Holocaust denial – RationalWiki
Posted By admin on July 13, 2015
Holocaust denial (also Holocaust "revisionism") is assertion that the Holocaust (often called the "Holohoax") perpetrated by Nazi Germany, other Axis powers, and their collaborators in occupied Europe during the Second World War never happened or - in true conspiracy theory fashion - the denial that it happened according to the "official" story. Like most conspiracy theories, it takes many forms, from the fairly light claims of "exaggeration" to the extreme views of outright fraud, fakery and Zionist conspiracy. Generally, the claims include:
Particularly when it focuses on "how the Jews faked it all," Holocaust denial is a form of anti-Semitism often embraced by bigots who are too cowardly to admit that they wished that Hitler had finished the job.
I visited every nook and cranny of the camp because I felt it my duty to be in a position from then on to testify at first hand about these things in case there ever grew up at home the belief or assumption that "the stories of Nazi brutality were just propaganda." Some members of the visiting party were unable to go through with the ordeal. I not only did so but as soon as I returned to Patton's headquarters that evening I sent communications to both Washington and London, urging the two governments to send instantly to Germany a random group of newspaper editors and representative groups from the national legislatures. I felt that the evidence should be immediately placed before the American and the British publics in a fashion that would leave no room for cynical doubt.
The Holocaust was, according to Wikipedia:
Today, scholars of history are divided between two interpretations of the Holocaust: functionalism versus intentionalism.[wp] Both functionalists and intentionalists agree that the Holocaust occurred, but functionalists disagree with the claim that the Holocaust was Hitler's intention from the beginning, either from the time of Mein Kampf, or his ascension to power, or even the beginning of the war. By contrast, intentionalists see the Holocaust as being primarily Hitler's idea, something he had planned even for years before coming to power. Functionalists see the Holocaust evolving bottom-up rather than being ordered from the top-down. That Hitler did not plan or order the Holocaust does not mean he escapes moral responsibility for it. He created the climate of extreme anti-Semitism that made it possible, created many of the policies which immediately contributed to it, provided the leadership that considered these measures both permissible and acceptable and failed to stop or prevent it.
For example, both intentionalists and functionalists agree that Hitler ordered deportation of Jews to Nazi-occupied Poland but intentionalists believe that "deportation" was from the very beginning a codeword for extermination (see explanation of Nazi euphemisms below), while functionalists see "deportation" at the beginning as being quite literally that a plan to deport Jews, with little thought as to what would happen to them when they arrived in Poland. Functionalists see the Holocaust as a bureaucratic solution among low-level Nazi officials in Poland to handle all these incoming Jews, by killing most of them. Functionalists such as Ian Kershaw also point to the highly chaotic nature of the Nazi state, in which individuals vied with one another for power and Hitler's good favour (often the same thing). This process, referred to by historians (after Nazi civil servant Werner Willikins) as "working towards the Fuhrer," aimed at satisfying Hitler's ever-increasing calls for "radicalism" in all matters of policy, naturally led various officials to propose more and more extreme solutions to the "Jewish question" (that there were multiple proposed solutions is evidenced by the term "the Final Solution"). Functionalists still believe that, even if Hitler did not directly start the Holocaust, he became aware of it while it was in progress and in all probability signed off on the proposal - in no way does functionalism absolve Hitler of moral responsibility or downplay the atrocities themselves. Unlike Holocaust denial, functionalism is an academically respectable position in the field of history.
Many Holocaust deniers describe themselves as "revisionists." Does that mean they are not deniers?
How do we define Holocaust denial?
Modern scholarship defines "The Holocaust" as:
The Free Dictionary defines "denial" as:
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Holocaust denial - RationalWiki
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