• Some people believe that the Holocaust never happened, or that it didn’t happen in the way we’re all led to believe. These people believe that Hitler was a great man and leader. They are also (usually) extremely anti-Semitic, and they twist facts to suit their own agendas and purposes. Holocaust deniers (which prefer to be called Holocaust “revisionists”) are frightening in their beliefs, and tenacious in their pursuit of the “truth.”
    Holocaust deniers are almost always anti-Semitic in their accusations. They often ask, “Were there really 6 million deaths?” and many believe that the genocide never happened (Gottfried, Deniers...Holocaust). They also claim that there is a Jewish conspiracy to take over the world, and that having everyone believe that there was an attempted genocide of their people brings them one step closer to their goal. They say that the concentration camps didn’t kill people, and if they really did exist, they were nowhere near as bad as everyone believes that they were (Hoffman, “Revisionist History”). They say that there is no proof that they were killing people (of course that isn’t true; the Nazis kept meticulous records of the deaths at the camps). These people believe that Jews are dangerous and that we are only helping them in their “goals” by continuing to remember the Holocaust.
    Holocaust deniers tend to make outrageous claims that actually have only small kernels of truth. They say that many documents attributed to the Holocaust were deliberately falsified or created to make it seem like there was a genocide of the Jewish people (Gottfried, Deniers…Holocaust; Austin, “Brief…Holocaust Denial”). For example, they say that many documents contain grammatical errors that only non-German speakers would make, and that the pictures of death and destruction are generic and could have come from anywhere. They also say that it is biased to not consider other possibilities, such as the number of deaths, because it violates the scientific method (Hoffman, “Revisionist History”). They say that an article that raises the death toll would be considered valid research, while an article that lowers the death toll might get the author into trouble (failing to point out that there might not be any evidence to support lowering the death toll). This also comes back to a supposed Jewish conspiracy, that the Jews committed horrible acts (similar to the killings in concentration camps) in other countries. They say that the concentration camps cannot compare to what was being done in other countries, which were not controlled by the Nazis or Hitler. Apparently the number of non-Jews killed in WWII was much greater than the number of Jews killed.
    One of the most frightening things that Holocaust deniers believe is that Hitler was a great, wonderful man and leader. They say that Hitler had no idea there were any killings or concentration camps, and that Hitler never gave any specific orders to kill anyone (failing to point out that there are documents which specifically say that the orders are coming from the Fuhrer). They say, yet again, that there was a Jewish conspiracy going on, and that Hitler was an “unfortunate victim” of the conspiracy. “Hitler didn’t want to kill anybody. It’s all the Jews’ fault.” There has even been a book published called The Hitler We Know And Love. “Love”? These people love Hitler. If Hitler were somehow resurrected, they would probably assist him in the killing of even more people.


    Bibliography:
    Austin, Ben S. "A Brief History of Holocaust Denial." Grolier. 8 Feb. 2007. Keyword: holocaust denial.

    Gottfried, Ted. Deniers of the Holocaust. Brookefield, Connecticut: Twenty-First Century Books, 2001.

    Hoffman, Michael A. "World War II Revisionist FAQ." Revisionist History. 10 Feb. 2007 <http://www.revisionisthistory.org/revisionist4.html>.