The Nizkor Project ( he, נִזְכּוֹר, "we will remember") is an

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

-based project run by B'nai Brith Canada which is dedicated to countering

Holocaust denial Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements: ...

About the project

The website was founded by Ken McVay as a central Web-based archive for the large numbers of documents made publicly available by the users of the newsgroup ''alt.revisionism'' and gifted to B'nai Brith Canada in 2010. The site also archives numerous postings made to the newsgroup since the early 1990s. It does not archive every single posting ever made to the newsgroup; rather, the maintainers of the web site have selected various messages for display that are seen as presenting factual information about

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

; or, in the case of some posters, about the authors of the messages themselves. In addition to providing an extensive archive of documents regarding the Holocaust, including the transcripts of the 1st Nuremberg Tribunal, the Nizkor Project also seeks to expose the activities of Holocaust deniers themselves. Based on the postings to the newsgroup over the years, it has compiled extensive writings from self-proclaimed revisionists, including

David Irving David John Cawdell Irving (born 24 March 1938) is an English author and Holocaust denier who has written on the military and political history of World War II, with a focus on Nazi Germany. His works include '' The Destruction of Dresden'' (1 ...

Ernst Zündel Ernst Christof Friedrich Zündel (; 24 April 1939 – 5 August 2017) was a German neo-Nazi publisher and pamphleteer of Holocaust denial literature.

Michael A. Hoffman II Michael Anthony Hoffman II (born January 2, 1957) is an American author. He has been described by critics as a conspiracy theorist and by the Anti-Defamation League (among other sources), as a Holocaust denier and antisemite. Biography Hoffman w ...

, and others. Among the various pieces of information stored at Nizkor is a sound recording of an

answering machine An answering machine, answerphone or message machine, also known as telephone messaging machine (or TAM) in the United Kingdom, UK and some Commonwealth countries, ansaphone or ansafone (from a trade name), or telephone answering device (TAD), ...

message allegedly made by

white supremacist White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...

Tom Metzger Thomas Linton Metzger (April 9, 1938 – November 4, 2020) was an American white supremacist, neo-Nazi skinhead leader and Klansman. He founded White Aryan Resistance (WAR), a neo-nazi organization, in 1983. He was a Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux ...

, encouraging various individuals to "take action" against "Zinkor on the Internet." In 2009, the

Simon Wiesenthal Center The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) is a Jewish human rights organization established in 1977 by Rabbi Marvin Hier. The center is known for Holocaust research and remembrance, hunting Nazi war criminals, combating anti-Semitism, tolerance educat ...

congratulated the Nizkor Project for having initiated an effort which led to the successful prosecution of three Nazi war criminals.

Criticisms

Holocaust denial web sites and spokespersons challenged McVay's neutrality and attacked him personally. The original Nizkor web site was accused by self-proclaimed "Holocaust revisionists" and neo-Nazi Web sites as being funded by

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and other

Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

sources, though McVay consistently denied these charges. He stated that the Nizkor Project was funded solely by donations from the general public, as well as his own personal finances. In the late 1990s, the

criticized the Nizkor Project for increasing the visibility of hate groups and Holocaust deniers, even as it sought to debunk them. This debate between

free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recog ...

advocates such as McVay and those who favor the suppression of speech with hate crime laws continued throughout the late 1990s, but has now mostly been resolved with the two sides agreeing on the common goal of confronting Holocaust deniers and keeping their disagreements over specific tactics private. In 1996, McVay spoke out against Internet hate crime laws in Canada in front of a committee of the

Canadian parliament The Parliament of Canada (french: Parlement du Canada) is the federal legislature of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, and is composed of three parts: the King, the Senate, and the House of Commons. By constitutional convention, the ...

, stating that it is better to address the false claims of Holocaust deniers, rather than to censor them.

References

External links

Interview with McVay

The Nizkor Project
on

The Jewish Federations of North America The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), formerly the United Jewish Communities (UJC), is an American Jewish umbrella organization representing 146 Jewish Federations and 300 independent Jewish communities across North America, which rais ...

The original website created by Ken McVay
{{Authority control Canadian digital libraries Discipline-oriented digital libraries Holocaust denial in Canada Anti-fascism in Canada