What is Holocaust Denial?Holocaust Denial is the act of denying, in whole or in part, the genocide of the European Jews during the Second World War. Deniers often will refer to the Holocaust as the "Holocaust Hoax" or "Holohoax."
How do people deny the Holocaust?There are a myriad of ways in which people deny the Holocaust. Some key denial claims are that the National Socialist (Nazi) government made no plan or had no intention of exterminating Jews, that Nazis did not use extermination camps and gas chambers to mass murder Jews, that the actual number of Jews killed is no where near 6 million, and that Jews perpetrate this "Holocaust hoax" to gain sympathy and support for Israel. Deniers seek to exonerate Hitler and the Nazi regime of responsibility and guilt, often in an attempt to validate National Socialism as a political movement. But just like National Socialism, Holocaust denial centers around antisemitism.
While some denial claims that Hitler had no knowledge of the murder of Jews in the east by the Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units), other denial claims no gas chambers existed in the camps in Poland. It is also common for deniers to say that the crematoria could have only accommodated 100,000 or 200,000 victims, but Ken Stern explains that "there was a potential possibility of cremating 4,043,520 corpses (emphasis his)" in the two year period that crematoria operated. So to those who say that a death toll of 6 million is impossible for a six year period, we know that not only is it possible but that it is lower than it had the potential to be. Because so many people read The Diary of Anne Frank and it is usually their first encounter with the Holocaust, deniers focus on discrediting the diary. As Deborah Lipstadt explains, if deniers can generate doubts about The Diary they think they will generate broader doubts about the Holocaust. Continued attacks on the Diary compelled the Netherlands State Institute for War Documentation and the German criminal laboratories comprehensively tested the original diary and found it to be authentic. Another key aspect of Denial is the anti-Israel aspect. Deniers and the people they influence espouse that the Holocaust is Zionist propaganda to generate support for Israel. A pamphlet produced by the organization, If Americans Knew, holds that "Zionists used an array of misleading strategies, including secret collaboration with the Nazis, to push immigration.” Deniers also argue that the Israeli government exploits the German government by taking money for the victims of the Holocaust. However, the reparations that Germany has paid to Israel, most of which was not liquid cash, were based on the cost to Israel to absorb survivors who emigrated after the war ended. Neither Israel nor Germany sought to calculate a price to place on the six million who perished, for each life is of infinite value; it is against Jewish Law to put a price on the loss of life. Who Denies the Holocaust?Robert Faurisson, Ernst Zündel, and David Irving are professional Holocaust Deniers. They conduct "research" that proves that the Holocaust did not happen. One should be skeptical of their works and others like them. Holocaust Denial has also become a hallmark of the KKK, the Nation of Islam and Louis Farrakhan, the Identity Church Movement, as well as Neo-Nazi Skinheads. It holds a place with racism, homophobia, and antisemitism as a part of a tradition of bigotry. The Institute for Historical Review, a pseudo-scientific academy, is one of the most important organizations to Holocaust Denial and is devoted to challenging the history of the Holocaust. They produce a journal that mimics real academic journals in order to hide their motives and appear as legitimate scholarship. Learn more.
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Abusive Language, Comparitization, and MinimizationThough it is not as extreme as Holocaust Denial, many people depreciate the magnitude of the Holocaust. For example, some victims of persecution accuse their persecutors of being Nazis. While no discrimination is justifiable...
Read more. Revisionism vs. DenialHolocaust Deniers operate under the guise of historical revisionism. Revisionism is a legitimate historical methodology and is, in some way, used by all historians. However, there are certain historical facts that are not disputed. Revisionism incorporates established facts and uses them to tell a different narratives. Holocaust deniers do no do this: they manipulate and ignore evidence that conflict with their predetermined conclusions.
Deborah Lipstadt, Ph.D.Deborah Lipstadt received her PhD in modern Jewish History from Brandeis University. For many years she taught the history of the Holocaust at UCLA and was a consultant to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for two terms. Now she is the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies at Emory University Professor Lipstadt is one of the world’s leading scholars of Holocaust Denial. Though she is an active fighter of Holocaust Denial, she is a fervent defender of free speech rights.
In London, David Irving sued Lipstadt for identifying him as a Holocaust denier. In 2000, they went to trial and Justice Charles Gray ruled Irving to have “persistently and deliberately misrepresented and manipulated historical evidence” and to be an “active Holocaust denier.” |