THERE I was, barely off the plane from a holiday &:. Engiand when a callow youth from the morning trash sheet called me to ask why a couple of my columns had appeared in a sinister magazine in the U.S. called the Journal of Historical Review. The pieces in question were my famous colunins ou the propaganda movie Schindler's List and the Holocaust. The next day there was a aeross the bottam of the said rag that read “Holocaust? What Holocaust?", plus a picture of Doug the Villain and the words “North Van columnist Doug Collins denics it happened.” On page five the headline was “Holocaust just a story: Collins,” plus a picture showing me with a curled Jip. (Ali the best people curl their lips now and again, there being newspapers like The Province around.) The lead paragraph contained the breathless news that “Right- wing columnist Doug Collins came .out of the closet yesterday and denied the Holocaust occurred.” Fact: I did not deny that “it” occurred. I said 1 did not believe in the six million story, but that there was no doubt chat large numbers of Jews died in the concentration samps, as did large numbers of non-Jews. Nor did | say that the Holocaust was “just a story.” Tf the interview was taped, TE challenge young Mr. Callow, aka Gordon Clark, to pro- duce such words. They were never spoken. As for coming out of the closet, someone must be mad, and itain’t mag, [have been accused of many things, but hiding in closets isn't one of them, Mountain tops yes, closets no. The columns reprinted in the Journal of Historical Review had of course already appeared in the North Shore News and caused endless discussion. So talk of clos- ets is pure balderdash. Clark also asked me whether | was anti-Semitic. This came out as “Collins doesn't consider himself to be anti- Semitic or a neo-Nazi (thanks, Gordon) ‘but J can't say that some of my best friends are Jews." “ What I said on the question of anti-Semitism was. “The usual answer to that is often the cliche, “Some of my best friends are Jews. I can’t say that, but it would be idi- otic to be opposed to Jews simply because they are Jews.” oug Collins ON THE OTHER HAND [also pointed out that Thad fought against Hitler for six years during the war (and would do so again if | had the choice). For the record, | take people as [find them. There are vicious Jews, kind Jews, poor Jews, rich Jews. The same applies to any other group. I did say that in my opinion the gas chamber story was false, and pointed out that for some ycars after the war it was being claimed that gas chambers existed in the concentration camps of Western NEWS photo Terry Peters Safety squad NORTH VANCOUVER RCMP and West Vancouver Police worked together to check seatbelts and child restraints on Tuesday morning at the corner of Capilano and Welch. The point of the province-wide campaign is to find vehicles with deficient straps, mounting bolts and child restraint units. The pragram, which ran Oct. 3rd to Sth and continues today from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., is beln coordinated through the community policing ofjice at the Lynn Valley Mall. Pelice ask drivers to consider the safety of themselves and thcir loved ones; statistics show that seat-beits help prevent injuries and deaths. North Vancouver RCMP had no tallies of vehicle deficiencies available to North Shore News press-time Thursday. : Your call Lape How do you rate the B.C. Ferry Corporation’s service? Richard Knowles North Vancouver District I think it’s great, but there is always room for improvement. Dean Summerfield North Varcouver District Absolutely excellent. All you have to do is tide on a New York State ferry and you can appreciate what we have here. Germany: also, chat Thad scen Bergen-Belsen in (945 and that it had contained no gas chambers. ‘Today, as Etokl the reporter, if such he be, even “Nazi-hunter” Simon Wiesenthal admits there were fo gas chambers in the West. As to theit existing eisewhere, there is considerable doubt, Not that such doubts would appear in our politically correct press. except to be ridiculed. Also for the record, it ism tonty “neo-Nazis” who are asking ques- tions. Arno Mayer, a Jew and Professor of European History at Princeton University wrote a book on the Holocaust called, Why did the heavens not darken? In it, he admitted that “sources for the study of the gas chambers are atonce rare and unreliable.” Also that “there is no denying the Many contradictions, ambiguities and errors in the existing sources,” David Cole, who is also Jewish, has the director of the Auschwitz museum confessing on video tape that the “gas chamber” shown to tourists there was a reconstruction done after the war by the Soviets. And the Poles have stated that the story of “four million” deaths there is not true, All of which is food for thought, except that some people do not want thought. They want tunnel vision. / To repeat. The Nazis did borri- ble things. But the six million story is something else. And it's curious that while we get the Holocaust thrown at us daily, the crimes per- petrated by the Communists are dropped into the memory hole. | leave you to gauss why. So why did two or three of my columns appear in the revisionist Journal? Because they asked nig for then: and [ said OR. itis reviled by Jewish pressure groups but is a scholarly publication. My arrangement with the News is thatif anyone wants to run my column regalarly, as Sterling News did before my critics got to work, it has to be cleared with my pub- lisher, Mr. Peter Speck. But he told me years ago that the occasional colunin did not need clearance. Is the Institute for Historical Review “neo-Nazi?” If so, there must be a lot of neo-Nazis in or from the universities because its magazine's masthead contuins the names of 18 PhDs. And ia the issue in which my two pieces appeared, so did some Solzhenitsyn stuff. So did an arti- cle by Joseph Sobran, whose col- umn appears in 70 U.S. newspa- pers. if | don’t watch it TH get a big head. Police face suit over riot injury Unspecified damages sought ALTHOUGH THIS year’s hockey season has been post- poned, North Vancouver resi- dent Michael Ryan Berntt, 19, has enough memories of last year’s glorious Canucks finish to last a lifetime. By Robert Galster * Contributing Writer Becntt, who spent close to nine days in a coma and suffered severe brain injuries after he was shot in the head by police during last spring's Stanley Cup riot, is suing for unspec- ified damages. Before he was shot, Berntt was video taped taunting and spitting at police. The lawsuit names the City of Vancouver, the police officer who shot him and severai other police officers who stood by during the shooting. The police officers are not named because their identities have not yet been released pending a homicide squad investigation. According to Berntt’s lawyer Richard Brooks, the symptoms of his client’s injuries include speech diffi- culties as well as concentration and memory loss. He added that specific monetary damages sought will not be estab- lished for some time because his client’s exact condition and the cost of his future care remain undeter- mined. “Is premature to be thinking about numbers yet.” Brooks claims thut police acted negligently and later irresponsibly at the time of the incident. “In my view, this kid was shot by a police officer and received griev- ous injuries in a situation where it was unnecessary to do so.” He claims that even after the shooting, officers on the scene were slow to give Berntt medical attention that he needed. The police gun used in the shoot- ing is presumed to have been an Arwen gun which uses plastic pro- jectiles that are not intended to kill or seriously injure their victinas. North Vancouver RCMP spokesman Insp. Jamie Graham said such guns are not used by local police, but could make an appear- ance under extreme circumstances. Graham added that the North Vancouver detachment has a com- plete Emergency Response Team in place that is ready to respond to any situation. A BURNABY woman found herself taking an unexpected ferry ride last month after helping her blind husband board the Horseshoe Bay ferry. Elizabeth Gilchrist criticized B.C. Ferry Corp. for failing to escort her hus- band onto the vessel, as arranged, and then leaving with her on board. Irene Seconi North Vancouver City I'm handicapped and a paraplegic and I went to Sechelt last weekend. We had excellent service on the ferry.