''Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory'' is a 1993 book by the historian

Deborah Lipstadt Deborah Esther Lipstadt (born March 18, 1947) is an American historian, best known as author of the books '' Denying the Holocaust'' (1993), ''History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier'' (2005), ''The Eichmann Trial'' (2011), and ...

, in which the author discusses the

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: ...

movement. Lipstadt named British writer

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 ...

as a Holocaust denier, leading him to sue her unsuccessfully for

libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defi ...

(see ''

Irving v Penguin Books Ltd ''David Irving v Penguin Books and Deborah Lipstadt'' is a case in English law against American historian Deborah Lipstadt and her British publisher Penguin Books, filed in the High Court of Justice by the British author David Irving in 1996, ...

''). She gives a detailed explanation of how people came to deny

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 Europ ...

or claim that it was vastly exaggerated by the Jews.

Increasing antisemitism

Lipstadt sees Holocaust denial as "purely

anti-Semitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

diatribe" and a form of pseudo-history; she outlines the history of Holocaust denial, claims that it is increasing and should not be disregarded. Holocaust deniers were originally a "lunatic fringe" and could be seen as harmless cranks but are now more numerous and influential than before as some radical racist groups have adopted it, and that the trend could increase as Holocaust witnesses die of age.

Nature of holocaust denial

Lipstadt claims that after

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

in France

Maurice Bardèche Maurice Bardèche (1 October 1907 – 30 July 1998) was a French art critic and journalist, better known as one of the leading exponents of neo-fascism in post– World War II Europe. Bardèche was also the brother-in-law of the collaborationis ...

and Paul Rassinier denied outright that the Holocaust ever happened, as did various

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

sympathizers in America. According to Lipstadt,

Austin App Austin Joseph App (24 May 1902 – 4 May 1984) was an American professor of medieval English literature who taught at the University of Scranton and La Salle University. App defended Nazi Germany during World War II. He is known for his work den ...

, a professor of English at

La Salle College La Salle College (LSC) (, Demonym: Lasallian) is a boys' secondary school in Hong Kong. It was established in 1932 by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, a Roman Catholic religious teaching order founded by St. John Bap ...

and the

University of Scranton The University of Scranton is a private Jesuit university in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1888 by William O'Hara, the first Bishop of Scranton, as St. Thomas College. In 1938, the college was elevated to university status and took t ...

first put out several notions that later

Holocaust deniers 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: * ...

followed. App and others denied that the Nazis had any

genocidal intent Genocidal intent is the '' mens rea'' for the crime of genocide. "Intent to destroy" is one of the elements of the crime of genocide according to the 1948 Genocide Convention. There are some analytic differences between the concept of intent unde ...

, that

gas chambers A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or other animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. History ...

existed, and that innocent Jews were killed by the millions, and they claimed that defeated Germany was compelled to admit false crimes by the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

. From these beginnings, she details how these charges were picked up and became "a tool of the radical right." Lipstadt gives many examples of allegations that six million

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

s were not systematically exterminated, but, rather, 300,000 to 1.5 million Jews died of disease and other causes. Lipstadt shows that tens of thousands of witnesses of the Holocaust are still alive and there is conclusive documentary evidence for it. Lipstadt claims that distorting history in this way risks undermining the western tradition of objective scholarship i.e. the

scientific method The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has characterized the development of science since at least the 17th century (with notable practitioners in previous centuries; see the article history of scientifi ...

and make distorting history for political purposes appear legitimate.

Holocaust deniers in ''Denying the Holocaust''

She accuses groups like the Institute for Historical Review and people like

David Duke David Ernest Duke (born July 1, 1950) is an American white supremacist, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, far-right politician, convicted felon, and former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. From 1989 to 1992, he was a membe ...

of spreading lies about the Holocaust. Lipstadt claims this is now an international movement where Holocaust deniers call themselves 'research centres', for example, and produce what they say are independent publications to make themselves look more scientific than they are. In Lipstadt's opinion current value

relativism Relativism is a family of philosophical views which deny claims to objectivity within a particular domain and assert that valuations in that domain are relative to the perspective of an observer or the context in which they are assessed. Ther ...

helps Holocaust denial to thrive. Among those described as Holocaust deniers in ''Denying the Holocaust'' are: *

Arthur Butz Arthur R. Butz is an associate professor of electrical engineering at Northwestern University and a Holocaust denier, best known as the author of the pseudohistorical book ''The Hoax of the Twentieth Century''. He achieved tenure in 1974 and curr ...

Robert Faurisson Robert Faurisson (; born Robert Faurisson Aitken; 25 January 1929 – 21 October 2018) was a British-born French academic who became best known for Holocaust denial. Faurisson generated much controversy with a number of articles published in th ...

* Roger Garaudy * David Hoggan *

* Paul Rassinier * Bradley R. Smith *

Richard Verrall Richard Verrall (born 1948) is a British Holocaust denier and former deputy chairman of the British National Front (NF) who edited the magazine '' Spearhead'' from 1976 to 1980. Under the ''nom de plume'' (pen name) of Richard E. Harwood, Verr ...

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

and

Fred A. Leuchter Fred Arthur Leuchter Jr. (born February 7, 1943) is an American manufacturer of execution equipment, and a Holocaust denier best known as the author of the Leuchter report, a pseudoscientific document*"Leuchter and Rudolf have published pseudosc ...

References

;Notes ;Bibliography *Richard J. Evans: ''Lying About Hitler: History, Holocaust, And The David Irving Trial'', New York: Basic Books, 2001; published in the United Kingdom as ''Telling Lies About Hitler: The Holocaust, History and the David Irving Trial'', Verso Books, 2002.
Edward Alexander, review: ''Deborah Lipstadt – Denying The Holocaust.'' Commentary magazine, November 1993
{{DEFAULTSORT:Denying The Holocaust 1993 non-fiction books English-language books Books about antisemitism Books about Holocaust denial Books by Deborah Lipstadt History books about the Holocaust

Increasing antisemitism

Nature of holocaust denial

Holocaust deniers in ''Denying the Holocaust''

See also

References