Serge Thion (25 April 1942 – 15 October 2017,

Créteil Créteil () is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Créteil is the ''préfecture'' (capital) of the Val-de-Marne department as well as the seat of the Arrondissement of Cr� ...

) was a French sociologist. A former researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research, he was dismissed from his position at the center for

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: ...

activities."His Holocaust denial activities led the CNRS to fire him in November 2000. one of his critics was the writer Didier Daeninckx. Thion's attacks on Daenincks led to a Correction Tribunal Court of Appeal to condemn him on 4 December 2002, for defamation and fined him." Stephen E. Atkins. ''Holocaust Denial as an International Movement'', ABC-CLIO, 2009, p. 96.

Career

Thion worked as a researcher at the

French National Centre for Scientific Research The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,63 ...

(CNRS) from 1971 to 2000. Most of his research there focused on

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

and

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. Thion was the subject of some controversy when he wrote that "genocide" was, technically, not a proper description of what happened in

during the Khmer Rouge rule, because it was not a type (or an attempt) of killing based on purely ethnic grounds. According to Thion:

The reality is that genocide, massacres, wiping out entire peoples or cultures, and other inhuman atrocities, torture, massive corruption, and so on, are part and parcel of government policies, most usually applied to foreign countries. There is no other law than the law of the jungle. If we want to change this situation, we must reform our own laws first, strip the authorities of their political immunity, abolish the "Reason of State" and the system of official secrecy which covers up all these crimes. If we could reach a stage in which any official would be tried according to the same rules that apply to you and me, to any other ordinary human being, we would not need all these extraordinary concepts because common law is quite enough. I of course fully agree that Pol Pot should be prevented by any means from returning to power. I find it a bit paradoxical that so much blame was poured on the Vietnamese, who did just that, prevent Pol Pot from coming back, by people who did so much to promote the same Pol Pot and insisted he kept his seat in the United Nations. I am also fully in favour of a trial of Pol Pot and of his accomplices and his foreign associates, including American, Thai and Chinese officials who conspired to support him when he was in power and after his fall. I suggest the application of the ordinary Cambodian law for events which took place in Cambodia. Genocide is nothing else but a political label aiming at the exclusion of a political leader or party beyond the bonds of humanity. It leads us to believe we are good, that we have nothing to do with these monsters. This is entirely misleading. Pol Pot has been produced by our political world, is part of it, is using it and is getting strong from it. Before saying he is dirty – which is what he is without a doubt – we should clean our own house first.

Holocaust denial

In 1993 Thion privately published ''Une Allumette sur la banquise'' (''A Matchstick on an Ice Flow''). The book criticized what he perceived as sensationalization of

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; ...

compared to other mass deaths since

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. He criticized the prosecution of Robert Faurisson for

, and cast doubt on the accuracy of

Filip Müller Filip Müller (3 January 1922 – 9 November 2013) was a Jewish Slovak Holocaust survivor and ''Sonderkommando'' at Auschwitz, the largest Nazi German concentration camp during World War II, where he witnessed the murders of tens of thousand ...

's book ''Eyewitness Auschwitz''. He met

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky i ...

during the 1970s and presented his editor Pierre Guillaume for publication. Thion has been described as a

Holocaust denier 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: * ...

,"Serge Thion is a French sociologist who has gained infamy as a Holocaust Denier. Thion was fired from his position with the French National Centre for Scientific Research in 2000 for remarks denying the Holocaust", Dr Harold Brackman and Aaron Breitbart, '' '',

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 ...

, April 2007, pg. 40. Retrieved 27 May 2007."Serge Thion is a Holocaust denier with close connections to Pierre Guillaume and La Vieille Taupe. He was born in 1942." Stephen E. Atkins. ''Holocaust Denial as an International Movement'', ABC-CLIO, 2009, p. 95; *"a transnational ultra-leftist movement based in Italy and supported by orthodox Communists as well as by Holocaust denier Serge Thion.
France - 2004
, Stephen Roth Institute, Antisemitism and Racism, Annual Reports, Country Reports. Retrieved 27 May 2007. *"A number of radical leftists in France are intimately connected to Holocaust denial. They include Serge Thion, who is a defender of both Rassinier and Faurisson. Thion is linked with the Marxist publishing house "La Vieille Taupe" (The Old Mole), founded by Pierre Guillaume
Holocaust Denial Today, Part VI
, Manuel Prutschi,

Canadian Jewish Congress The Canadian Jewish Congress (, , ) was, for more than ninety years, the main advocacy group for the Jewish community in Canada. Regarded by many as the "Parliament of Canadian Jewry," the Congress was at the forefront of the struggle for human ...

, Nizkor Project. Retrieved 27 May 2007. and in November 2000 was dismissed from CNRS for Holocaust denial activities."His Holocaust denial activities led the CNRS to fire him in November 2000. one of his critics was the writer Didier Daeninckx. Thion's attacks on Daenincks led to a Correction Tribunal Court of Appeal to condemn him on 4 December 2002, for defamation and fined him." Stephen E. Atkins. ''Holocaust Denial as an International Movement'', ABC-CLIO, 2009, p. 96. He was condemned and fined for defamation by the French Correctional Tribunal Court of Appeal in December 2002 for attacks on writer

Didier Daeninckx Didier Daeninckx (born 27 April 1949 in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis) is a French author and left-wing politician of Belgian descent, best known for his '' romans noirs''. Works translated into English *' (''Meurtres pour mémoire'') by Melvill ...

. Thion attended the 2006 International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust in Iran, often described as a Holocaust denial conference."A French sociologist and associate of Robert Faurisson, Serge Thion has described the Holocaust as a "religion" that was "pushed by Zionists to attract capital, as well as political and military protection.
Conference Attendees: A Who's Who of Hate
, Iran Hosts Anti-Semitic Hatefest in Tehran, Anti-Defamation League, 14 December 2006. Retrieved 27 May 2007. Israeli philosopher Elhanan Yakira has cited Thion and his friend Alain Guionnet, as one of a number of deniers on the radical left (and right) in France whose extreme views on the Holocaust have made Holocaust denial "a central issue in France and elsewhere".Alvin H. Rosenfeld. ''The End of the Holocaust'', Indiana University Press, 2011, pp. 241–42. .

References

External links

List of Thion's publications on Southeast Asia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thion, Serge 1942 births 2017 deaths French sociologists French Holocaust deniers French male non-fiction writers Place of birth missing