Holocaust Denial Adnan Alam Holocaust Literature Spring2008 Dr

Holocaust Denial Adnan Alam Holocaust Literature Spring/2008 Dr. Victoria Harrison San Jose State University

Topics • • What is Genocide? What is Holocaust Denial? Estimation of Jewish Losses Why Denying the Holocaust • 5 Main Claims of Holocaust Denial Movement • • History of Holocaust Denial Fighting the Holocaust Denial Freedom of Speech Q&A

What is Genocide? • The word: – Raphael Lemkin, Polish-Jewish lawyer, 1944 – Geno (race or tribe) and Cide (killing) • The United Nations Definition of Genocide “Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group”.

What is Holocaust Denial? • Defining Holocaust Denial: – Holocaust denial is a propaganda movement which seeks to deny the reality of the Nazi regime’s systematic mass murder of six million Jews in Europe during World War II. • Why and How

Estimation of Jewish Losses

Why Denying the Holocaust • Racist, political and strategic reasons - Innate Antisemitism and Irrational Hatred - Special treatment of Jews - Interests of the State of Israel - Resurgence of Nazi policies - Over glorified stories of the German brutality during WWI • My own observation (in Bangladesh) - Religious belief: Jews can make you believe in anything - The politics of Israel: gaining sympathy with their stories

5 Main Claims of Holocaust Denial Movement • • • No Nazi policy or intention to exterminate Jews Gas chambers weren’t used Six million is just simply impossible Jewish conspiracy Establishing a Jewish homeland in Israel

History of Holocaust Denial • Origin of Holocaust Denial - A state secret, verbal orders, euphemistic language - Red Cross visit: 1944, “Theresienstadt Ghetto” • Timeline - 1947: Maurice Bardèche, a French fascist - 1969: The Myth of the Six Million - 1977: David Irving offers “$1000 for evidence that Hitler knew about Auschwitz. ” - 1988: The Templeton Prize goes to Dr. Inamullah Khan (the Secretary-General of the World Muslim Congress) - 1994: Irving was interviewed by Shermer. - 2000: Irving vs. Lipstadt - 2005: Irving was arrested in Austria

Fighting Holocaust Denial • Nuremberg Trial - “The Nazi Concentration Camps” • Robert Jackson “unless record was made … future generations would not believe how horrible the truth was. ” • Robert Storey “The purpose of the Nuremberg trial was not merely, or even principally, to convict the leaders of Nazi Germany. . . Of far greater importance, it seemed to me from the outset, was the making of a record of the Hitler regime which would withstand the test of history. ”

Fighting Holocaust Denial • Well Researched Publications 2000: Denying History, Michael Shermer and Alex Grobman 1993: Denying the Holocaust, Deborah E. Lipstadt

Fighting Holocaust Denial • Evidences of Holocaust – Written Documents – Eyewitness Testimony – Photographs – The Camps themselves – Inferential Evidence

Fighting Holocaust Denial

Fighting Holocaust Denial

Freedom of Speech • Questionable Publications - Neo-Nazi - Antisemitic - Holocaust Denial • Noam Chomsky – First Amendment

Question & Answer • Works Cited: 1. The Holocaust Chronicle, p. 599, p. 621. Publications International, Ltd. 2. Lipstadt, Deborah E. Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on truth and Memory, p. 65 -83, p. 157182. The Free Press, New York, 1993. 3. Shermer, Michael, and Alex Grobman. Denying History: Who Says the Holocaust Never Happened and Why do They Say It, p. 33, p. 100, p. 123 -228. University of California Press, Berkeley, 2000. 4. Shermer, Michael. “Giving the Devil His Due” e. Skeptic March 2006. 5. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Combating Holocaust Denial: Origins of Holocaust Denial. ” Accessed on April 25, 2008. http: //www. ushmm. org/wlc/article. php? lang=en&Module. Id=10007273> 6. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Combating Holocaust Denial: Holocaust Deniers and Public Misinformation. ” Accessed on April 25, 2008. http: //www. ushmm. org/wlc/article. php? lang=en&Module. Id=10007272> 7. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Combating Holocaust Denial: Evidence of the Holocaust Presented at the Nuremberg. ” Accessed on April 25, 2008. http: //www. ushmm. org/wlc/article. php? lang=en&Module. Id=10007271> 8. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Combating Holocaust Denial: Origins of Holocaust Denial. ” Accessed on April 25, 2008. http: //www. ushmm. org/wlc/article. php? lang=en&Module. Id=10007147> 9. Vidal-Naquet, Pierre. Assassins of Memory: Essays on the Denial of the Holocaust, p. 65 -73 Columbia University Press, New York, 1992.