Holocaust Denial
THE HOLOCAUST DENIAL
1
Running head: THE HOLOCAUST DENIAL
The Holocaust Denial
Alonso Martinez Western Governors University WGU Student ID# 000229971
THE HOLOCAUST DENIAL
2
Holocaust Denial During the past two decades, the Holocaust Denial has been given considerable attention. It has become a topic that has created controversies among cultures, countries, politicians, newspapers reporters and internet web site writers. According to Barbara Kulaszka (2007), a Canadian lawyer known especially for her role in defending far-right figures, the Holocaust denial is against the law in several countries including Israel, France, Germany and Austria. Kulaszka explains that these “deniers” have been punished with stiff fines and prison sentences. Research has shown that the Holocaust denial is raising rapidly leading people to ignore what the holocaust denial is, what are the main claims of the denial, who are the main exponents, and if denying the holocaust will affect everyone. To be specific on what the Holocaust denial is, it becomes fundamental to define what the Holocaust is to begin with. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (n.d), The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. "Holocaust" is a word of Greek origin meaning "sacrifice by fire." The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in January 1933, believed that Germans were "racially superior" and that the Jews, deemed "inferior," were an alien threat to the so-called German racial community (para. 1). The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (n.d.) shows that Jews were not the only group being targeted as “inferior” by the Germans; other groups included the gypsies, the disabled, poles and Russians. There were also groups attacked and persecuted based on political, ideological and behavioral grounds, among them Communists, Socialists, Jehovah’s Witnesses
1
Running head: THE HOLOCAUST DENIAL
The Holocaust Denial
Alonso Martinez Western Governors University WGU Student ID# 000229971
THE HOLOCAUST DENIAL
2
Holocaust Denial During the past two decades, the Holocaust Denial has been given considerable attention. It has become a topic that has created controversies among cultures, countries, politicians, newspapers reporters and internet web site writers. According to Barbara Kulaszka (2007), a Canadian lawyer known especially for her role in defending far-right figures, the Holocaust denial is against the law in several countries including Israel, France, Germany and Austria. Kulaszka explains that these “deniers” have been punished with stiff fines and prison sentences. Research has shown that the Holocaust denial is raising rapidly leading people to ignore what the holocaust denial is, what are the main claims of the denial, who are the main exponents, and if denying the holocaust will affect everyone. To be specific on what the Holocaust denial is, it becomes fundamental to define what the Holocaust is to begin with. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (n.d), The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. "Holocaust" is a word of Greek origin meaning "sacrifice by fire." The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in January 1933, believed that Germans were "racially superior" and that the Jews, deemed "inferior," were an alien threat to the so-called German racial community (para. 1). The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (n.d.) shows that Jews were not the only group being targeted as “inferior” by the Germans; other groups included the gypsies, the disabled, poles and Russians. There were also groups attacked and persecuted based on political, ideological and behavioral grounds, among them Communists, Socialists, Jehovah’s Witnesses
References: Boyden-Wilson, M. (2010) International Holocaust scholar lectures on denial movement. What’s News Online, Rhode Island College. Retrieved from http://www.ric.edu/whatsnews/details.php?News_ID=1142 International Military Tribunal (1947-1949). Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal volume 9, Nuremberg, Germany: International Military Tribunal. Kulaszka, B. (2007). What is 'Holocaust Denial’? Institute for Historical Review. Retrieved from http://www.ihr.org/leaflets/denial.shtml Kulaszka, B. (1992). Did Six Million Really Die: Report of the Evidence in the Canadian 'False News ' Trial of Ernst Zündel. Toronto, Canada: Zündel 's Samisdat 85. McGowan, D. (2009). What does the Holocaust Denial Really Mean? Dissident Voice. Retrieved from http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/02/what-does-holocaust-denial-really-mean/ Menszer, J. (Director). (1999-2012). Testimonies. Holocaust Survivors. Retrieved from www.holocaustsurvivors.org Schelling, T. (2009). Mahler, Varela, Irving: living alongside Europe’s Holocaust deniers. The European Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.cafebabel.co.uk/article/28353/europes-holocaust-deniers-crime-davidirving.html Publishers, THE HOLOCAUST DENIAL 12 Shafir, M. (2002). Between Denial and Comparative Trivialization- Holocaust Denial in post-Communist Eat Central Europe. Israel: Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism. Sineaeva-Pankowska (2008), N. UNITED Thematic Leaflet - How to Understand and Confront Holocaust Denial. UNITED for Intercultural Action. Retrieved from http://www.unitedagainstracism.org/pdfs/HolocaustDenialLeaflet_E.pdf Stern, K. (2006). Antisemitism Today: How it is the Same, How It is Different and How to fight it. New York, NY: American Jewish Committee Publishers,72. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (2005). Holocaust Denial and Distortion. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved from http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/denial/