In the “standard” variety, the argument is that Hitler did not want to kill the Jews or that Hitler did not, in fact, kill the Jews. For proponents of that view, think Ernst Zundel or David Irving.
The “new” strain of Holocaust denial “denies the specificity of the Holocaust” or attempts to use it as a weapon against the State of Israel, insisting that what the Israelis are doing to the Palestinians is pretty much what the Germans did to the Jews. Think far left and radical Islamists for advocates of that view.'
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Israel did not exist during the Holocaust. This is an old, illogical trick to try to change opinions about the Holocaust by blaming Israel. They are two separate topics. Discuss Israeli policy as much as you want. That would be a different topic - a new thread. But, it has nothing to do with the Holocaust. It does not in any way change the fact that millions of innocent Jews were systematically exterminated by Nazi Germany.
ReplyDeleteNo event in human history has been studied as thoroughly and carefully than the Holocaust. Thousands of thesis and dissertations papers have poured over all of the evidence, from anecdotal testimony to captured German war documents. Virtually every historian with a PhD in European History agrees that millions of Jews were systematically exterminated by Nazi Germany. One can no more "revise" this fact than one can revise the existence of gravity. Captured German documents alone account for enough evidence to convict Nazi Germany of mass genocide in any civil (not Islamic) court. You can suggest that 5.6 million Jews were killed, instead of six million. But, you cannot deny that millions of innocent Jews were murdered. The Wannsee Conference planned the killing. Nazi concentration camp records prove that it was carried out.
Whenever we stand up to those who deny or minimize genocide we send a critical message to the world. As we continue to live in an age of genocide and ethnic cleansing, we must repel the broken ethics of our ancestors, or risk a dreadful repeat of past transgressions. We know from captured German war records that millions of innocent Jews were systematically exterminated by Nazi Germany - most in gas chambers. These facts have been proven repeatedly through countless thesis and dissertation research papers. Virtually every PhD in the world will stake their career on the veracity of known Holocaust facts. Despite this knowledge, Holocaust deniers ply their mendacious poison everywhere, especially with young people on the Internet. Such deniers have only one agenda - to distort the truth in a way that promotes antagonism against the object of their hatred, or to deny the culpability of their ancestors and heroes.
Museums and mandatory public education are tools to dispel bigotry, especially racial and ethnic hatred. Books, films and presentations can reinforce the veracity of past and present genocides. They help to tell the true story of the perpetrators of genocide; and they reveal the abject terror, humiliation and degradation resulting from prejudice. It is therefore essential that we disclose the factual brutality and horror of genocide, combating the deniers’ virulent, inaccurate historical revision. We must protect vulnerable future generations from making the same mistakes.
A world that continues to allow genocide requires ethical remediation. We must show the world that religious, racial, ethnic, gender and orientation persecution is wrong; and that tolerance is our progeny's only hope. Only through such efforts can we reveal the true horror of genocide and promote the triumphant spirit of humankind.
Charles Weinblatt
Author, "Jacob's Courage"
http://jacobscourage.wordpress.com/