In Denial, In Jail
" I am going to form an association of ....Survivors of the Holocaust and other liars..."
David Irving
British author David Irving has already begun serving a three-year sentence in an Austrian prison for a speech in 1989 in which he denied that there were any gas chambers at the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. Although he admitted in court Feb. 19 that he had been wrong on that point, he was convicted and sentenced for his 1989 statement, which violated an Austrian law against denying the Holocaust.
Irving, a college drop-out, has published 30 books, including "Hitler's War" in which he downplayed the German dictator's responsibility for the Holocaust. Irving has claimed, in face of massive evidence to the contrary, that Hitler never intended to kill the Jews of Europe, that the number killed was vastly exaggerated by Jewish propagandists, and that huge numbers of survivors lied about their experiences to extort money from Germany. Until his arrest in November of last year (while en route to a meeting of rightist students) David Irving had made a career of speaking to right-wing audiences both in Europe and the United States.
Irving is perhaps the most intellectually respectable Holocaust Denier today (although he rejects the title); his colleagues include Northwestern University Engineering Professor Arthur Butz (author of "The Hoax of the Twentieth Century"), Palestine Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. ( If the President of Iran speaks in Austria, at least he will be protected by diplomatic immunity.)
Sixty years after the fall of Nazi Germany, Deniers still get an audience today. Why do some people want to hear (or read) this stuff, and why do some countries punish it?
First, historical revisionism attracts an audience whenever the fiction makes a better story than the fact. For example, books were published claiming that the youngest daughter of Czar Nicholas II survived the massacre of her family (1) and that President Kennedy was killed by a CIA-type conspiracy (2). Both were made into hit movies, and today millions of people accept the fictional versions as truth.
Beyond that, Holocaust-denial has a special appeal to two distinct, but somewhat overlapping groups of people: Nazi-sympathizers and enemies of Israel. For the former, the point is that the Nazis weren't really so bad; for the latter it is that Israel was founded on a lie. Both groups derive pleasure from portraying the Jews as liars.
Austria, whose own record of complicity with Nazism is embarrassing (3), has made Holocaust-denial a crime in an effort to thwart pro-fascist activity, as have several other countries. We Americans treasure our freedom of speech too much to restrict the expression of even the most outlandish and pernicious opinions. Instead, we must confront falsehood with truth, rather than with incarceration.
But why should we even bother to refute the Deniers?
Since the facts are readily available to any interested person, what is the difference if people are told lies?
The answer is that for anyone less than about 70 years old, the Holocaust and World War II are not living memories, but no more than history. The sad fact is that young people today do not read much history and don't seem to miss it much either. That is why those of us who do remember what really happened must pass the truth on to those who could not have experienced it.
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(1) A Polish woman successfully posed as the Grand Dutchess Anastasia for about sixty years. Ingrid Bergman portrayed her on the screen. After her death, a DNA test proved she was not related to the Romanovs.
(2) Oliver Stone's "JFK" was based upon the book "On the Trail of the Assassins" by New Orleans DA Jim Garrison. More people saw "JFK" than read the Warren Report.
(3) Most Austrians welcomed the unification of their country and Nazi Germany in 1938, and many Austrian men served in German forces. Kurt Waldheim was one of them, and he was elected President of Austria.
David Irving
British author David Irving has already begun serving a three-year sentence in an Austrian prison for a speech in 1989 in which he denied that there were any gas chambers at the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. Although he admitted in court Feb. 19 that he had been wrong on that point, he was convicted and sentenced for his 1989 statement, which violated an Austrian law against denying the Holocaust.
Irving, a college drop-out, has published 30 books, including "Hitler's War" in which he downplayed the German dictator's responsibility for the Holocaust. Irving has claimed, in face of massive evidence to the contrary, that Hitler never intended to kill the Jews of Europe, that the number killed was vastly exaggerated by Jewish propagandists, and that huge numbers of survivors lied about their experiences to extort money from Germany. Until his arrest in November of last year (while en route to a meeting of rightist students) David Irving had made a career of speaking to right-wing audiences both in Europe and the United States.
Irving is perhaps the most intellectually respectable Holocaust Denier today (although he rejects the title); his colleagues include Northwestern University Engineering Professor Arthur Butz (author of "The Hoax of the Twentieth Century"), Palestine Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. ( If the President of Iran speaks in Austria, at least he will be protected by diplomatic immunity.)
Sixty years after the fall of Nazi Germany, Deniers still get an audience today. Why do some people want to hear (or read) this stuff, and why do some countries punish it?
First, historical revisionism attracts an audience whenever the fiction makes a better story than the fact. For example, books were published claiming that the youngest daughter of Czar Nicholas II survived the massacre of her family (1) and that President Kennedy was killed by a CIA-type conspiracy (2). Both were made into hit movies, and today millions of people accept the fictional versions as truth.
Beyond that, Holocaust-denial has a special appeal to two distinct, but somewhat overlapping groups of people: Nazi-sympathizers and enemies of Israel. For the former, the point is that the Nazis weren't really so bad; for the latter it is that Israel was founded on a lie. Both groups derive pleasure from portraying the Jews as liars.
Austria, whose own record of complicity with Nazism is embarrassing (3), has made Holocaust-denial a crime in an effort to thwart pro-fascist activity, as have several other countries. We Americans treasure our freedom of speech too much to restrict the expression of even the most outlandish and pernicious opinions. Instead, we must confront falsehood with truth, rather than with incarceration.
But why should we even bother to refute the Deniers?
Since the facts are readily available to any interested person, what is the difference if people are told lies?
The answer is that for anyone less than about 70 years old, the Holocaust and World War II are not living memories, but no more than history. The sad fact is that young people today do not read much history and don't seem to miss it much either. That is why those of us who do remember what really happened must pass the truth on to those who could not have experienced it.
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(1) A Polish woman successfully posed as the Grand Dutchess Anastasia for about sixty years. Ingrid Bergman portrayed her on the screen. After her death, a DNA test proved she was not related to the Romanovs.
(2) Oliver Stone's "JFK" was based upon the book "On the Trail of the Assassins" by New Orleans DA Jim Garrison. More people saw "JFK" than read the Warren Report.
(3) Most Austrians welcomed the unification of their country and Nazi Germany in 1938, and many Austrian men served in German forces. Kurt Waldheim was one of them, and he was elected President of Austria.
posted by Gerald S Glazer at 10:51 AM
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