May 18, 2005 -- On the day before Columbia University’s
251st Commencement on Wed., May 18, Charles Patterson (Ph.D.‘70)
returned his doctorate to the Office of President Lee Bollinger in
Low Library, Rm. 202, to protest his alma mater's abuse of animals.
Patterson, the author of Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of
Animals and the Holocaust, is upset by the cruelty practiced at
Columbia by Doctors Mehmet Oz, E. Sander Connolly, Michel Ferin,
Raymond Stark, and other Columbia vivisectors. He says, "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."
The title of Patterson's book Eternal
Treblinka--now in seven languages--comes from the Yiddish writer and
Nobel Laureate, Isaac Bashevis Singer, to whom the book is
dedicated. "In relation to them, all people are Nazis," he wrote,
"for animals it is an eternal Treblinka." (Treblinka was a Nazi
death camp north of Warsaw.)
Columbia has a long history of
animal abuse and grotesque experiments (visit http://www.columbiacruelty.com/), but it took Dr.
Catherine Dell'Orto, a post-doctoral veterinarian fellow, to blow
the whistle on the university's latest transgressions: "What I saw
at Columbia still gives me nightmares. I saw baboons whose left eyes
had been cut out--so that major blood vessels could be clamped off
through the empty eye sockets to induce strokes--who had collapsed
in their cages, unable even to lift their heads, eat, or drink. They
were left to die without painkillers."
Columbia students,
staff, faculty, and alumni who are concerned about this problem and
want to do something about it are constantly rebuffed by the
administration. President Bollinger refuses to meet with them to
discuss the issue.
One of the most important lessons of the
Holocaust, Patterson believes, 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."
"While I worked long and hard for my doctorate (it included
writing a 320-page dissertation)," says Patterson, "the lives of the
innocent and helpless are more important than a piece of
paper."
He also has a Master of Arts degree in English
literature from Columbia. When asked if he was planning on returning
that degree as well, he said, "No, I'm going to hold onto it for
awhile. However, if Columbia doesn't curb its cruelty soon, maybe
I'll return that one too. I only wish I could do more."
Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the
Holocaust
by Charles Patterson
Lantern Books, New York, 2002
(2nd printing)
ISBN 1-930051-99-9
http://www.powerfulbook.com/
Translations:
German, Italian, Polish, Czech, Croatian, Hebrew
(forthcoming)
Praise from Around the World--
"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)
"Necessary reading
matter...very thought-provoking." --Süddeutsche Zeitung,
Germany
"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
"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)
"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
"Compelling, controversial, iconoclastic...strongly
recommended...a unique contribution." --Midwest Book Review,
USA
"The book that breaks all taboos. The book that fires up
controversies all over the world." --Prijatelji Zivotinja, Zagreb,
Croatia