Holocaust Denial Essay Example for Free

Holocaust Denial Essay The holocaust is the term used to describe the period of persecution and extermination of European Jews by Nazi Germany. During this period, an estimated six million Jews were murdered in a series of state-sponsored killings. This was a culmination of a Nazi policy which was â€Å"the final solution to the Jewish question† (Michman, 2003) Why did Nazis Hate Jews? The Nazis hatred for Jews had been in existence for a long time, but it is after the World War 1 that it intensified. Prior to that, there had been strong feelings of anti-Semitism in Europe, mainly from the Christians. This is because of the Jews reluctance to embrace Christianity and their stubborn adherence to Judaism. (Israel G. 1990) After the First World War in which German lost, Hitler sought to find a plausible explanation for their defeat. Since at the time most banks and financial institutions were run by Jews, the Nazis blamed then for not availing enough funds for the war. They were viewed as being tight-fisted, corrupt and vile people, who could do nothing but destroy. This aroused feelings of hatred for the population, and the Nazi regime went on churning propaganda that blamed all of Germany’s problems on the Jews. (William, 1995) From another angle, the Jews were generally viewed as being an inferior race to the Aryans. Hitler believed that Aryans were the master race and even made a table of sorts which classified the races according to superiority in genes, with Aryans at the top, and Jews, Gypsies and Blacks at the bottom . The Nazis therefore saw the need to eliminate them from Europe to avoid weakening the racial purity of the Aryans (William, 1995) Holocaust Denial Holocaust denial is a term used to refer to the movement which seeks to deny that the holocaust really happened, and if it did, whether it occurred in the manner and scale that historians claim it did. It is a movement especially active in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe. However, the first people who sought to deny that the holocaust ever happened were the Nazis themselves. They attempted to destroy all evidence and even denied the proof that was presented at the Nuremberg trial. The organized version of the movement called Holocaust Revisionism was founded in 1979, by Willis Carto, founder Liberty Lobby, an anti-Semitic organization in America, when he incorporated the Institute of Historical Review. He is quoted as saying History is far too important to be left to history professors, pundits and politicians. History is power The leading activists for the IHR include Mark Weber, Bradley Smith and Fred Leuchter in the United States, Ernst Zundel in Canada, David Irving in England, Robert Faurisson in France, Carlo Mattogno in Italy and Ahmed Rami in France. However, among these, Bradley Smith, the self-styled director for the Committee for Open Debate on the Holocaust, CODOH, has been the most visible in the United States. He has placed series of ads in college newspapers since 1991 on behalf of CODOH. In one such ad, Bradley promises a $50,000 to anyone who can convince a radio station to air a ninety minute video to show that the holocaust was a hoax. The IHR also writes a journal called the Journal of Historical Review and holds annual conferences, which are used as vehicles for holocaust denial. http://www. adl. org/holocaust/introduction. asp The revisionists offer the following arguments to prove that the holocaust is a farce. First of all, they claim that there is no single document which has been identified, which expressly shows a master plan for the execution of Jews. This, according to them, is proof that the whole idea of Jewish annihilation is a creation by the Jews to gain sympathy from the world. ( http://www. remember. org/History. root. rev. html) Secondly, there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz and the other camps, so the allegations of people being gassed to death are mere lies. There are no documents about gas chambers of any kind anywhere so no mass murder of Jews in gas chambers took place. (http://www. jewishvirtuallibrary. org/jsource/Holocaust/denial. html) Another reason why they deny the holocaust is because they purport that the scholars rely on the subjective testimonies of alleged â€Å"survivors†. These testimonies are highly biased and because there is no supporting documentation proving the genocide, these accounts can only be taken to be false. (Raul, 1985) The revisionists also claim that there was no net loss in the Jewish population in Europe between 1941 and 1945; therefore the claim that 6million Jews were killed cannot be true. According to them, there were not even enough Jews in Europe to account for the 6million victims. ( http://www. remember. org/History. root. rev. html) Furthermore, according to the revisionists, the Nuremberg trials were stage managed in favor of the Jews. They were a sham and were just held so that Jews could benefit from the sympathy they aroused. To further strengthen their arguments, the holocaust deniers have posed a series of questions that put in doubt the truth about the events that took place during the holocaust. To start with, they ask; it is said that the gas chambers were ventilated, and if so, wouldn’t the gas have killed the people outside as well. Since this didn’t happen, then surely, there was no such thing as Zyklon-B used to gas people to death. The next question is, if as many as 6million people were killed and cremated, then where did all the ash go to. It should be so much going by the numbers, and going by what is available now, the numbers must grossly be exaggerated. ( http://www. remember. org/History. root. rev. html) Moreover, Zyklon-B, which was allegedly used had to be dropped into the chambers by people, so, the people would have died from the gas themselves, wouldn’t they? In addition, how come the eyewitnesses to the gassings survived, why didn’t the Nazis eliminate them since they knew so much. That is not all; there was a swimming pool at Auschwitz, this means that the people there lived in luxury, so this could nit have been an extermination camp. Also, the death lists from there do not show that any person was gassed, and the number of people who died there was very small. Finally, since much of the area around Auschwitz has a high water table, then the said burning of the bodies in ditches could not be possible. (http://www. remember. org/History. root. rev. html) Some of the revisionists also pose counter-statements against the evidence given by the survivors. In regard to the deaths in Treblinka, the victims were said to have been killed using diesel fumes; so the revisionists say that fumes from a diesel engine are not enough to kill a person. This implies that the people could not have died as a result of inhaling the fumes. The doors of the gas chambers which used the engine exhausts would not withstand the pressure of the gas accumulating inside, which would lead to an explosion; how come that did not happen? ( http://www. remember. org/History. root. rev. html) In one of the most controversial denials, the revisionists assert that the Anne Frank diary was a fabrication written by someone else who wanted to further the Jews agenda. Did the Holocaust really happen? For every claim made by the revisionists, evidence has been produced to prove that the genocide actually happened. The Nazi regime itself had documents that clearly pointed out to their intention to massacre the Jews. Although they destroyed much of the documents, some remnants were later recovered. (Lucy, 1975)The evidence available includes written documents in terms of letters, memos, blueprints, orders, bills, speeches, articles, memoirs and confessions. There are accounts given by eyewitnesses, who include survivors, Jewish Sonderkommandoes, SS guards, commandants, local townspeople and some of the Nazis. (Michael et. Al, 1997) Indisputable evidence can also be gleaned from photographs taken by the military, press, civilians and survivors. Some of the camps where the mass murders took place still exist, some in almost original state. Inferential evidence is also available in form of population demographics which confirms the change in Jewish population. Therefore, it can be concluded that the evidence of the holocaust is so compelling that we cannot deny that it took place. (Michael et. al, 1997) REFERENCES http://www. jewishvirtuallibrary. org/jsource/Holocaust/denial. html http://www. adl. org/holocaust/introduction. asp http://www. remember. org/History. root. rev. html Israel G. (1990), Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, Volume 2, New York Lucy D. (1975) The War Against the Jews, 1933-1945, New York Michman, D (2003). Holocaust Historiography: A Jewish Perspective: Conceptualizations, Terminology, Approaches, and Fundamental Issues. London Michael S. and Alex G, (1997) Denying History Who Says the Holocaust Never Happened and Why do they Say it? † University of California Press Raul H. (1985) The Destruction of the European Jews (Student Edition), New York William L. P (1995) Novelist of Hate, ADL Research Report. Brugioni, D. A. , Robert G. P. (1979) The Holocaust Revisited: A Retrospective Analysis of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Extermination Complex. (Central Intelligence Agency, Washington, D. C. )