“We will show you these concentration camps in motion pictures, just as the Allied armies found them when they arrived. Our proof will be disgusting and you will say I have robbed you of your sleep. I am one who received most atrocity tales with suspicion and skepticism. But the proof here will be so overwhelming that I venture to predict not one word I have spoken will be denied.”
–Thomas Dodd Nuremberg prosecutor, 1947
Holocaust denial is a propaganda strategy used by a number of anti-Semites and Nazi apologists. On the surface, Holocaust deniers portray themselves as engaged in a legitimate, dispassionate quest for historical knowledge and “truth.” They claim to be champions of intellectual freedom who are simply seeking an “open debate” about the “holocaust controversy.” However, their actual goal is to plant seeds of questioning and doubt about the Holocaust in their audiences.
Lately, the work of Holocaust deniers has become more dangerous, mainly because it has become more sophisticated. Deniers publications, including The Journal of Historical Review , mimic legitimate scholarly publications. By adopting an academic stance, deniers have begun to insinuate their views into the arena of legitimate historical debate and deliberation. They then assert that the accepted premise that Nazi Germany engaged in a premeditated campaign of systematic genocide against the Jews of Europe during the Second World War does not stand up to “honest” scholarly scrutiny.
Online Resources:
- Deniers, Relativists, and Pseudo-Scholarship
- Those who argue that holocaust deniers must be given a fair hearing fail to recognize that the deniers’ quest is not a search for truth. Rather they are motivated by racism, extremism, and virulent anti-Semitism.
- The Science of Denial, the Denial of Science
Holocaust deniers have turned to “scientific” arguments to “prove” that the Nazi regime could not have used gas chambers to carry out an extermination program against Jews and Gypsies. The danger of this new denier approach is that few people have the technical background to analyze the papers and understand their fundamental flaws. Too many people glance at the arguments, see “science,” and immediately their eyes glaze over. They figure that since it’s “scientific,” there must be something to it. Thus Holocaust denial gains scientific credibility. - Deceit & Misrepresentations: The Techniques of Holocaust Denial
Nizkor has gathered essays exposing, describing, and refuting many of the techniques used by deniers.
Holocaust Denial: On Online Guide
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has created an online guide which covers the origin of Holocaust denial, denial as anti-Semitism, denial themes, and some of the prominent deniers. - Nazi Medicine and Public Health Policy
This article examines the relationship between science and ideology in Nazi Germany. - The News Media & Holocaust Denial by Dan Yurman
Media coverage of the Irving vs. Lipstadt trial.
Index of the Holocaust Denial Trial Media Coverage by Dan Yurman - Medicine and Murder in the Third Reich
The medical professions of Germany and Austria , including academic medicine, played a critical role in the evolution of Nazism’s programs of human destruction, programs that culminated in genocide and the exploitation of the dead. - The Psychological Satisfaction of Denials of the Holocaust or Other Genocides by Non-Extremists or Bigots, and Even by Known Scholars
This paper by Israel W. Charny was originally presented as an Invited Address to Conference in New York, April 1995, on “Genocide and Holocaust: Armenian and Jewish Perspectives” sponsored by the Israel Colloquium and the Krikor and Clara Zohrab Information Center of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of Armenia.
