Norman Finkelstein

Lore & Background

Norman Finkelstein was born in New York City to Jewish Holocaust-survivor parents. His mother survived the Warsaw Ghetto and Majdanek concentration camp; his father survived the Warsaw Ghetto and Auschwitz. After the war they met in a displaced persons camp in Linz, Austria, and emigrated to the United States. Finkelstein has said his parents 'saw the world through the prism of the Nazi Holocaust' and were eternally indebted to the Soviet Union for defeating the Nazis. He grew up in Brooklyn, attended James Madison High School, and completed his undergraduate studies at Binghamton University in 1974. He received his PhD in political science from Princeton University in 1988, with a doctoral thesis on Zionism.

Finkelstein held faculty positions at Brooklyn College, Rutgers University, Hunter College, New York University, and DePaul University, where he was an assistant professor from 2001 to 2007. In 2006, the department and college committees at DePaul voted to grant him tenure, but for undisclosed reasons the university administration did not tenure him; he resigned after a settlement. The Israeli government barred him from entry to the country for ten years in 2008. His most recent book on Palestine and Israel, published in 2018, is *Gaza: An Inquest into Its Martyrdom*.

Finkelstein has described himself as a 'forensic' scholar who demystifies what he considers pseudo-scholarly arguments defending Israel. He has written scathing academic reviews of several prominent writers, including Joan Peters, whose book *From Time Immemorial* he called a 'monumental hoax'. His work has been praised by scholars such as Noam Chomsky, Raul Hilberg, and Avi Shlaim.

Reader's Guide

Norman Finkelstein's significance lies in his controversial and influential critiques of the politics of Holocaust memory and Israeli policy. His book *The Holocaust Industry* sparked intense debate by arguing that the memory of the Holocaust is exploited to immunize Israel from criticism. His scholarship on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, including his analysis of demographic claims in Joan Peters's *From Time Immemorial*, has been praised by some scholars and condemned by others. Finkelstein's career was marked by academic controversy, including the denial of tenure at DePaul University for undisclosed reasons, and a ten-year ban from Israel imposed in 2008. His work continues to be cited in discussions of Holocaust memory, Zionism, and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Finkelstein's legacy is that of a polemical, forensic scholar who challenges mainstream narratives and whose writings have both advocates and detractors.

Did You Know?

• Finkelstein's parents were both Holocaust survivors; his mother survived the Warsaw Ghetto and Majdanek, and his father survived the Warsaw Ghetto and Auschwitz.
• He was an ardent Maoist from his teenage years and was 'totally devastated' by the news of the trial of the Gang of Four in 1976.
• In 2006, DePaul University's department and college committees voted to grant him tenure, but the university administration did not tenure him for undisclosed reasons.
• The Israeli government barred him from entry to the country for ten years in 2008.