Holocaust denial

Graffitti on a mural of a Holocaust memorial in Uruguay: The writing translates to "Only 300,000 Jews died of typhus. The rumors are false. Zyklon B was only used to disinfect against typhus."

Holocaust denial is the false idea that the Holocaust did not happen or did not have the same impact as it has in real.

Recent trend

According to scholars, Holocaust denial is still prevalent in European countries, including Austria, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Germany, Italy and Poland. In the book Decoding Antisemitism, Hagen Troschke considered these the usual actions of Holocaust deniers:

  1. Making war criminals look better than they were
  2. Doubting the Holocaust death toll
  3. Blaming Jews for their own suffering
  4. Equating the Holocaust with other crimes against humanity

Some scholars call this phenomenon mnemonic politics, where nationalist governments paint their ethnic majority, rather than the Jews, as the biggest WWII victims.

What do Holocaust deniers say?

Here is a summary of what they often say.

Tactics

Just Asking Questions

Other forms

Some deny the Holocaust in ways that are harder to notice. They do not deny that it happened, but they doubt the details, or compare it to other past events to make it look minor. Some of them also accuse Jews of "extorting compensation from European governments", or exaggerating Jewish collaboration with Nazi Germans to blame them for their own suffering.

Evidence for the Holocaust

Here is why Holocaust denial is not supported by academic consensus:

Holocaust deniers

Here is a list of famous Holocaust deniers:

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Defeating distortion: new report highlights Holocaust distortion amid rising antisemitism". International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. Retrieved May 25, 2025.
  2. ↑ Kuznar, Andriana Bencic; Pavlakovic, Vjeran (May 10, 2023). "Exhibiting Jasenovac: Controversies, manipulations and politics of memory". Heritage, Memory and Conflict Journal. 3 (1). Amsterdam University Press: 65–69. doi:10.3897/ijhmc.3.71583.
  3. 1 2 3 Kubátová, Hana; Láníček, Jan (October 14, 2024). "Memory Wars and Emotional Politics: "Feel Good" Holocaust Appropriation in Central Europe". Nationalities Papers. 53 (2). Retrieved May 25, 2025.
  4. ↑ Braham, Randolph L. (2014). "Hungary: The Assault on the Historical Memory of the Holocaust" (PDF). United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved May 25, 2025.
  5. ↑ "Fighting Holocaust distortion on our Hungary visit". Holocaust Educational Trust. April 10, 2019. Retrieved May 25, 2025.
  6. ↑ Grabowski, Jan (2024). "Whitewash: Poland and the Jews". Jewish Quarterly. London, United Kingdom. Retrieved May 25, 2025. In this ground-breaking essay, Jan Grabowski, a world-renowned Holocaust historian, examines how the government, museums, schools and state institutions became complicit in delivering a message of Polish national innocence during the Holocaust. He recounts his own experience as the victim of smears and a notorious lawsuit for questioning the complicity of Poles in the destruction of the country's Jews, and examines the far-reaching consequences of Poland's historical distortions, which have been repeated and replicated worldwide to challenge the truth of the Holocaust.
  7. ↑ Becker, Matthias J.; Troschke, Hagen; Bolton, Matthew; Chapelan, Alexis (October 16, 2024). "Holocaust Denial and Distortion". Decoding Antisemitism. pp. 237–260. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-49238-9_18. Retrieved May 25, 2025.
  8. ↑ Kónczal, Kornelia, and Moses, A. Dirk. 2022. “Patriotic Histories in Global Perspective.” Journal of Genocide Research 24 (2): 153–157. CrossRef Google Scholar
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Michael Shermer & Alex Grobman. Denying History: : who says the Holocaust never happened and why do they say it?, University of California Press, 2000, ISBN 0-520-23469-3, p. 106
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Mathis, Andrew E. Holocaust Denial, a definition Archived 2011-06-09 at the Wayback Machine, The Holocaust History Project, July 2, 2004, Retrieved 6 March 2013
  11. ↑ Mathis, Andrew E. Holocaust Denial, a Definition, The Holocaust History Project, July 2, 2004, Retrieved 6 March 2013
  12. 1 2
  13. ↑
  14. 1 2
  15. 1 2
  16. 1 2 "Holocaust denier in Germany sentenced to five years in prison – Europe – International Herald Tribune", The New York Times, February 15, 2007. Retrieved November 14, 2009
  17. 1 2 "What is Opus Dei, and why is it so controversial — both in and out of the Catholic Church?". Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). January 30, 2023. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
  18. 1 2 McDermott, Jim (January 13, 2023). "Mel Gibson and the dangers of Catholic antisemitism". American Magazine. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
  19. 1 2 "Le Pen Convicted for Racial Hatred", Associated Press, June 2, 1999. Retrieved November 14, 2009.
  20. 1 2 "Le Pen fined over Holocaust remarks". BBC. BBC. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  21. 1 2
  22. 1 2
  23. 1 2 Reid, Donald (March 29, 2022). "Holocaust denial, Le Vicaire, and the absent presence of Nadine Fresco and Paul Rassinier in Jorge Semprún's La Montagne blanche". French Cultural Studies. 33 (3): 227–241. doi:10.1177/09571558221078450. Retrieved December 26, 2024. Open access
  24. 1 2
  25. 1 2
  26. 1 2
  27. 1 2 "Writer fined for Holocaust writings", BBC News, February 27, 1998. Retrieved November 15, 2009.