Holocaust Denial and Deniers
Holocaust denial is when someone believes that the Holocaust did not happen, or that it has been exaggerated significantly. Since 1991, there have been Holocaust deniers who have paid to put their beliefs in advertisements in college newspapers, and also on the internet by use of their own websites, which they also advertise in a way that makes them sound polite and does not draw too much attention. Some of these Holocaust deniers say that the Holocaust never happened because it is not documented that Hitler ordered this major genocide in world history.
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Origin
Denial of the Holocaust began with the Nazis as World War II was coming to an end and was not looking good more them. To get rid of the "evidence" of the horrific crimes committed, the "Final Solution" was installed. This was where the Nazis burned the inmates, forced them into death marches, demolished the concentration camps, and destroyed documents of any existence of people who resisted the Nazis or were not the Aryan ideal.
Denial of Concentration Camps
Like some of the war criminals , there are deniers of the existence or use of concentration camps. While the Nazis were very organized and strategic, this is still very hard to believe today because there are so many detailed documents and stories about these camps, what they became, what life was like in them, etc. Some claim that Jews have made up stories about a genocide so that others will pity them. Others think that the Allies (those against Germany in World War II) crafted the "story" of the Holocaust in order to gain power and money. Deniers say that camps were not intended to be used to kill people, and still there are people that deny the great loss of millions of lives. Deniers assert that not many Jews died, and that if they did, it was due to natural causes or punishment by Nazis for committing a crime. Instead of acknowledging the historical papers and recollections of World War II, Holocaust deniers counter these horrific facts by arguing that they create an illusion of what the Holocaust "really" was like. Additionally, deniers will say that if one recounting of the war in inaccurate, then everything else is not credible, therefore they will not accept the events of the past.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum elaborates: "Some Holocaust deniers argue that, since there is neither a single document that outlines the Holocaust nor a signed document from Hitler ordering the Holocaust, the Holocaust itself is a hoax. To make this argument, they reject all the evidence submitted at Nuremberg. They denounce as fabrications the genocidal intention of the Nazi state and the thousands of orders, memos, notes, and other records that document the process of destruction. When they cannot sustain arguments that documents are forged, they argue that the language in the documents has been deliberately misinterpreted. Furthermore, some Holocaust deniers insist that the Allies tortured the perpetrators into testifying about their role in the killing process and that the survivors who testified about Nazi crimes against Jews were all lying out of self-interest."
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum elaborates: "Some Holocaust deniers argue that, since there is neither a single document that outlines the Holocaust nor a signed document from Hitler ordering the Holocaust, the Holocaust itself is a hoax. To make this argument, they reject all the evidence submitted at Nuremberg. They denounce as fabrications the genocidal intention of the Nazi state and the thousands of orders, memos, notes, and other records that document the process of destruction. When they cannot sustain arguments that documents are forged, they argue that the language in the documents has been deliberately misinterpreted. Furthermore, some Holocaust deniers insist that the Allies tortured the perpetrators into testifying about their role in the killing process and that the survivors who testified about Nazi crimes against Jews were all lying out of self-interest."
Holocaust Denial Today
The internet has become a means of spreading inaccurate information about the Holocaust. The internet provides a simple way to organize antisemitic groups or share Nazi propaganda. In the United States, this is allowed because the First Amendment gives everyone freedom of speech, despite how political or extreme the message is. On the other hand, there have been cases in Canada and (Western) Europe where legal action has been taken against Holocaust deniers.