Opinion | The shocking truth about Wikipedia’s Holocaust disinformation

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A new study found dozens of examples of Holocaust distortion on Wikipedia. Shira Klein, a history professor at Chapman University and co-author of the study, argues in a new OpEd that, taken together, these posts whitewashed the role of Polish society in the Holocaust and bolstered harmful stereotypes about Jews. 

Fraction of the truth: The Wikipedia pages highlighted, among other things, a mass extermination center for non-Jews that never existed and exaggerated claims of Jewish collaboration with the Gestapo. “In one article that remains gravely distorted,” Klein says, “alleged Jewish collaboration with the Nazis takes up more space than the Ukrainian, Belorussian and ethnic German collaboration combined.”

Loose guardrails: Wikipedia’s structure of editing by members of the public, Klein argues, “leaves it vulnerable to be exploited by any small group of people willing to spend the time to control the content.” Administrators charged with policing the site, she says, “lack the expertise to recognize when a source has been misrepresented” and instead “focus on editors’ interpersonal conduct.”

False narratives: Wikipedia responded to the study by sanctioning several editors. But Klein says the site’s safeguards have “a gaping hole” because changes require consensus that information is fake. “When an area is dominated by a group of individuals pushing an erroneous point of view,” she says, “wrong information becomes the consensus.”

Moving forward: Klein proposes that Wikipedia, a nonprofit with $155 million in annual revenue, create a Holocaust advisory board.

Read the story ➤

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Rabbinical students are drifting away from Israel. Here’s how one synagogue is responding: During Israel’s last war in Gaza, many Jewish leaders were alarmed that dozens of rabbinical students signed a letter saying Israel was practicing apartheid and “violent suppression of human rights.” Now, a prominent LA synagogue is sending 15 such students to Israel this week to have complex conversations — out of the glare of social media. Read the story ➤

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Looted art to be returned: A German commission recommended this week that a painting by Wassily Kandinsky currently owned by the Bavarian state bank be handed over to the heirs of the Jewish family that originally owned it. And Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts reached an agreement with the heirs of Jewish art dealers who were forced to sell a 17th-century painting by Dutch artist Adriaen von Ostade that at one point was owned by Hitler. Read the story ➤

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WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

A survivor of the Tree of Life shooting at an April ceremony marking the shul’s planned reconstruction. (Getty)

⚖️  Jury deliberations could begin as early as this afternoon in the Tree of Life trial. The defense opted not to bring any witnesses or evidence at the trial of the shooter charged with killing 11 synagogue worshippers in America’s deadliest act of antisemitism, underlining its focus on the second phase of the trial, which will determine whether he is sentenced to death. (JTA)

?  At the courthouse and throughout Pittsburgh, 30 chaplains – seven of them Jewish – have been offering support in-person and via a hotline open from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. (Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle) 

??  Germany agreed to pay to Holocaust survivors around the world $1.4 billion in reparations in 2024, the largest amount ever in a single year. The $100 million increase from this year’s allotment is due to the increasing social and medical needs as survivors age. (JTA, Times of Israel)

??  Israeli news outlets are reporting that President Joe Biden has invited Israeli President Isaac Herzog to the White House in July. Herzog is also planning to address a joint session of Congress to mark the 75th anniversary since Israel’s founding. (Times of Israel)

??  Israel’s diaspora affairs minister said Wednesday that American Jews who are protesting Israel’s proposed judicial overhaul are “worse than” the activists in the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. His comments came a day after the minister met with Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. antisemitism envoy, and was publicly criticized by a Biden aide for a string of controversial comments. (Haaretz)

??  The U.S. House of Representatives voted unanimously on a resolution calling for the release of Evan Gershkovich, the Jewish Wall Street Journal correspondent who has been imprisoned in Russia for three months. (JTA)

?  A Missouri school board is set to vote Tuesday on banning Maus, Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust, though no parent has objected to it. In an interview, Spiegelman said that it’s “a real warning sign of a country that’s yearning for a return of authoritarianism.” (JTA)

?  Mexico City’s Jewish mayor resigned this week so she could focus on running for the country’s presidency in 2024. She would be Mexico’s first female leader. (AFP)

Shiva calls ➤  Robert Gottlieb, the literary editor who shepherded the work of Toni Morrison, Joseph Heller, Robert Caro and others, died at 92 … Avrohom Aaron Kornbluh, a beloved member of the Belzer Hasidim and brother of our senior political correspondent, Jacob Kornbluh, died at 50.

ON THE CALENDAR

A copy of the Magna Carta on display in 2015 in England. (Getty)

On this day in history (1215): King John of England signed the Magna Carta. The document, which largely advanced human rights (at least by 13th century standards), had a fair amount to say about the Jews. Writing for the Forward on the document’s 800th birthday, Rachel X. Landes highlighted some of these elements — none of which were flattering.

Last year on this day, our colleagues at the JTA reported that Stephen Curry of the Golden States Warriors wore a Hebrew sweatshirt at the NBA Finals.

2:15 p.m. ET: Watch a live recording of our That Jewish News Show podcast. 

VIDEO OF THE DAY

U.S. Rep. George Santos, a New York Republican who falsely claimed his grandparents survived the Holocaust, said on the House floor that he was “speechless and appalled” by antisemitic flyers distributed in his district. Watch the video and read the story ➤

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Thanks to Laura E. Adkins, PJ Grisar, Beth Harpaz, Tani Levitt, Arno Rosenfeld and Talya Zax for contributing to today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at [email protected].