Author of "Eternal Treblinka" Returns His Ph.D. to Columbia University to Protest Animal Cruelty
On Tueday, May 17 at 11am Dr. Charles Patterson, author of "Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust," returned his doctorate to Columbia to protest his alma mater's ongoing mistreatment of animals in its labs.
(PRWEB) May 10, 2005 -- On Tuesday, May 17 at 11am--the day before the 251st
Columbia Commencement--Dr. Charles Patterson returned his doctoral degree to the
Office of Columbia President Lee Bollinger in Low Library, Room 202, to protest
the university's continuing abuse of animals.
After writing his 320-page
doctoral dissertation on "Social Attitudes of Protestant Journals During the
Depression of 1893-97," Patterson received his Ph.D. with honors from the
Department of Religion in 1970. Since then, he has been a teacher, adjunct
faculty member, therapist, editor, and author of ten books.
His most
recent book is "Eternal Treblinka" Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust"
(New York: Lantern Books, 2002), which has now been translated and published in
Germany, Italy, Poland, Croatia, and the Czech Republic. Later this year the
Hebrew edition will be published in Israel. http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/5/prweb235481.htm
Patterson,
who is a writer of Holocaust books and reviews, is upset by the cruelty
practiced at Columbia by Professors Mehmet Oz, E. Sander Connolly, Michel Ferin,
Raymond Stark, and the rest of the Columbia vivisectors.
"Dr. Josef
Mengele, who conducted experiments on Jews and Gypsies at Auschwitz (he had two
doctorates, by the way) would have fit in quite nicely at Columbia," says
Patterson. "To paraphrase Theodor Adorno, the German Jewish philosopher who fled
Nazi Germany, 'Auschwitz begins wherever somebody looks at a Columbia lab and
thinks: they're only animals.'"
The title of Patterson's book comes from
the Yiddish writer and Nobel Laureate, Isaac Bashevis Singer, to whom the book
is dedicated. He was the first major modern author to describe the exploitation
and killing of animals in terms of the Holocaust. "In relation to them, all
people are Nazis," he wrote, "for animals it is an eternal Treblinka."
(Treblinka was the Nazi death camp north of Warsaw.)
Patterson says his
book, which examines the common roots of animal and human oppression and the
similarities between how the Nazis treated their victims and how our society
treats animals, is behind his decision to return his degree. "I worked hard for
that doctorate," he says, "but the lives of the innocent and helpless are more
important than a piece of paper."
Columbia's attitude toward the
exploitation of animals reminds Patterson of what the late AIDS and animal
activist Steven Simmons described as the attitude of society as a whole:
"Animals are innocent casualties of the world view that asserts that some lives
are more valuable than others, that the powerful are entitled to exploit the
powerless, and that the weak must be sacrificed for the greater good."
Here from a report is just one very brief glimpse behind the curtain of
secrecy at Columbia: "In Columbia’s labs, animals are left in cages to die,
without veterinary care, after having their eyes removed and clamps applied
through their empty eye sockets to restrict the blood supply to their
brains."
Patterson believes that one of the most important lessons of the
Holocaust is that we must never again remain silent in the face of evil. In the
words of Auschwitz survivor and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, "Neutrality helps
the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the
tormented."
Dr. Patterson (soon to be ex-Dr. Patterson) also has a Master
of Arts degree in English literature from Columbia. When he was asked if he was
planning on returning that degree as well, he said, "No, I'm going to hold onto
that one for awhile. However, if Columbia doesn't put a stop to its cruelty
soon, maybe I'll send that one back as well. I only wish I could do more."
For more information about Columbia's animal experiments visit http://www.columbiacruelty.com
"It's a matter of taking
the side of the weak against the strong, something the best people have always
done." --Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin
Below is a
sampling of reactions from around the world to Patterson's book:
"The
moral challenge posed by Eternal Treblinka turns it into a must for anyone who
seeks to delve into the universal lesson of the Holocaust."
--Maariv
(Israeli newspaper)
"You must read this carefully documented
book."
--La Stampa (Italian national newspaper)
"Important and
timely...written with great sensitivity and compassion...I hope that Eternal
Treblinka will be widely read."
--Martyrdom and Resistance (Holocaust
publication), New York
"Charles Patterson's book will go a long way
towards righting the terrible wrongs that human beings, throughout history, have
perpetrated on non-human animals. I urge you to read it and think deeply about
its important message."
--Dr. Jane Goodall, United Kingdom
"Necessary
reading matter...very thought-provoking."
--Süddeutsche Zeitung,
Germany
"Eternal Treblinka is an eye-opening, thought-provoking book that
I highly recommend."
--The Gantseh Megillah, Montreal,
Canada
"Patterson's book sheds light on the violence perpetuated every
day against animals and humans alike so that we might one day put an end to
it."
--Moment ("America's Premier Independent Jewish Magazine")
"A
thorough and thought-provoking book"
--Ha'aretz (Israeli
newspaper)
"Compelling, controversial, iconoclastic...strongly
recommended...a unique contribution."
--Midwest Book Review,
USA
"Eternal Treblinka disturbs us because (inevitably though tactfully)
it holds up to us, its readers, a clear mirror to look at ourselves anew...Kafka
would have applauded Eternal Treblinka. It grips like a thriller."
--The
Freethinker, United Kingdom
"The book that breaks all taboos. The book
that fires up controversies all over the world."
--Prijatelji Zivotinja,
Zagreb, Croatia
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/5/prweb238689.htm