Method The Holocaust is a world-renowned event. “We know about the Holocaust through a convergence of evidence such as documents, testimonies, facilities, inferential evidence, and photographs” (Farmer, 2014, p. 39). A rising conspiracy throughout the world is the theory of Holocaust Denial. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum stated, “Holocaust denial is an attempt to negate the established facts of the Nazi genocide of European Jewry.” Many revisionists deny the Holocaust events completely; however, there are distinct denial assertions that are made by other revisionists. “Key denial assertions are: that the murder of approximately six million Jews during World War II never occurred, that the Nazis had no official policy or intention to exterminate the Jews, and that the poison gas chambers in Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp never existed” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d.).
Holocaust denial has been argued for decades, “Holocaust Denial first became apparent in France. Fascist writers wrote books about allied war propaganda, saying the evidence regarding hat concentration camps and the number of deaths was falsified,” (Moniz, 2003, March). The concept of Holocaust Denial has existed for decades; however, the conspiracy did not become widely known until the rising popularity of the internet. “Until about twenty years ago, Holocaust deniers were largely a subspecies of the tin-foil hat conspiracy brigade and were dismissed out of hand by bemused, baffled, or offended onlookers, but then again, that was prior to the internet,” (Feldman, 2008). Preceding the internet, Holocaust denial was not a widely supported conspiracy. Also stated by Feldman, 2008, “particularly with the communication possibilities offered by the internet and related new media technologies, recognizing these weavers of deception for what they are, and indeed always have been, has never been so important as it is today.” Holocaust distortion is a sub-category of denial. Stated by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. “A newer trend is the distortion of facts of the Holocaust. Common distortions include, for example, assertions that: the figure of six million Jewish deaths is an exaggeration; and that the deaths in the concentration camps were the results of disease or starvation, but not policy.” Although Holocaust denial and distortion can be based upon facts, they have a common motive. “Holocaust denial and distortion are generally motivated by hatred of the Jews, and built on the claim that the Holocaust was invented or exaggerated by the Jews as part of a plot to advance Jewish interests” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d.). The hatred of Jews has played a major role in the growth of Holocaust denial. Another growing form of Holocaust Denial is misuse. “Misuse occurs when aspects of the Holocaust are compared to events, situations, or people where there is no genocide or genocidal intent” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d.). Comparing an event like the Holocaust to an event where there is no genocide is an invalid argument of Holocaust deniers because there are no parallels upon which to draw. Also stated by the Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. “Examples of the Holocaust misuse include: claiming that Israeli-government actions are equivalent to those of the Nazis; equating the treatment of animals with the treatment of Jews and victims during the Holocaust; labeling political opponents as Nazis; or misusing the terminology of the Holocaust to assert particular actions are the same as actions undertaken by the Nazis.” Equating the Holocaust to such things as a political opponent diminishes the heinous nature …show more content…
Farmer, 2014 stated, “One of the main arguments put forward by the deniers I that the Nazi could not have disposed of millions of corpses without a trace” (p. 38). The answer to that question is simple, they used crematoriums to turn the bodies to ashes. Farmer, 2014 also wrote, “Another challenge thrown up by Holocaust deniers is to question why no great heaps of ashes were found; given that all of the bodies that the conventional wisdom says were incinerated” (p. 38). He later wrote “the answer to that question is easy to come by: the ashes of a thousand bodies could be loaded onto a truck, for example, and dumped into the nearest river” (p. 38). This argument put forth by the deniers was also easily proven to be
Holocaust denial has been argued for decades, “Holocaust Denial first became apparent in France. Fascist writers wrote books about allied war propaganda, saying the evidence regarding hat concentration camps and the number of deaths was falsified,” (Moniz, 2003, March). The concept of Holocaust Denial has existed for decades; however, the conspiracy did not become widely known until the rising popularity of the internet. “Until about twenty years ago, Holocaust deniers were largely a subspecies of the tin-foil hat conspiracy brigade and were dismissed out of hand by bemused, baffled, or offended onlookers, but then again, that was prior to the internet,” (Feldman, 2008). Preceding the internet, Holocaust denial was not a widely supported conspiracy. Also stated by Feldman, 2008, “particularly with the communication possibilities offered by the internet and related new media technologies, recognizing these weavers of deception for what they are, and indeed always have been, has never been so important as it is today.” Holocaust distortion is a sub-category of denial. Stated by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. “A newer trend is the distortion of facts of the Holocaust. Common distortions include, for example, assertions that: the figure of six million Jewish deaths is an exaggeration; and that the deaths in the concentration camps were the results of disease or starvation, but not policy.” Although Holocaust denial and distortion can be based upon facts, they have a common motive. “Holocaust denial and distortion are generally motivated by hatred of the Jews, and built on the claim that the Holocaust was invented or exaggerated by the Jews as part of a plot to advance Jewish interests” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d.). The hatred of Jews has played a major role in the growth of Holocaust denial. Another growing form of Holocaust Denial is misuse. “Misuse occurs when aspects of the Holocaust are compared to events, situations, or people where there is no genocide or genocidal intent” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d.). Comparing an event like the Holocaust to an event where there is no genocide is an invalid argument of Holocaust deniers because there are no parallels upon which to draw. Also stated by the Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. “Examples of the Holocaust misuse include: claiming that Israeli-government actions are equivalent to those of the Nazis; equating the treatment of animals with the treatment of Jews and victims during the Holocaust; labeling political opponents as Nazis; or misusing the terminology of the Holocaust to assert particular actions are the same as actions undertaken by the Nazis.” Equating the Holocaust to such things as a political opponent diminishes the heinous nature …show more content…
Farmer, 2014 stated, “One of the main arguments put forward by the deniers I that the Nazi could not have disposed of millions of corpses without a trace” (p. 38). The answer to that question is simple, they used crematoriums to turn the bodies to ashes. Farmer, 2014 also wrote, “Another challenge thrown up by Holocaust deniers is to question why no great heaps of ashes were found; given that all of the bodies that the conventional wisdom says were incinerated” (p. 38). He later wrote “the answer to that question is easy to come by: the ashes of a thousand bodies could be loaded onto a truck, for example, and dumped into the nearest river” (p. 38). This argument put forth by the deniers was also easily proven to be