The Chabbad Rebbe and The Nazis

The story of the escape of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson from Warsaw during world war two is noteworthy since it was achieved through the US foreign office, with the aid of the Nazi regime. It has remained a point of some controversy ever since.  Last wee Channel 1 in Israel aired this documentary , by  Larry Price "The Chabad Rebbe and the German Officer," this week, and I thought that everyone might enjoy it. I found it fascinating - The full video can be seen here.

For those of you who want a little more of the controversy you can have a look at Failed Messiah's post, here:

What Ha'aretz doesn't tell you is that the moment Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn crossed into Latvia he was met by US State Department officials. Why? Because the US Government had arranged the rescue because Chabad convinced gullible US Government officials and elected leaders that Schneersohn was the "pope of all the Protestant Jews in the world."

What did this great Jewish 'leader' do when he got to freedom?

The first act taken by Schneersohn was to ask the US Government to send representatives back to war ravaged Poland to rescue his book collection (the vast majority were secular books like Sherlock Holmes stories translated into Yiddish), his household goods and his silver.

No mention was made of saving Jews – even of saving other members of his own family.

During the war, Schneersohn wrote several letters to US President Roosevelt. Never once did Schneersohn ask that Jews be saved or that the Nazi extermination machine be targeted by Allied troops.