Holocaust Survivors and Remembrance Project
. 
BIV
(1903-1988)

An Invitation To The Hiram Bingham IV Debate

Thank you for coming here and hopefully being part of this perhaps important historical debate.

What is this debate all about?

Well, Robert Kim Bingham of Salem, Connecticut, USA, and a son of the late Hiram "Harry" Bingham IV is in the midst of an ongoing
Robert Kim Bingham

  
Robert Kim Bingham
campaign to convince the world that his father was an unsung World War II hero, who at his own personal risk, saved from the Nazi Holocaust thousands of lives in general, and Jews in particular, among them some of the most prominent artists, writers, and scientists of Europe. Based on his purported conviction and belief, as expressed in considerable detail in his website exhibited herein, Mr. Bingham has petitioned
  • the State of Israel (through Yad Vashem, The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, in Jerusalem) to award his father with the medal and title of "Righteous Among the Nations" --this being the highest award that Israel can bestow; and also has petitioned

  • the United States Postal Service for the issuance of a commemorative stamp for his father.

We respectfully oppose the issuance of both these awards as being, in our considerate view, without merit or ground of support. Our accumulated evidence points into a different direction far from the one that is currently being portrayed by Mr. Bingham.

The late Hiram Bingham IV was for sure a distinguished diplomat but no hero, not by a long shot. What he was and what he had been transformed into, by his Marseille experience, are two different and startling things.

The late Hiram Bingham IV, in 1940-41, happened to be an American vice-consul in Marseille, France, doing his "ordinary" job --that of issuing visas. And in that capacity, as a distinguished diplomat, Bingham IV (along with his colleague Miles Standish) did not turn away anyone, including Jews.

At that time when everybody was trying to leave France that had just surrendered to Nazis, an American journalist from New York, named Varian Fry, had arrived in August 1940 in Marseille with a list of some 200 prominent artists, scientists, writers and other well-known intellectuals with one and only one mission in mind: that of rescuing them at any cost. For that intended operation, the late Fry was able to recruit a number of people --one of which was the late Bingham IV. Yes, Bingham IV cooperated fully with Fry's crusade. That cooperation of Bingham IV with Fry's campaign as commendable as it was, fell short, far short, of an act of heroism as Bingham IV's life never was in peril as a result of his action (as oppose to Fry's life that was, as he, in fact, was arrested by the Vichy Government) because of these two important things:

i) one, because of his diplomatic immunity that the newly formed Vichy Government were zealously observing towards the United States, and

ii) second, because of his considerable wealth that could have bought, in the corrupt Vichy Government, anything that he wanted including his freedom if that was necessary.

When Bingham IV's actions had began to annoy the Vichy Government, the United States was informed about it and because of the desire of the United States to maintain good relationships with the Vichy Government, Bingham IV was transferred from the Marseille post to a nearby post in Portugal. From there after a short stay, he was transferred to a post in Argentina. All this traveling was rather taxing for the Bingham IV family as they had now eleven children. As a result of this, Bingham IV asked the State Department to give him a job in US preferably in his home state Connecticut. When his request was denied, and instead he was assigned to the important post in Cuba, Bingham IV submitted his resignation.

Upon his resignation from the diplomatic corps, Bingham IV returned back to his home state in Connecticut as a completely transformed man by the Marseille experience: he become a disillusioned man, a very bitter man that drifted aimlessly in life and living off his family's huge inheritance. He become profoundly disenchanted with life. His sad and unhappy face never left him for the rest of his life. But this was not all from his profound transformation. The most shocking aspect of this staggering transformation was that he began profoundly disliking Jews and in fact, for the rest of his life, he became transformed into a Holocaust denier!

We have asked and asked ourselves repeatedly: How in God's name such a horrendous transformation could have taken place? Transformations like that could not happen in vacuum without some powerful underlying cause. And because of this quandary, we have continued relentlessly to find out, if we could, an event of some sort in Marseille that could have triggered such a transformation in Bingham IV's outlook on life. We needed for sure finding such a primary cause in order to have a rational explanation for Bingham IV's profound transformation.

Well, continuing with our research, we have stumbled over an event in Bingham IV's life while he was stationed in Marseille that cannot be ignored and perhaps is in part responsible for his extraordinary transformation. While in Marseille, the young Bingham IV was a tall and quite handsome man, extremely elegant and with a lot of money at his disposal. He was not a saint by any means, and had at least one extramarital affair. That documented affair cost him plenty: to be exact a cool one hundred thousand dollars! This is as much as that female companion was able to smuggle from him. We do not know if that woman was a high-class prostitute or not but we do know that she was intimately acquainted with Bingham IV and his money. We also know that Bingham IV was a "regular" at various high-class bordellos in Marseille.

It is also a distinct possibility that the woman in question was a Jewish woman, and that could explain, in part, why Bingham IV had began disliking Jews so much after his return from Marseille. Another factor that cannot be ignored in attempting to understand the enigmatic Bingham IV, is the fact that he most certainly attributed his misfortunes in life to the Holocaust itself and this, in addition, may have been a contributing factor in understanding why Bingham IV upon his return from Marseille became also a Holocaust denier. We have uncovered such a record to be presented herein with additional analysis on this vexing subject.

Many, if not all, of Bingham IV's children were puzzled (if not embarrassed) by their father's aimless life as they could not make sense of their father's life as he remained for all of them a most enigmatic and reclusive person. Then, as the Bingham family story goes, in 1996 or so, some eight years after Bingham IV's death, one of the Bingham's seven sons (we believe his first name to be William) was said to have discovered a large package beyond a fireplace in Bingham IV's house in Connecticut with many documents revealing the great heroic and humanitarian deeds that their father did while in Marseille.

From that alleged moment on, the Bingham family began a coordinated campaign of resurrecting the late Bingham IV with Mr. Robert Kim Bingham being at its helm. As our evidence is going to show, we have asked Mr. Bingham some three weeks ago to provide to us some first-hand evidence to support any of his outlandish claims that are posted in his website and in a number of newspaper articles (that with ease can be discredited) with respect to his father's purported humanitarian deeds and acts of heroism. In response to that request for documentation, we received from Mr. Bingham an evasive answer that our request has been forwarded to a third party, a Holocaust research expert, for a reply. We have yet to receive that reply...

Let there be no mistake: none of the grandiose claims advanced by Mr. Bingham in his website and in a number of newspapers can be supported or corroborated by any credible evidence. In fact, all the credits attributed to Mr. Bingham's father have long been recognized as belonging to our true national hero, Varian Fry --the only American to be honored by the State of Israel with the "Righteous Among the Nations" title, and the only American honored by the US Consulate in Marseille with naming its plaza after his name.

It is our contention that the Bingham IV's case, as presented by Mr. Bingham in his website, is a case built up with distorted and fabricated evidence that was blown out of proprtion with considerable skill and zeal. In addition, we found another type of evidence that is being implanted into the Bingham IV's case --that of distorted association. Although Varian Fry was the brain and the head of that rescuing operation, he has been pushed aside by Mr. Bingham as now all the credit is being attributed to Mr. Bingham's father as clearly one can see from his elaborate website.

Let this be clear from the outset: we view Mr. Bingham's push for recognizing his father as a hero, an odious act. It is odious because he is using the Holocaust, in a cynical way, as a tool to advance his family's personal agenda, an agenda that is being disguised, in a grotesque manner, as a worthy and just cause.

So here we come, after this outlined presentation of our side to this case, to the crux of the debate at hand:

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to scrutinize the available evidence that is to be presented herein, by both camps, on the late Bingham IV's deeds, actions and risks involved, and make an informed judgment for or against the posthumous awards for the late Bingham IV that his son, Mr. Bingham, is so adamantly pursuing.

We will do our very best to create herein a conducive place for a vigorous but dignified debate where the two opposite camps will be able to present their respective case, in the best possible light, fairly and as complete as desired. Anybody can embrace a particular side and participate in this debate as long as you have been approved by either camp that you can make a meaningful contribution to this debate.

In addition, it is important to stress that even if you are not participating directly in the debate, your voice can and should be heard as each and every opinion counts, for a final judgment of the Bingham IV case to be rendered by the respective two agencies in question.

Finally, you may ask yourself: Why do I need to be involved in all this? Why is this my concern? Well, Holocaust is a much too important subject for one to remain silent or indifferent to it. Indifference was in fact the principal factor that had led to the existence of the Holocaust in the first place. As Sir Ian Kershaw put it "the road to Auschwitz was built by hate, but paved with indifference."  No one perhaps gave us a better warning on the danger of staying indifferent than the late Yiddish poet and Holocaust survivor Edward Yashinsky who warned us:

"Fear not your enemies, for they can only kill you.
Fear not your friends, for they can only betray you.
Fear only the indifferent, who permit the killers and betrayers
to walk safely on the earth."

Thank you so much for your consideration. We look forward to your active participation.

K. K. Brattman
      Managing Editor

Dated: June 4, 2003

N o t e :
(June 4, 2003)
.In the event that a debate is going to take place, we will have posted herein our
Rules of Engagement for the Debate (RED)
to be agreed by both parties.

 

PS-1. To reach Mr. Bingham by email, click in here:

PS-2. To reach the Managing Editor by email, click in here:

PS-3. An invitation to Mr. Bingham has been extended on June 4, 2003, to have his Opening Statement posted herein. When we shall receive that statement, it shall posted here in full as soon as possible. If no response shall be received from Mr. Bingham, then we shall proceed with this case "sua sponte" i.e., by ourselves.

PS-4. No desire from Messrs. Eric Saul and Robert Kim Bingham has been received in challenging us and, as such, we shall proceed, as stated, with our reporting.

PS-5. On June 29, 2003, we have exposed Eric Saul through the posted article:

The Eric Saul Case and his "Visas for Life: The Righteous Diplomats" Project:
An Issue of Credibility and Accountability

PS-6. On August 7, 2003, we have posted our take on this complex matter through our article entitled:

The Hiram "Harry" Bingham IV Case: Unlocking Uncle Harry's Secrets

 

CONTINUE