Second ZGram - 6/23/2003 - "How Ingrid's ad came about"

[zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org]

Interim ZGram

June 23, 2003

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

Here comes my report about the Washington Times ad that hit the 
newsstands yesterday.  That ad is going to be the buzz of Washington, 
D.C. today in many a place we could never have otherwise reached. 

I just had a report from my volunteer webmaster that since the ad 
appeared, we have had 33,557 hits - and this despite a Washington 
Times misspelling of the URL that gave the zundelsite as sundelsite! 

(On purpose?  Naw!  Couldn't be!)

Actually, a  similar idea started way, way back - long before Ernst 
was arrested.  It has been percolating to the surface ever since. 

When Ernst and I moved to the hills of Tennessee, we did so with the 
understanding and resolve that we would rethink our struggle and our 
mission and see where we could apply our energy and limited resources 
best.  We were dealing with some rather imponderable difficulties as 
well as exciting challenges we had to reckon with and figure out how 
they could be managed.   What we wanted to do, plain and simple, was 
to spread more of the Truth to more places and people, but in a 
different, more exciting way. 

One of the "imponderables" was the state of Revisionism itself.  A 
lot of hard work had gone into the excavation and forensic exposure 
of the Holocaust Lie - but all the skeletons in the closets of our 
enemies had been unburied in painstaking, scientific work of some two 
decades, and there was nothing more to uncover or dig out.  We had 
the evidence.  We knew the Holocaust, as peddled by our enemies, was 
fraudulent.   How often do you re-excavate a site to find out what 
lies buried?  How often would we run like idiots and frantically 
start digging all over again the moment some obscure "Holocaust 
Survivor" shrieked "prove that it didn't happen!"?  Why didn't we 
stop running, dig in our heels, give them the Zundel Laser Stare, and 
say:  "YOU prove it!  It's up to YOU to prove it.  YOU prove it, once 
and for all!  Or else, shut up!  We've had it!"

The task at hand was two-fold:  Legitimizing Revisionism,getting rid 
of the stigma - and stop being on the defensive.  We knew the truth 
would be far more seductive than the lie - at least for our kin. 

We badly wanted to move on.  Ernst longed to paint, to plant his 
potatoes, to live a normal life, to get to know our new relationship 
and our neighbors - and to think, think, and think!  He knew the 
hard, forensic struggle had been won - what we were facing were 
barriers that had to do with stigma, unjust stigma, much of which was 
fraudulently peddled as well.  For my part, I was tired of my ZGrams 
that drained away a lot of time - and, frankly, I was tired of the 
Zundelsite because I felt it had outlived its usefulness.  There were 
now better, more focused Revisionist websites availalable than mine - 
for instance, www.vho.org, www.ihr.org, and others.  - All the 
information was available, out on the Internet, with or without me. 
I had done my part launching it in cyberspace, but now I longed for 
something else.  I had started working on a screenplay and wanted 
more time for myself. 

Additionally, I was dreaming of re-vamping my website,  making it 
more relevant to what I considered Stage Two:  Building cohesion 
among our wildly scattered groups, attracting more creative people, 
calling for a moratorium on the disgusting sniping at each other by 
folks who should be comrades, giving back pride to our guilt-ridden 
youngsters who walk bent because of what their forebears never did 
but were accused of having done for clearly self-serving, 
geopolitical reasons.  

Thirdly, Europe was stirring - particularly Germany.  In many ways, 
the partly reunited Germany had all the earmarks of East Germany 
before the Wall came crashing down:  A lot of undertow.  I mean - a 
lot!  Atop perched still a very jittery elite - with "bad conscience" 
clearly written on their foreheads because they were beholden to 
elements who did not have Germany's welfare and autonomy in mind. 

This was not visible so much in Germany itself as one could see 
reflected in the German-language foreign media that ran a lot of 
formula articles that had the cookie-cutter look: 

Opening paragraph:  Of course we are guilty as hell.  Shame on our 
forefathers!  Shame!
Body of article:  Durnit those wicked Revisionists!   All of them 
closeted Nazis!  You know what they claim?  They claim this and that 
and the other.  Shame on those folks.  Shame!  Shame! More shame! 
Closing remark:  Off to the woodshed we go!  Where are the nearest 
Wiesenthalers?

You didn't hear them snicker, did you?  All the revisionist info was 
there, right in the body of the article.  Discerning folks learned 
long ago how to read between the lines.  We all knew why those 
brackets of political correctness were there - the politically 
correct opening paragraphs, the politically correct conclusion - they 
HAD to be there, for protection.  You see the same tactic on websites 
- not merely dissident websites. 

They'll give you all the info, but the fig leaf is in place.  When I 
chide them, they say:  "Please!  Patience!  One front at a time!"

Fourth, there was Russia - and Putin.  He is a mysterious political 
leader.  We didn't know of anybody who really managed to do a 
concise, convincing reading on Putin's personality and political 
goals.  But we knew he speaks a fluent German, and what political 
chess moves he made looked interesting and promising to people on the 
Right.  Also - and this is not always clearly spelled out in the 
West:  Russia adores talented writers, particularly novelists who 
understand how to embed important messages artistically.  I felt that 
I had some useful coin in having written about a painful time in 
Russian/German history. 

That, in a nutshell, was the frame of reference against which Ernst 
and I discussed many times what we could do to take into account 
these independent variables and make them work for us to bring 
History in Accord with the Facts in a carefully planned, attractive 
but socially responsible cultural offensive.  I mean, let's face it - 
state-of-the-art Revisionism is a bit stuffy.  Who can get excited 
about a less-than-airtight door? 

I was actually dreaming about a publicized trip to Russia and perhaps 
manage to get myself invited to the Kremlin.  For me, it would have 
brought a circle to a close.

Then Ernst was arrested, and the arrest changed everything!  My 
husband was under such brutal surveillance that, sometimes, after he 
finished talking to me on the telephone, with two guards standing at 
his elbow and listening to every word, he was frisked as if he had 
caught something forbidden.  Maybe another politically incorrect 
thought that would start sprouting in the still fertile Zundel mind? 
Horrors!

What was I to do - under the circumstances?  I didn't have any 
physical sorties - and wouldn't have known how to use them to blast 
away the Lie.  I had only our thoughts that Ernst and I used to 
bounce off of each other.  And, therefore, I said to myself:  I need 
a thought sortie!  Of the right kind.  Of the most effective kind! 
One that will hit where it counts most - in every politically correct 
corridor of power!

That's when I started thinking of an ad. 

To make it work full force, I needed a national paper. 

At first, I had the Globe and Mail in mind, the only Canadian paper I 
thought might give me a chance and let me place an advertisement. 
However, a full page ad cost a hefty Can$ 53,000.00 -  about 
$40,000.00 in American dollars.  I did not have that kind of money, 
but Ernst and I had friends, and I thought we could get it together.

  Well, PayPal pulled the plug on my pledge after I collected a little 
more than $9,000.00. 

My next choice was the Washington Times.  This paper has a 
circulation of 250,000 - to a respectable target readership!

I contacted them and told them what I had in mind.  Would they have 
trouble with that kind of an ad?  It was political, I said, and it 
was controversial.

No problem, I was told. 

A full page ad would cost almost $12,000.00 for a prime placement.  A 
lot of money - but then, the pledges were close to the mark.  I 
couldn't quite believe my luck, but I started refining my message.  I 
felt that with the help of my internet friends, my plan was 
definitely affordable. 

Next, I was told the ad was off!

There was a policy in place, I was informed, permitting them to 
refuse any ad they did not think appropriate.   No other explanation 
could be given.  Sorry!

"Too bad!" I told myself and a few others whom I had taken into 
confidence about my plans.  On to another front!

The next day, a surprise, and totally without my doing:  The ad was 
on again!  After all, this was America.  Free speech still reigned. 
The Washington Times would run it - in their metropolitan daily, on 
Thursday, full page. 

At that point, I realized something I had not known before:  There 
were two versions of the Washington Times - a daily, distributed in 
Washington, D.C., and a weekly condensation,  distributed nationally. 
Which one did I prefer? 

It seemed to me a national version was more to my advantage because 
for the same kind of money, I could even get a double spread.  So I 
said: "Let's go with the national version.  I'm thinking Centerfold!"

Fat chance!  THEY turned me down!

Back to the Washington version - with a very queasy stomach!  And lo 
and behold, they were still willing.  By then, it was Thursday, and 
the ad was to run in the Sunday edition.  They would even design it 
for me. 

Let's just put it this way:  I had my own ideas about how the ad 
should look, which conflicted with the ad staff's ideas who chose the 
most atrocious fonts and otherwise messed with my concepts.  The hair 
was bristling in my neck.  The clock was ticking.  Deadline was 
Friday noon. 

I gently protested.  They had botched up my ad!  i couldn't approve 
it that way!

I got them to work past the deadline.  It was knots in my stomach all 
the way - and the end result is not quite what I had in mind, but 
very nearly so -  Eureka!  My ad  appeared in all its glory 
yesterday! 

That it appeared while the Barnes Review Conference was still in 
session is sheer coincidence.  Willis Carto read it to the conference 
attendees.  It got a strong applause!

Now back to Mr. Putin.  It is true that I wanted, and still want, to 
reach him - but what were my chances?   Before the ad was even firmed 
up, I faxed the Embassy of the Russian Federation and simply asked: 
How would  I go about delivering a personal message to the President 
of Russia?  I couldn't just ring the bell, could I? 

A very courteous gentleman with the thickest Russian accent called me 
back.  Why not?  Just come on over.  Or else, just send it Priority 
Post.

Which is what I did.  My three novels about the tragic story of the 
Russians and the Germans caught in the cauldron of the Hidden Hand 
pulling the strings behind the scenes went out with a brief cover 
letter, to be delivered before noon today.  On one of its covers,  it 
sports the Czarist Crest. 

I can't imagine that it won't have an impact. 

And now I'll lean back and just wait.

Will President Putin reply to our liking?  Will he reply at all?  I 
must tell you honestly that I don't know.  My heart tells me, yes - 
but my mind tells me, no!  It will depend on how beholden this 
mysterious leader of that vast country is to our enemies and their 
own power base.  It will depend on who will come running, wringing 
hands in distress, warning him not to reply - or else!  What power 
our enemies, and theirs, wield over Russia still, I do not know.  I 
don't know what gestures President Putin can afford, even if he might 
be favorably inclined. 

But here is what's going to happen: 

Somebody will tell him about the ad, about our request, about Ernst 
Zundel, a Western Refusenik, now languishing in a Canadian jail cell 
thanks to the underhanded, sly shenanigans at ministerial levels of 
three important Western countries - Germany, Canada and the United 
States. 

That is a powerful and politically extremely useful message - not 
just for Russia and Germany.  That message crosses not just borders 
but ideologies.  It may well bring together people from all walks of 
life who might be willing to declare a moratorium about the 
differences between their aims and ours and link arms for the sake of 
Freedom of Speech.  I feel I do not have to go to Russia with tears 
in my eyes and beg the President of Russia to  pry my husband from 
the clutches of his kidnappers who claim with a straight face they 
run "democracies". 

There's going to be a lot of influential diplomats in many embassies 
in Washington, DC., who will prick up their ears about this strange 
incarceration and brutal treatment of a Western dissident who isn't 
guilty of a thing else except a wish to make his independent thoughts 
about forbidden subjects available to others. 

"What is it," they will ask, "about this so-called 'Holocaust' that 
freaks out certain people?  Why put him in prison if he hasn't done 
anything bad.  Could it be Ernst Zundel is right?"

All I can say, at this point, is that the rock has been thrown in the 
pond, and there are going to be quite a few far-reaching ripples. 
There will be many spin-off articles.  There will be discussions in 
highest echelons of many governments.  There will be syndicated 
columnists who are going to pick up this topic who wouldn't have 
dreamed of doing it before.  There might even be serious retaliation 
against me.  I am well aware of the danger.  But somebody has got to 
speak out. 

That's what I did - I spoke out.  The outcome is still written in the stars. 

Ingrid

Thought for the Day:

"Germany has the most repressive laws in Europe to enforce the state religion
of German guilt for the Holocaust."

-Doug Christie, The Toronto Star, June 22