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PAGE 6 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE July 25, 1986 tf^USED NJ • Credemas • Sofas * Desks • Folding Tables • Chairs • End Tables • Bookcases • Conference Tables • Files • Storage Cabinets • Club Chairs • Typing Tables ... and More! 1860 Cheshire Bridge Rd. N.E. (404) 872-8925 OFFICE SUPPLIES & FURNITURE New Furniture located at 1851 PIEDMONT RD NE* ATLANTA GA 30324 Romantic FVench doors are practical again, now that Pella makes them. Pella Traditional French Doors swing open for a wide welcome, a grand view, more sunshine and ventilation. Or you may choose one door fixed and the other center-hinged. And a single one makes a sunny entry door. You'll make a grand entrance, especially when you add energy-sav ing Type E Slimshade" 11 blinds between the panes of insulating glass. It's the sensible way to lend a French door privacy and shade. Or add real wood windowpane dividers between the panes of glass where they 'll never need dusting. The wide, authoritative wood frame is a beautiful natural insulator that doesn't frost up as metal doors can. TWo weatherstripping systems seal your home against air and moisture. And outside, you may choose rich brown or white alumi num cladding that never needs paint. Come find what you're looking for at the Pella Window Store and have all your questions answered by an expert. The Pella Window % Store Sandy Springs & College Park Stores Open Saturday 9-12 Pella of Georgia Sandy Springs*The Prado Mall* 5600 Roswell Road • 257-0976 College Park»Old Natl. Village* 5147 Old National Hwy*768-2716 Doraville • 200-A Piedmont Court — 449-5432 Tucker* Boulevard Walk Shopping Center*6330 Lawrenceville Hwy — 939-5843 Open Mon hn 9-5 Other times by appointment The cutting edge Keeper of the Holocaust history by Edwin Black This column is adapted from a forthcoming article in the National Jewish Monthly. —Editor. No one in America is closer to the truth about the Holocaust than Robert Wolfe. Wolfe is the archivist in charge of Nazi documentation at the Na tional Archives in Washington, and since 1961, has been entrusted with the organization and safekeeping of millions of documents relating to the Holocaust era. That respon sibility has compelled him to con clude, “There is no greater evi dence of the Holocaust than the contemporary records of the per petrators themselves.” Wolfe is both the guardian of that truth and the man determined to make it acces sible. Reposing in numberless oblong document boxes and microfilm reels, captured Nazi records in the massive National Archives build ing are stored in high security vault-like chambers along a maze of confusing corridors. So impen etrable is this repository, that four floors at the front of the building are physically on different levels than those at the rear of the build ing. But if anyone knows his way around the cavernous archive, and its holdings, it is Wolfe. Although no one could possibly be aware of every Reich document contained within some 30,000 microfilm reels, Wolfe is one of the four or five most knowledgeable in the coun try. He began his career as a "screcner” in the ’60s, as part of the thing we actually had. But the pho tos were released anyway in that condition, and that s exactly the impression the world received. Wolfe was also consulted about Kurt Waldheim. “The records on Waldheim were certainly here,” asserts Wolfe, “but somebody needed a reason to dig into them again.” World Jewish Congress re searchers contacted Wolfe “very early in the game,” he recalls, “ex plaining that Waldheim's memoirs lied about his wartime record; he was really in the Balkans. They didn’t know which unit, only that i “There is no greater evidence of the Holocaust than the contemporary records of the perpetrators themselves.” Wolfe is both the guardian of that truth and the man determined to make it accessible. 5 VjVQINT HOTELS. You’re Always Welcome _ 2061 N. Druid Hills Rond, N.E Atlanta, Georgia 10)2*) 321-4174 $52 S55. SINGLE ‘ x DOUBLE WEEKEND SPECIAL $39 • 195 Guest Rooms •Complimentary Van Service to Lenox Square and sur rounding office complexes • Non-Smoking Rooms • Complimentary In-Room Coffee Service • Pool • Unlimited Free Parking • Meeting Banquet Facilities (404) 321-4174, Ext. 142 or 14) 1-800-225-3050 American Historical Association’s research team reviewing unorgan ized captured Nazi papers. Later, when the National Archives acces sioned the collection, Wolfe was placed in charge and wrote some of the guides to SS materials. With experience comes a spe cial expertise about Nazi documen tation that has guided thousands of Holocaust and Nazi-era scho lars w ho over the years have come to him for assistance. “A researcher experienced in one area, may not know what he is reading in another area,” explains Wolfe. For this reason, major Holocaust controv ersies often end up on Wolfe’s desk for guidance. In 1978. for instance, Central Intelligence Agency photo analysts discovered the Auschwitz-Birkenau files. Wolfe was secretly briefed in anticipation of their release. “Using modern enhancement techniques, close cropping, blow-ups and adding labels,” recalls Wolfe, “these guys produced something very in teresting based on what we now know, showing the death camp in operation. I told them they had to put things in context, or it would look like the United States had information far clearer than any- NOW OPEN ON SUNDAY 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. Shampoo • Cut • Blow Dry $10 00 Men’s Wet Cut and Blow Dry $8 00 Permanent (includes cut) $35 00 Shampoo, Cut, and Set $16 00 REGGjES • Hair Stylist Toco Hills Shopping Center»2205 LoVista Rd., Suite 0633-3832 he served with Gen. Alexander Loehr,” recounts Wolfe. “I knew' Lochr was executed in 1947 as a war criminal. The question was, how did Waldheim fit in? The evi dence was scattered through almost 20 rolls of microfilm—each with over 1000 documents. “1 advised them where to search. When they found information leading somewhere and they needed help.” Wolfe continues, “1 was always ready to oblige. For exam ple, when the cryptic listing, ’03,’ appears next to Waldheim’s name, what does that mean? It means he is a staff officer in charge of inter rogations.” Ultimately, WJC and other re searchers located essential docu mentation in the National Archives to expand their charges against Waldheim. Wolfe is careful, how ever, not to lend his own interpreta tion to the Waldheim documenta tion. “The guidance was ours, the interpretations were theirs,” says Wolfe. Speaking personally, and not as a government archivist, Wolfe con cedes, “Perhaps there’s enough for an indictment, but 1 haven’t seen enough yet for a conviction. And a good prosecutor is reluctant to make an indictment unless he can win a conviction. One should make charges where there is solid proof From a tactical point of view, it j s better to build a case than to ‘p. R ’ your case.” While the United Nations has rightly come under attack by histo rians for keeping its War Crimes Commission documents closed, as an archivist Wolfe understands their thinking. “The U.N. Commission reports include a lot of preliminary lists,” asserts Wolfe. “Some people appearing on those U.N. lists were actually anti-Nazis who ended up there by mistake. The U.S. Army made similar lists during the same period,” he explains. “But we used to clean up our lists regularly when we discovered that it was a mistake.” Indeed, every archive restricts material based on different crite ria. More than a half century after the rise of Hitler, there are still Holocaust-era documents classified in various public and private ar chives around the world. In rare instances, this includes the Na tional Archives, where such re strictions are made by either Wolfe or his staff. Are there other Waldheim-genre timebombs lurking in the oblong boxes and microfilm reels of the National Archives? “There can’; be many more” says Wolfe, “because generally they only become impor tant w hen the person is alive. Most of these people are dead now. But nobody knows. All 1 can say is that if anyone suddenly needs to check, we have the documents here.” Wolfe's devotion to his work springs from far more than simple archival professionalism. Among the world’s archivists, Wolfe stands out less as a paper perfectionist than a deeply compassionate man, whose awful present tense is safe guarding the history of the destruc tion of six million Jews. In that regard, Wolfe has a warning: “ l he Holocaust needs no exaggeration,” says Wolfe. “It is beyond exaggeration. And to em broider the facts in any way is itself a sin against the martyrs.” * 1986 Feature Group ADL complains of Saudi press Hour*: Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m.-8:00 p.m. Saturday 8:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m. NEW YORK (JTA)-The Anti- Defamation League of B’nai B’rith has lodged a new protest with the Saudi Arabian government over the publication in the Saudi Press of at least 27 “viciously” anti-Semit ic editorials, articles and cartoons since the first of the year. In a July 10 letter to Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan, associate national director Abraham Foxman, who is head of the ADL’s international affairs di vision, urged the Saudi govern ment “to put an end to the vicious slander emanating from the Saudi national press.” “As we noted in our Feb. 18 let ter,” Foxman wrote, “such crude and wanton attacks could not ap pear in your nation’s publications without official governmental ap proval.” In the month of June alone, the ADL official said, six anti-Jewish cartoons appeared in the Jeddah- based English language newspaper Arab News. Typical of the anti- Semitic material in the Arab News since January were the following: • Stories (Feb. 14 and 15) alleg ing Jewish manipulation of world events through “Zionist control ol the U.S. media.” • Allegations (April 5) that the exposure of Kurt Waldheim’s Nazi ties constituted a “witch hunt” car ried out by Jewdsh organizations. • A cartoon (June 1) showing the Statue of Liberty being carried to her grave with an unflatteringly stereotyped Jewish figure, shovel in hand, waiting to bury her.