FOR MORE ON RUTH LINN AND HER ASSOCIATIONS WITH RUDOLF VRBA, VISIT THE EXTENSIVE WEBSITE ABOUT VRBA MADE BY ALAN TWIGG AT:

WWW.RUDOLFVRBA.COM

SPECIFICALLY, here is the link to her contribution for "DEFENDING VRBA".

https://rudolfvrba.com/defending-vrba/

SPECIFCALLY, here is the link to her contribution for "VRBA & HISTORY"

https://rudolfvrba.com/vrba-and-history/

 

Few people got closer to Rudi Vrba than the academic Ruth Linn. Having grown up in Israel, she first became aware of his existence and his escape from Auschwitz when she saw Claude Lanzmann's monumental 1987 documentary Shoah.

"This was very strange to me," she later told Pat Johnson, of the Jewish Independent, in 2006, "because I read a lot about the Holocaust. I never, ever read about Vrba in Israeli textbooks in the Hebrew language.

"Am I the only Israeli who fell asleep in class when we studied this in the Holocaust?" she asked. "Or maybe we never studied it."

She remained mystified by this aberration of ignorance and sought to locate Vrba for seven years until she arrived in Vancouver to teach at the University of British Columbia in 1994 and found him teaching pharmacology at the university. Having grown wary of researchers and journalists, Vrba gave her a copy of his book, I Cannot Forgive, but was initially hesitant to engage much further.

As Linn later told Johnson: "In terms of literature, it [I Cannot Forgive] is in the class of Primo Levi, Elie Wiesel, first-class novelists of the Holocaust. But then I turned the book back and forth and I see on the cover, 'First published 1963.' And the year is 1994. I said to myself, 'Where has this book been for 31 years? I never read about it in Israel.'

"Now I had an Agatha Christie mission to try and trace what happened to this book. It was published in London in 1963... but it wasn't translated into Hebrew. What, there was no money? So many books have been translated and this is not a [story about a] tiny shtetl in Siberia. This is Auschwitz, centre of the Holocaust narrative.

"So, this became, accidentally, my mission: to do justice to history, to bring this guy to Israel and give him an honorary doctorate. We didn't know about him and I wanted to put him back into our history."

Returning to Israel, Linn was able to have I Cannot Forgive finally published in Hebrew in 1998, in a version translated by a Holocaust survivor of Slavic origin, Yehoshua Ben Ami, after its noteworthy rejection by Yad Vashem. A trusting relationship arose between Vrba and Linn after she also arranged for him to be the keynote speaker in her 1998 conference in his honour at the University of Haifa on moral emotions in times of war. There he also signed copies of his book. In recognition of his courage and his contribution to Holocaust education, she arranged for the University of Haifa to award him an honorary doctorate. Linn also arranged for publication of the Vrba-Wetzler Report for the first time in Hebrew by the University of Haifa Press.

As Ruth Linn got to know the Slovakian Jew Rudi Vrba (born Walter Rosenberg), she later published Escaping Auschwitz: A Culture of Forgetting (Cornell University, 2004) to critically examine why news of the extermination of Jews at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp that was brought to the Jewish Council in 1944 by two escapees (Rudi Vrba and Alfred Wetzler), was mostly repressed, and why Hebrew readers around the world, especially in Israel, have continued to be mostly ignorant of the Vrba-Wetzler Report and the escapees' memoirs. Vrba and Wetzler escaped in April of 1944. The contents of Vrba's and Wetzler's reportage were published by the BBC on June 15, 1944 and by the New York Times on June 20, 1944. In response to subsequent appeals made by world leaders to Hungarian leader Admiral Miklos Horthy, the deportations to Auschwitz-Birkenau were stopped on July 9, 1944.

Vrba always maintained that if Jewish authorities had not delayed making his report public knowledge, many of Hungary's Jews would not have been killed in the gas chambers. He believed many more would have been inclined to either attempt escape or fight rather than obediently board the trains under the guise of re-settlement.

The Vrba-Wetzler report continues to generate historical debate to this day. Many, including Vrba himself, have questioned whether the report was disseminated and acted upon as rapidly and as forcefully as it should have been. In an unanswerable "what if," Vrba continued to question to his last day whether more victims could have been saved had the allied and the Jewish leadership of the time pursued a more vigorous course of action in light of his report. This line of thought has at times made his ideas somewhat incongruent with the predominant Israeli historical narrative concerning the events of that time. Whereas the two escapees accurately predicted the fate of the Hungarian Jews, what they could not have foreseen was that their post-war memoirs and documented report would be kept from the Israeli Hebrew-reading public.

Ruth Linn is the former dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Haifa (2001-2006). As the only Israeli researcher permitted by Dr. Rudolf Vrba to record his heroic escape from Auschwitz-Birkenau, she is an expert in the field of moral psychology and resistance to authority. Her major academic work focuses upon suppressed testimonies in times of war and peace. Ruth Linn is currently studying Wikipedia's one-sided re-staging of his narrative in Israeli historiography (Linn & Vrba, 2021).

At age 18, Ruth Linn of Haifa was conscripted in 1968 into the Israel Defence Forces. She obtained her doctorate from Boston University in 1981. Linn has since been a visiting scholar at Harvard University, the University of Maryland, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the University of British Columbia. In 1990, she received the Erikson Prize of the International Society of Political Psychology to recognize her pioneering studies on Israeli soldiers who were selective conscientious objectors during wartime. Linn has also examined how the mis-reporting of Vrba's escape by some Jewish historians has been used as ammunition by some Holocaust-deniers. Her other books include Conscience at War: The Israeli Soldier as a Moral Critic (1996), Not Shooting and Not Crying: A Psychological Inquiry into Moral Disobedience (1989), Mature Unwed Mothers: Narratives of Moral Resistance (2002) and How Did You Survive (2016). Her book on Rudolf Vrba was originally accepted  for publication with high praise by the readers of Stanford University Press. When she informed Rudi of this development, he smiled and immediately commented,  "Too early to celebrate, Ruthi, I know exactly who is seated in their academic board." It was published by Cornell University instead.

While revisiting six grandchildren in Vancouver in 2020, Linn unexpectedly became a prolonged resident of British Columbia for a second time, during the Coronavirus pandemic.

BOOKS:

Not shooting and not crying - Psychological inquiry into moral disobedience (New York: Greenwood Press 1989)

Conscience at War: The Israeli Soldier as a Moral Critic (Albany: SUNY Press 1996)

Mature Unwed Mothers - Narratives of moral resistance (New York: Kluwer Academic/ Plenum Publishers 2002)

Escaping Auschwitz: A Culture of Forgetting (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University 2004)

How Did You Survive (Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publications 2016). Co-author Esther Dror.

But I did not do it - Ethics and sexual abuse during the Holocaust. Co-author Esther Dror. [Forthcoming]

*

SELECTED ARTICLES:

Linn, R. (1984). Theoretical moral thoughts and concrete action Can we examine the relationship between the two? Educational Administration and Organization, 11, 57-64 (Hebrew).

Linn, R. (1984). Practicing moral judgment within the day care center: A look at the educator's moral decision under stress. Early Child Development and Care, 15, 3-4, 117-132.

Linn, R. (1985). The early childhood educator in the emperor's new clothes: A powerful moral decision maker in action. Early Child Development and Care, 18, 2-3, 175-187.

Linn, R. (1985). The moral judgment of the Lebanon war refusers. Studies in Education, 42, 19-32 (Hebrew).

Linn, R. (1986). Conscientious objection in Israel during the war in Lebanon. Armed Forces and Society, 12, 489-511.

Linn, R. (1987). Moral disobedience during the war in Lebanon: What can the cognitive developmental approach learn from the experience of Israeli soldiers. Social Cognition, 5, 383-402.

Linn, R. (1988). Moral judgment in extreme social contexts Soldiers who refuse to fight and physicians who strike?. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 18, 1149-1170.

Linn, R. (1988). Terrorism, morality and soldiers' motivation to fight: An example from the Israeli experience in Lebanon. Terrorism an International Journal, 11, 139-149.

Linn, R. (1988). Women as combatants Is it an issue at all? An example from the Israel Defense Forces. Minerva: Quarterly Report on Women and the Military, 6, 69-76.

Linn, R. (1989). Hypothetical and actual moral reasoning of Israeli selective conscientious objectors during the war in Lebanon (1982 1985). Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 10,(1), 19-36.

Linn, R., & Gilligan, C. (1990). One action, two moral orientations ‑ The tension between justice and care voices in Israeli selective conscientious objectors. New Ideas in Psychology, 8(2), 189‑203.

Linn, R., & Gilligan, C. (1990). Pascal's law: A reply to Haste and Blasi. New Ideas in Psychology, 8(2), 215‑219.

Linn, R. (1991). Sexual and moral development of Israeli female adolescents from city and kibbutz: Perspectives of Kohlberg and Gilligan. Adolescence, 26, 59-71.

Linn, R. (1991). Mature unwed mothers in Israel: Socio moral and psychological dilemmas. Lifestyles: Family and Economic Issues, 12, (2),145-170.

Linn, R. (1991). Holocaust metaphors and symbols in the moral dilemmas of contemporary Israeli soldiers. Metaphor and Symbolic Activity, 6, (2), 61-86.

Pedersen K.A., Long, B.C., & Linn, R. (1994). Relationships and the meaning of power for disadvantaged women. Feminism & Psychology, 4, (2), 229-249.

Linn, R. (1994). Conscience at war and the assessment of credibility: Theoretical and practical questions. Politics & the Individuals, 4, 47-61.

Linn, R. (1995). Resistance and motivation: moral, political or personal? Israeli soldiers as selective conscientious objectors during the Intifada. Social Behavior and Personality an international journal, 23, 35-44.

Linn, R. (1995). The claim for moral maturity, consistency and integrity among objecting Israeli soldiers. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 25, 399-417.

Linn, R. (1995). To go or not to go? Objecting Israeli reservists in face of the obligation to suppress. Peace Psychology Review, 1, 130-140.

Linn, R. (1995). The moral dimension in non event transition: Israeli expatriates in Canada as separate and connected critics of self and others. Journal of Psychology & Judaism, 19, 227-240.

Linn, R., & Breslerman, S. (1996). Women in conflict: On the moral knowledge of daughters-in- law and mothers-in-law. Journal of Moral Education, 25, 291-307.

Linn, R. (1996). The emergence of Holocaust memories in the moral dilemmas of objecting Israeli soldiers during the Intifada. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal. 24, (2),133-141.

Linn, R. (1996). 'Thirty nothing': What do counselors know about mature single women who wish for a child and a family? International Journal for the Advancement of Counseling, 18, 69-84.

Linn, R. (1996). When the individual soldier says 'No' to war: a look at selective refusal during the Intifada, Journal of Peace Research. 33, 421-431.

Linn, R., & Barkan-Ascher, N. (1996). Permanent impermanence: Israeli expatriates in non- event transition. The Jewish Journal of Sociology. 38, (1), 5-16.

Linn, R., & Gur Ze'ev, I. (1996). Holocaust as metaphor: Arab and Israeli use of the same symbol. Metaphor and Symbolic Activity, 11, (3), 195-206.

Linn, R. (1996). Saying "No" to War: An action of moral separation or connection? Politics, Groups and the Individual, 6, 27-40.

Linn, R. (1997). Soldiers' narrative of selective moral resistance: A separate position of the connected self? The Narrative Study of Lives, 5, 94-112.

Linn, R. (1997). Patterns of crisis among Israeli reserve soldiers. Jewish Journal of Sociology, 39, 1-22.

Linn, R. (1998). Assuming a position: Women and men as moral critics in their own war zone. Journal of Adult Development, 5, (1), 45-57.

Linn, R. (1999). In the name of the Holocaust: Fears and hopes among Israeli soldiers and Palestinians. Journal of Genocide Research, 1, 439-453.

Linn, R. (1999). Where have all the critics gone? Moral psychology and the question of selective resistance to war: From Vietnam, to an Israeli Vietnam, to the Intifada. Journal of Psychology and Judaism, 23,(3), 125-144.

Linn, R. (2001). The heart has its reason and reason has its heart: Kohlberg's and Gilligan's insight on moral development and counseling. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 29, (6), 593-600.

Linn, R. (2001). Naked victims, dressed-up memory: The escape from Auschwitz and the Israeli historiography. Israel Studies Bulletin, 16((2), 21-25.

Linn, R. (2002). Conscience at war: On the relationship between moral psychology and moral resistance. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 7(4), 337-355.

Linn, R. (2002). Motherhood as a narrative of moral resistance - a missing text in women's development and therapy. Journal of Feminist Family Therapy: An International Journal, 13, (4), 1-21.

Linn, R. (2002). Soldiers with conscience never die, they are just ignored by society. Journal of Military Ethics, 1(2), 57-76.

Linn, R. (2003). Genocide and the politics of remembering: The nameless: the celebrated and the would be Holocaust heroes. Journal of Genocide Research, 5(4): 565-568.

Linn, R. (2004). The Escape from Auschwitz: Why didn't they teach us about it in school? Theory and Criticism, 24, 163-184 (Hebrew).

Linn, R. (2011). Rudolf Vrba and the Auschwitz reports: Conflicting historical interpretations. In R. L. Braham, & W. J. vanden Heuvel (Eds.), The Auschwitz Reports and the Holocaust in Hungary. New York: Columbia University Press, 153-210.

Linn, R. (2015). Managing Our Past - Managing Our Future - Is There A "Right" Way Of Remembrance? Journal of Mass Communication, 5(3), 143-150.

CONFERENCES, INVITED LECTURES, MEDIA TO EDUCATE THE WORLD ABOUT RUDI VRBA

Linn, R. Between the 'Known' and the 'Could be known': The Vrba/Wetzler escape from Auschwitz and Israeli Historiography. Association of Genocide Scholars conference, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, June 9-12, 2001.
Linn, R. Voice, silence and memory after Auschwitz. Representing the Shoah in the 21 Century Conference, Dublin, Ireland, 2001
Linn, R., Ben Ami, Y. Shalev, M. The escape from Auschwitz: video, the Academic Channel. 11, April, 2005.
Linn, R. Escaping Auschwitz. New York Holocaust Museum, N.Y, U.S.A, October, 2004.
Linn, R. Escaping Auschwitz. Vancouver Holocaust Center, Vancouver, BC. Canada, October 14, 2004.
Linn, R. Escaping Auschwitz. The Sixth Biennial Conference of the International Association of Genocide Scholars IAGS, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, USA, June 4-7, 2005
Linn, R. Escaping Auschwitz. Israel's Nuclear Facility. Dimona, Israel Jan, 26, 2006.
Linn, R. Escaping Auschwitz. The Weitzman Institute, March, 2006.
Linn, R. Escaping Auschwitz and the politics of memory. International Society of Political Psychology, Toronto, Canada, July, 2006.
Linn, R. Against all hope - Escaping Auschwitz, escaping memory. The 2nd Global Conference on Hope: Probing the Boundaries. Mansfield College, Oxford. England, Sept. 6, 2006.
Linn, R. Rudi Vrba: Hero of the Shoah. Vancouver Holocaust Education Center. Vancouver, BC Canada, April 26, 2007.
Linn, Ruth. Escaping Auschwitz. Annual Conference on Israel as an immigrant society: between the melting pot and multiculturalism. The Open University of Israel. June 11-13, 2007.
Linn, R. Genocide and the Psychology of Memory: the case of Rudolf Vrba. First Annual Rudolf Vrba Memorial Lecture. University of British Columbia. . November, 30, 2008.
Linn, R. How collective is war's collective memory? 30th Annual Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide: A Half-Century of Changing Narratives. Millersville University, U.S.A. April 14-16, 2010.
Linn, R. Ethical resistance among Israeli soldiers during the Lebanon war. NYU, Faculty of Law, New York, USA, April 13, 2010.
Linn, R. The meaning of the Auschwitz reports: Rudi Vrba and his escape from Auschwitz. International Conference on the Auschwitz Reports and the Holocaust in Hungary. The Rosenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies and the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, the Graduate Center of the City University New York, April, 6-9, 2011.
Linn, R. The escape from Auschwitz: Have you heard about it? Mila Brenner and Yaakov Meridor Foundation in the honor of the fallen Israeli soldiers. The University of Haifa, Israel, May, 15, 2011. (in Hebrew).
Linn, R. Escaping Auschwitz, Ofakim, University of Haifa Honor Program. The University of Haifa, Israel. February, 23, 2011. (in Hebrew).
Linn, R. La Salida de Auschwitz: de los judios tras la leberacion aliada. de enero 12Hs, DAIDA, Buenos Aires. Argentina March, 29, 2012.
Linn, R. The Escape from Auschwitz: Why weren't we told about it? Haemek Hospital, Afula, Israel. April, 19, 2012. (in Hebrew).
Linn, R. How "Collective" is a war's collective memory? Politics of Experience: Theorizing the politics of past. The Fifth Doctoral Symposium on the Politics of the Past Finnland-institut in Deutschland, Berlin, October 11-12, 2012.
Linn, R. Lost in 1944 -- Found in 1994: The missing text of the Auschwitz escapee. Citizens and leaders in a comparative perspective: What can political psychology and political socialization research tell us about recent trend and events? Lomonosov, Moscow State University, October, 26-27, 2012.
Linn, R. Good Morning Budapest! Agranat's view on early warning: What has changed since the Kastner's trial? The Yom Kippur War: 40 years later. An International Conference, The University of Texas Austin, October, 21-22, 2013.
Linn, R. Psychological Trauma Faced by Israeli Soldiers. Israel Medical Association Meeting, The Vancouver Branch. Vancouver, Canada. July 27, 2014.
Linn, R. Genocide Heroes Never Die -- They Are Just Ignored. International Association of Genocide Studies, The University of Winnipeg, Canada. July 17-19, 2014.
Linn, R. Managing our past, Managing our future, Managing our collective memory. Annual Symposium on Management and Social Science Seoul, South Korea. August, 29-31, 2014.
Linn, R. Escaping Auschwitz -- Why do we know so little about an event so big? Health Law and Ethics Center. The University of Haifa, Israel. April 14, 2014.
Linn, R. Dr. Marek Edelman and Dr. Rudolf Vrba in the Israeli historiography. The Holocaust and the contemporary World, Poland, Krakow. April 23-24, 2015.
Linn, R. The Tension between The "Experts Discourse" and the "Survivors Discourse" (Arendt, Vrba, Klinger). Memory, Melancholy and Nostalgia. 4th International Interdisciplinary Memory Conference in Gdansk, Poland. September, 17-18, 2015.
Linn, R. Good morning Budapest: Early warning and uninformed victims during war. UNESCO 13th World Conference on Bioethics, Medical Ethics and Health Law. Nov. 27-29 Jerusalem, Israel, 2018.

[BCBW 2021] Alan Twigg / HolocaustLit