Negationism
The SS soldiers used to enjoy themselves admonishing
the prisoners cynically: “In any way this war would end
we have won the war against you; none of you will
survive to bear declarations, but even if somebody
escapes, the world will not believe him […] and if some
evidence remains, and some of you survives, people will
say that the facts which you are telling are too
monstrous to be believed.”
(Primo Levi, “I sommersi e i salvati”)
Negationism
The SS soldiers used to enjoy themselves admonishing the prisoners cynically: “In
any way this war would end we have won the war against you; none of you will
survive to bear declarations, but even if somebody escapes, the world will not
believe him […] and if some evidence remains, and some of you survives, people
will say that the facts which you are telling are too monstrous to be believed.”
(Primo Levi, “I sommersi e i salvati”)
Differently from the history-revisionists who have
brought forward some cruxes of modern or
contemporary history to question, after analysing new
documents, the NEGATIONISTS, in a not historical and
scientific way, deny the Shoah, considering some facts
linked to nazi and fascism.
The growth of Negationism is not new, since the
beginning of the after-war period, some isolated authors
have tried to justify and explain Nazism, ignoring what
was the worst crime committed by Nazi, that is the
slaughter of millions of Jewish in the death camps.
The mention some of the forerunners of Negationism,
we have to remember the deniers of Shoah in France
Maurice Bardèche, belonging to the former Vicky
republic and a former socialist Paul Rassinier, who is,
nowadays, considered the founding father of
Negationism (he was a politic deportee in Dora and
Buchenwald and for some reason, difficult to explain, he
spent the last days of his life, after the war, to try to
justify the Nazi polity and claimning that the real people
who were responsible for the second war were the
Jewish and the Communists).
Differently from the history-revisionists who have brought forward some cruxes of
modern or contemporary history to question, after analysing new documents, the
NEGATIONISTS, in a not historical and scientific way, deny the Shoah, considering
some facts linked to nazi and fascism.
The growth of Negationism is not new, since the beginning of the after-war period,
some isolated authors have tried to justify and explain Nazism, ignoring what was
the worst crime committed by Nazi, that is the slaughter of millions of Jewish in the
death camps.
The mention some of the forerunners of Negationism, we have to remember the
deniers of Shoah in France Maurice Bardèche, belonging to the former Vicky
republic and a former socialist Paul Rassinier, who is, nowadays, considered the
founding father of Negationism (he was a politic deportee in Dora and Buchenwald
and for some reason, difficult to explain, he spent the last days of his life, after the
war, to try to justify the Nazi polity and claimning that the real people who were
responsible for the second war were the Jewish and the Communists).
After Rassinier, some authors, all over the world, tried
to deny Shoah.
While for thirty years their theories were not
considered, since the end of the 70s Negationism has
started to gain a greater and greater relevance in the
historical debate.
This change of “visibility” can be explained: in 1978 The
Institute of Historical Review, was founded in
Torrance, California, it is a pseudo academic institute,
were all Negationists meet and lectures are organized,
publications written by Negationists are provided with
a magazine entitle “The Journal of Historical Review”,
in which all the Negationist authors write some articles.
While before the Holocaust deniers acted in isolation,
with the result that there were often contradictions in
their issues, now all their publications are coordinated
by this institute which can give them the coherence
which they didn’t have before.
After Rassinier, some authors, all over the world, tried to deny Shoah.
While for thirty years their theories were not considered, since the end of the 70s
Negationism has started to gain a greater and greater relevance in the historical
debate.
This change of “visibility” can be explained: in 1978 The Institute of Historical
Review, was founded in Torrance, California, it is a pseudo academic institute, were
all Negationists meet and lectures are organized, publications written by
Negationists are provided with a magazine entitle “The Journal of Historical
Review”, in which all the Negationist authors write some articles.
While before the Holocaust deniers acted in isolation, with the result that there
were often contradictions in their issues, now all their publications are coordinated
by this institute which can give them the coherence which they didn’t have before.
For example the Institute of Historical Review has
expressed eight Holocaust denial axioms that all the
Shoah deniers have to follow:
1.
The final solution consisted of the emigration and
not of the slaughter
2.
There were not killings by means of gas
3.
The majority of the missing Jews emigrated to
America and to the Soviet Union disappearing
4.
The few executed Jews by Nazi were subversive
criminals
5.
The global Jewish community persecuted everybody
who wanted to make a historical and honest
research about the second World War worried that
the truth would emerge
6.
There are no evidences of the genocide
7.
Evidence belongs to the killers, it is in their hands
8.
The contradictions which were in the demographic
calculation of the official history show that their
theories were false
For example the Institute of Historical Review has expressed eight Holocaust denial
axioms that all the Shoah deniers have to follow:
1.
The final solution consisted of the emigration and not of the slaughter
2.
There were not killings by means of gas
3.
The majority of the missing Jews emigrated to America and to the Soviet Union
disappearing
4.
The few executed Jews by Nazi were subversive criminals
5.
The global Jewish community persecuted everybody who wanted to make a
historical and honest research about the second World War worried that the truth
would emerge
6.
There are no evidences of the genocide
7.
Evidence belongs to the killers, it is in their hands
8.
The contradictions which were in the demographic calculation of the official
history show that their theories were false
A series of question and standard answers come from
these light axioms , by which all Holocaust deniers refute
all the most obvious olyections:
1)
If a genocide never happened, what happened to the
missing Jewish? Answer: they took advantage of the after
war chaos to make a new life for themselves with some
handsame young man living in that place.
2)
How can we explain the meaning of the code phrase
“special action” which is very often found in Nazi
documents? Answer: special action were nothing else
than simple selections to separate the healthy prisoners
from the ill ones in a camp, in order to avoid the
spreading of a typhus epidemic.
3)
What about post-war evidence? Answer: witnesses
are not real evidence, because all their declarations were
wrung out of them Allies.
4)
What about the photographic? Answer: all the
pictures were altered by groups of Zionist propaganda
agents; even some Negationists claimed that the photos
of heaps of corpses in a camp had been taken in
Dresden after the Allied bombings.
A series of question and standard answers come from these light axioms , by which
all Holocaust deniers refute all the most obvious olyections:
1)
If a genocide never happened, what happened to the missing Jewish? Answer:
they took advantage of the after war chaos to make a new life for themselves with
some handsame young man living in that place.
2)
How can we explain the meaning of the code phrase “special action” which is very
often found in Nazi documents? Answer: special action were nothing else than
simple selections to separate the healthy prisoners from the ill ones in a camp, in
order to avoid the spreading of a typhus epidemic.
3)
What about post-war evidence? Answer: witnesses are not real evidence, because
all their declarations were wrung out of them Allies.
4)
What about the photographic? Answer: all the pictures were altered by groups of
Zionist propaganda agents; even some Negationists claimed that the photos of
heaps of corpses in a camp had been taken in Dresden after the Allied bombings.
One area in which negationists are very active today is
the Internet, where there has been a proliferation of
Holocaust denial sites. The computerized channel is a
very good solution to escape the censorship that, in
some European countries, affects the writings of
Holocaust deniers.
The ease with which Holocaust deniers have access to
internet has important consequences on the strategies
with which the supporters of the official historians are
trying to fight the phenomenon of Holocaust denial. If
with the old communication technologies (print and
video) was still possible to think of suppressing the
movement by censorship, with the advent and spread of
the Internet this has become impossible.
One area in which negationists are very active today is the Internet, where there
has been a proliferation of Holocaust denial sites. The computerized channel is a
very good solution to escape the censorship that, in some European countries,
affects the writings of Holocaust deniers.
The ease with which Holocaust deniers have access to internet has important
consequences on the strategies with which the supporters of the official historians
are trying to fight the phenomenon of Holocaust denial. If with the old
communication technologies (print and video) was still possible to think of
suppressing the movement by censorship, with the advent and spread of the
Internet this has become impossible.
The Nizkor project (Hebrew for "we will remember"), has
started from these remarks premise, which since 1992
has taken on the task of unmasking the Zundel targets
and similar groups through a meticulous monitoring of
Holocaust denial sites, embracing the motto "the way to
fight pernicious ideas is through other ideas
Project Nizkor: an internet-based project dedicated to
the fight against Holocaust denial.
Ernst Zundel is a German journalist best known for his
views denying the Holocaust. He spent a lot of time in
prison because of his publishing house publications on
this issue and because he belonged to neo-Nazi
movement urging to violence and racial hatred.
The Nizkor project (Hebrew for "we will remember"), has started from these remarks
premise, which since 1992 has taken on the task of unmasking the Zundel targets
and similar groups through a meticulous monitoring of Holocaust denial sites,
embracing the motto "the way to fight pernicious ideas is through other ideas
Project Nizkor: an internet-based project dedicated to the fight against Holocaust
denial.
Ernst Zundel is a German journalist best known for his views denying the Holocaust.
He spent a lot of time in prison because of his publishing house publications on this
issue and because he belonged to neo-Nazi movement urging to violence and racial
hatred.
The main representative of Holocaust denial in Italy is
Carlo Mattogno, born in Orvieto in 1951, a member of
“ the Institute of Historical Review”. Since 1985 he has
written a large number of books published by “Edition
AR”, belonging to Franco Freda, by “Effepi”, a publishing
house in Genoa, by “Sentinel of Italy”, a publishing
house belonging to the radical right wing.
Among his books we can mention “The myth of the
Jewish slaughter“ in which he states that the massacre
of the Jewish has never existed, “The Gerstein report:
anatomy of a fake” in which he claims that Kurt
Gerstein gave a false evidence of the slaughter by gas
and “The Rice Hill of Saint Sabba”, a crude forgery
about the reconstruction of Saint Sabba camp.
The main representative of Holocaust denial in Italy is Carlo Mattogno, born in
Orvieto in 1951, a member of “ the Institute of Historical Review”. Since 1985 he has
written a large number of books published by “Edition AR”, belonging to Franco
Freda, by “Effepi”, a publishing house in Genoa, by “Sentinel of Italy”, a publishing
house belonging to the radical right wing.
Among his books we can mention “The myth of the Jewish slaughter“ in which he
states that the massacre of the Jewish has never existed, “The Gerstein report:
anatomy of a fake” in which he claims that Kurt Gerstein gave a false evidence of
the slaughter by gas and “The Rice Hill of Saint Sabba”, a crude forgery about the
reconstruction of Saint Sabba camp.
