gypsies" p. 223] In a section of the book entitled "The Persecution of Gypsies and Jews Compared", Lewy suggests that prejudice alone does not explain the persecution of the gypsies; rather, their "negative behavioral traits" may have contributed to their persecution. cite journal
first =Michael
last =Beckerman
authorlink =
coauthors =
date =April 1
month =2001
title =Pushing Gypsiness, Roma or Otherwise
journal =New York Times
volume =
issue =
pages =
id =
url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE1DD1F3CF932A35757C0A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2 ]

The involuntary sterilizations of Gypsies carried out pursuant to the Auschwitz decree, on the other hand, can be considered acts of genocide within the meaning of the convention. Not all Gypsies were made subject to what has justifiably been called "biological death," and the aim was as much to prevent the contamination of "German blood" as to halt the propagation of the Zigeunermischlinge. Still, these actions do fulfill the letter of the convention, which forbids "measures intended to prevent births" within a targeted group. The individuals caught up in this manifestly illegal program were not killed; yet without the prospect of descendants, they were the victims of "delayed genocide".

Michael Zimmermann concludes that it is impossible to demonstrate the existence of an a priori program to destroy the Gypsies but nevertheless calls the brutal persecution of the Gypsies a genocide, a mass murder that was "methodically realized though not planned in advance." Such a use of the term "genocide" would seem to involve a dilution of the concept.

Were American Indians the Victims of Genocide?

In September 2004, Lewy published an essay entitled " [http://hnn.us/articles/7302.html Were American Indians the Victims of Genocide?] ":

[E] ven if some episodes can be considered genocidal—that is, tending toward genocide—they certainly do not justify condemning an entire society. Guilt is personal, and for good reason the Genocide Convention provides that only "persons" can be charged with the crime, probably even ruling out legal proceedings against governments.

As to whether the American Indian experience resembles the fate of the Jews under the Nazi regime:

No matter how difficult the conditions under which the Indians labored—obligatory work, often inadequate food and medical care, corporal punishment—their experience bore no comparison with the fate of the Jews in the ghettos.cite web|url=http://hnn.us/articles/7302.html |title=Were American Indians the Victims of Genocide? |work=History News Network|author=Lewy,Guenter |date= |accessdate=2008-10-08]

The paper is highly critical of Ward Churchill, particularly in regards to his attributing the word "genocide" to the destruction of American Indian civilization. Lewy says Churchill's assertion that the U.S. Army intentionally spread smallpox among American Indians by distributing infected blankets in 1837 is false. Lewy calls Churchill's claim of 100,000 deaths from the incident "obviously absurd". [ [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3540066,00.html Rocky Mountain News] ] This instance of academic fraud was one of several cited by the Standing Committee on Research Conduct at the University of Colorado. On June 26, 2006, the University's Interim Chancellor announced the initiation of dismissal proceedings against Churchill. [ [http://www.colorado.edu/news/reports/churchill/distefano062606.html University of Colorado News Center] ]

The Armenian massacres in Ottoman Turkey

In "The Armenian Massacres in Ottoman Turkey: A Disputed Genocide", Lewy argues that there is insufficient evidence of the Young Turk regime organizing the massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. cite journal
first =Guenter
last =Lewy
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =2005
month =Fall
title =Revisiting the Armenian Genocide
journal =Middle East Quarterly
volume =
issue =
pages =
id =
url = http://www.meforum.org/article/748 ] While Lewy asserts "a figure of 642,000 Armenians killed" in the years 1915-6 alone, he believes that the killings are not genocide, because they have not been proven to have been governmentally organized. cite journal
first =Selcuk
last =Gultasli
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =
month =
title =No Evidence of Ottoman Intent to Destroy Armenian Community
journal =Today's Zaman
volume =
issue =
pages =
id =
url = http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=32399 ]

Lewy's research on this topic has been criticized by University of California, Davis professor Keith David Watenpaugh:

: [Lewy's] recent writings on mass violence including those on Native Americans, the Roma, and now the Armenians indicate a belief that the Shoah was the unique genocide of the 20th century, a position generally rejected by scholars of the Holocaust... the larger purpose of Lewy's intellectual output ... [is] to construct a conceptual lattice for Holocaust exceptionalism and defend political claims that might be derived thereby. cite journal
first =HNN Staff
last =
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =2007
month =August 17
title =Historians in the News Michael Gunter: He blurbed a book ... Should he then have reviewed it?
journal = History News Network
volume =
issue =
pages =
id =
url =http://hnn.us/roundup/entries/41948.html]

According to Joe Kechichian, an Armenian scholar writing in the "International Journal of Middle East Studies," of Lewy's work:

:….Lewy has been amply rewarded by Turkish authorities in Ankara and abroad through the launching of a massive campaign to distribute his book free of charge to libraries and to select groups of diplomats. Equally noteworthy, Lewy has been decorated at a special ceremony in Ankara with, ironically, the Insanliga Karss i Islenen Suçlar Yüksek Ödülü (High Award for Fighting in Opposition to Crimes Against Humanity)... [by] a well-known organization whose mission includes the systematic denial of the Armenian genocide through propagandistic and partisan research and publications; the organization is sponsored and underwritten by the Turkish government.

However also writing in the "International Journal of Middle East Studies," Professor of Political Science Michael Gunter has argued that the fact that Lewy’s book has been distributed free to libraries does not demonstrate that the argument of the book is somehow illegitimate. Nor does the fact that Lewy was presented with an award by the Center for Eurasian Strategic Studies (ASAM), a Turkish think tank, prove that he is lying or is in the service of the Turkish government. Indeed in many parts of his book, Lewy is highly critical of the quasi-official Turkish position which speaks of “so-called massacres.” [ Lewy, Guenter. "The Armenian Massacres in Ottoman Turkey: A Disputed Genocide", p. 94, 95, 106, 115, 122, 252.]

Michael Gunter points out that Lewy’s book has been praised by many reviewers, including the Ottoman military historian Edward J. Erickson in the "International Journal of Middle East Studies" and by the German scholar of comparative genocide, Eberhard Jäckel, in the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" of March 23, 2006. Masaki Kakiszaki of the University of Utah assesses Lewy's work as follows in "Critical Middle Eastern Studies":

:"The Armenian Massacres in Ottoman Turkey" is an important accomplishment by a political scientist who has worked on comparative studies of genocidal issues. He not only spells out many inconsistencies, illogical reasoning, and presentation of unauthentic historical documents appearing in the Armenian and Turkish accounts but also identifies where researchers need to go for further enquiry. The attack against Lewy's book and the controversy created by Peter Balakian and others who share his views indicate the problem of academic freedom of speech with respect to events associated with the Turkish-Armenian conflicts. There are coordinated efforts by Armenian NGOs and scholars to silence and suppress different interpretations about the events of 1915. cite journal
first =Masaki
last =Kakiszaki
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =2007
month =March 23
title =Ethnic Cleansing or Genocide
journal =Critical Middle Eastern Studies
volume =16
issue =1
pages =85–92
id =
url =http://armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2007/03/1537-ethnic-cleansing-or-genocide.html]

Uniqueness of the Holocaust

In the "Journal of Genocide Research", David Stannard called Guenter Lewy

:one of the last of a disappearing breed: the extreme "uniqueness" advocate determined to assert - in the face of contrary and increasingly overwhelming fact and logic - that, of all the mass killings that have ever occurred in the history of the world, only the Holocaust, or more precisely the Shoah, rose to the level of true "genocide." [David Stannard, [http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a790754307~db=all~tab=content~order=page Deja Vu All Over Again] , "Journal of Genocide Research", Volume 10, Issue 1, March 2008, p. 127.]

According to Lewy (referring to a previous version of this entry),

:The same canard appears in the Wikipedia article about me which states that my various publications "promote the singularity of the genocide of Jews in the Holocaust" and in other reviews of my work.

Lewy comments:

:Let me try to set the record straight: In none of my writings have I ever asserted the uniqueness or singularity of the Holocaust, and indeed I do not believe that the Holocaust is the only instance of mass killing that deserves to be classified as an act of genocide. With Yehuda Bauer I would call the Holocaust unprecedented but not unique, because the term unique suggests that something like the Holocaust can never happen again. In point of fact, later in the twentieth century we witnessed the terrible genocides of Cambodia and Rwanda. I would welcome it if critics of my work would limit themselves to dealing with the substance of my positions rather than falsely impute to me ulterior motives. [Guenter Lewy, [http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a794121593~db=all~tab=content~order=page Reply to Tony Barta, Norbert Finzsch and David Stannard] , "Journal of Genocide Research", Volume 10, Issue 2, June 2008, p. 307.]

References

Published works

*cite book | author=Lewy, Guenter | title=America in Vietnam | publisher= Oxford University Press | year=1978 | id=ISBN 0-19-502732-9
*cite book | author=Lewy, Guenter | title= Peace and Revolution: The Moral Crisis of American Pacifism | publisher= | year=1988 | id=ISBN 0-8028-3640-2
*cite book | author=Lewy, Guenter | title=The Cause That Failed: Communism in American Political Life | publisher= | year= 1990 | id=ISBN 0-19-505748-1
*cite book | author=Lewy, Guenter | title=Why America Needs Religion: Secular Modernity and Its Discontents | publisher= | year=1996 | id=ISBN 0-8028-4162-7
*cite book | author=Lewy, Guenter | title=The Catholic Church and Nazi Germany| publisher=Da Capo Press | year= 2000 | id=ISBN 0-306-80931-1
*cite book | author=Lewy, Guenter | title=The Nazi Persecution of the Gypsies | publisher=0195142403 | year= 2001 | id=ISBN 0-19-514240-3
*cite book | author=Lewy, Guenter | title=The Armenian Massacres in Ottoman Turkey: A Disputed Genocide | publisher=University of Utah Press | year= 2005 | id=ISBN 0-87480-849-9