`Jews. But "everyone" knows that there were were there that knows "everyone" But `Jews.
don't need facts but historians do. do. historians but facts need don't
same thing. thing. same
a revisionist only proves that 1 can walk and and walk can 1 that proves only revisionist a
attitude. Working for Liberty Lobby even as as even Lobby Liberty for Working attitude. chew gum at the same time, it doesn't prove prove doesn't it time, same the at gum chew
thy nunnery and theology. Theologians Theologians theology. and nunnery thy
that the IHR and Liberty Lobby are the the are Lobby Liberty and IHR the that
sympathize with its healthy skepticism, skepticism, healthy its with sympathize
least was the politically correct correct politically the was least
which I was taught by my betters is or at at or is betters my by taught was I which
whoever) founded the IHR and I personally personally I and IHR the founded whoever)
erty Lobby's connection with the IHR is is IHR the with connection Lobby's erty
that I (not David McCalden or Finklestein or or Finklestein or McCalden David (not I that
Jews. War is Hell. War itself is a crime and and crime a is itself War Hell. is War Jews.
11, all of them needlessly, many under hor- under many needlessly, them of all 11,
what revisionists seek—the details, the the details, seek—the revisionists what
truth. And that's no crime. crime. no that's And truth.
all criminal investigators know that the the that know investigators criminal all
millions of people were killed in World War War World in killed were people of millions
rible circumstances and that many were were many that and circumstances rible
truth of a crime lies in the details. That's That's details. the in lies crime a of truth
allegedly at Dachau, presumably gassed gassed presumably Dachau, at allegedly
the Third Reich was anti-Semitic and that that and anti-Semitic was Reich Third the no gas chambers at Dachau. Even Abba Abba Even Dachau. at chambers gas no
this. this.
Eban and Simon Wiesenthal have stated stated have Wiesenthal Simon and Eban
sition on the "Holocaust." "Holocaust." the on sition
work used in the review—a pile of corpses, corpses, of pile review—a the in used work
Board of Policy ever voted to take any po- any take to voted ever Policy of Board
and the American Mercury and supports supports and Mercury American the and
the "Holocaust" is exemplified by the art- the by exemplified is "Holocaust" the Y
samples: She says that Liberty Lobby, Lobby, Liberty that says She samples:
stadt's assertions that are not true. Some Some true. not are that assertions stadt's
them financially. financially. them
employee, is 'virtually identical to the Insti- the to identical 'virtually is employee,
which which
the IHR, et al., nor has our 16,000-member 16,000-member our has nor al., et IHR, the
journalistic accuracy. accuracy. journalistic
that we have never contributed a dime to to dime a contributed never have we that
tute for Historical Review, Noontide Press Press Noontide Review, Historical for tute
what she says. I ask you to reprint this let- this reprint to you ask I says. she what
ter, not in my defense but as an exercise in in exercise an as but defense my in not ter,
less carcass as a terrible example of all all of example terrible a as carcass less
reviewer, Paul Johnson, innocently reports reports innocently Johnson, Paul reviewer,
(Book World, July 11), is so full of factual factual of full so is 11), July World, (Book
ory University and leave history to the less less the to history leave and University ory
Denying the Holocaust Holocaust the Denying
biased. Since Lipstadt serves up my worth- my up serves Lipstadt Since biased.
errors that I would suggest that Lipstadt Lipstadt that suggest would I that errors
return to teaching religious studies at Em- at studies religious teaching to return that's wrong with the. human race, and your your and race, human the. with wrong that's
As for Deborah Lipstadt: Get thee back to to back thee Get Lipstadt: Deborah for As
Perhaps Lipstadt's confusion about Lib- about confusion Lipstadt's Perhaps
Incidentally, revisionists do not deny that that deny not do revisionists Incidentally,
The confusion on the general subject of of subject general the on confusion The
Johnson's review cites a number of Lip- of number a cites review Johnson's
I I
OUR review of of review OUR
and Memory, Memory, and
caust: The Growing Assault on Truth Truth on Assault Growing The caust:
serve as an officer and (low-paid) (low-paid) and officer an as serve
Treasurer, Liberty Lobby Lobby Liberty Treasurer,
The The
by Deborah Lipstadt Lipstadt Deborah by
WILLIS A. CARTO CARTO A. WILLIS
facts, however, are are however, facts,
Washington, D.C. D.C. Washington,
Denying the Holo- the Denying
avant garde garde avant
7 7 10 10
BOOKWORLD / AUGUST 15, 1993
cases. cases.
on the laws which we currently have against against have currently we which laws the on
libel and slander which suffice for all other other all for suffice which slander and libel
agrees with the author of the book that spe- that book the of author the with agrees
questioning these facts, rather than relying relying than rather facts, these questioning
cial laws should be invoked against anyone anyone against invoked be should laws cial
Semite" to anyone who questions any of the the of any questions who anyone to Semite"
purported facts of the Holocaust. And he he And Holocaust. the of facts purported
hesitate to attach the dread label of "anti- of label dread the attach to hesitate
al religious faith of the great majority of our our of majority great the of faith religious al
citizens. citizens.
nying The Holocaust, Holocaust, The nying
from prominent intellectuals and newspa- and intellectuals prominent from
regarded as more sacred than the tradition- the than sacred more as regarded
pers. In our society, the Holocaust story is is story Holocaust the society, our In pers.
claims. In several countries (such as as (such countries several In claims.
any other issue would provoke the outrage outrage the provoke would issue other any der) against those who challenge Holocaust Holocaust challenge who those against der)
niers" as criminals. Similar laws dealing with with dealing laws Similar criminals. as niers"
France), special laws treat "Holocaust de- "Holocaust treat laws special France),
is the largely ignored campaign of threats, threats, of campaign ignored largely the is
guments correspond with the facts. facts. the with correspond guments
hook-burning and violence (including mur- (including violence and hook-burning
story is growing, not because, it is anti- is it because, not growing, is story
Semitic, but because more and more more and more because but Semitic,
were supposedly proven at Nuremberg. Nuremberg. at proven supposedly were
Dachau and Buchenwald—charges that that Buchenwald—charges and Dachau
clearly not true. For example, no serious serious no example, For true. not clearly
thoughtful people agree that revisionist ar- revisionist that agree people thoughtful
historian still defends claims of gassings at at gassings of claims defends still historian
Second World War. War. World Second
supposedly "proven" Holocaust stories are are stories Holocaust "proven" supposedly quietly acknowledge, though, many once once many though, acknowledge, quietly
full scope of the Jewish tragedy during the the during tragedy Jewish the of scope full with Anne Frank's father." father." Frank's Anne with
Butz of Northwestern University, and and University, Northwestern of Butz not "deniers." They readily acknowledge the the acknowledge readily They "deniers." not
French professor Robert Faurisson—are Faurisson—are Robert professor French ing British historian David Irving, Arthur Arthur Irving, David historian British ing
al New York playwright in collaboration collaboration in playwright York New al
of Anne Frank Frank Anne of
about the name of the wicked organization organization wicked the of name the about
prominent revisionist claims that the the that claims revisionist prominent
he wrongly identifies as the "Institute for for "Institute the as identifies wrongly he
facts of the subject is shown by his confusion confusion his by shown is subject the of facts
finds so repellent in others. others. in repellent so finds
only contains serious errors of fact, but but fact, of errors serious contains only
Historical Research." Research." Historical
stadt's book about "Holocaust denial" not not denial" "Holocaust about book stadt's
manifests the very closed-mindedness he he closed-mindedness very the manifests
This letter is not about whether, or to to or whether, about not is letter This
In his review of Deborah E. Lipstadt's Lipstadt's E. Deborah of review his In
More dangerous than "Holocaust denial" denial" "Holocaust than dangerous More
Skepticism about the orthodox Holocaust Holocaust orthodox the about Skepticism
As even prominent Holocaust historians historians Holocaust prominent even As
Revisionist scholars—including best-sell- scholars—including Revisionist
Contrary to what Johnson asserts, no no asserts, Johnson what to Contrary
Johnson's lack of familiarity with the basic basic the with familiarity of lack Johnson's
Paul Johnson's review of Deborah Lip- Deborah of review Johnson's Paul
- -
Editor, Journal of Historical Review Review Historical of Journal Editor,
Institute for Historical Review Review Historical for Institute
was "written by a profession- a by "written was
Paul Johnson does not not does Johnson Paul
Newport Beach, Calif. Calif. Beach, Newport
MARK WEBER WEBER MARK
Diary Diary De- 1. • ..... Letters
Fv.ir-1 • 8-1•F ,..C1CAIAL .88.8081" a-F THE IAJLOCAUST EIMILD 8. al 6 .I 2J Bodies of prisoners piled in Dachau. This photograph was taken soon atter the concentration camp was liberated.
what extent, the Jewish (and gay, and gypsy, and "undesirables") Holocaust oc- curred, but rather to point out that it is a very dangerous thing to restrict honest in- quiry and opinion. I can think of no subject so sacrosanct as to prohibit free discussion. Our freedom of speech is one of our most precious rights, and should not be curtailed in any way. DORIS RAUSCH Columbia There is a serious misstatement of fact in Paul Johnson's review of Deborah E. Lip- stadt's Denying the Holocaust. In it, he writes that President Franjo Tudjrnan of Croatia "insists that only 900,000 Jews died." For your information, President Tudjman In addition, Leuchter has no real exper- tends toward Raul Hi'berg's approximate tise in the construction of execution appa- figure of 5,100,000 as the one best docu- ratuses. On several occasions he sought mented (per his book, Wastelands of Histor- consulting work in the U.S. penitentiary ical Reality, pp. 155-156). Hilberg is men- system as an expert on executions, but was tioned in Lipstadt's book as well and has never hired because he lacked the exper- never, to my knowledge, been called a "Ho- tise. His expertise in this area is non- locaust denier." Why then Tudjman? The existent. 900,000 figure is the one for which Raul SAM LAMBROZA Hilberg says there exist actual death cer- Fredericksburg tificates. The misunderstanding arose, I be- lieve, in an article on this issue in the New One point comes to mind from reading York Times, in which the Croatian ambas- the review of Denying the Holocaust, some- sador to the United Nations, Mario Nobilo, thing which may be cleared up by reading was misquoted as having said that President the book. Today, black college students Tudjman supported the 900,000 figure. A seem at least as likely to question the Ho- retraction was subsequently printed. locaust as white students—probably more so, judging by the rise in black anti- J.E. BUSIC Semitism, on and off campus, and the pop- Embassy of Croatia ularity of "educators and leaders" such as In his review of Denying the Holocaust, Leonard Jeffries. This letter is not the place Paul Johnson writes that "denial activities in to try and explain black anti-Semitism, aside no case spring from genuine efforts to ques- from remarking that those who hate Jews, tion or revise established history or from or think they do, make it clear they are any concern for the truth, but are conducted looking for an easy target to express their by convinced fanatics whose anti-semitism hatred of white society, regardless of the long antedated any 'scientific' interest in legitimacy of the target. Look at the black Holocaust studies. A few gullible fish, like woman at Harvard who chose flying a swas- Noam Chomsky, may have been hooked, but tika as a way to express her outrage at a the vast majority of explicit deniers are mo- white southern conservative woman who tivated simply by hatred of Jews." flew a Confederate battle flag. Neither the writing nor the syntax is es- Some Holocaust denial may come from pecially beautiful here but the clear allega- sheer ignorance—the black woman at Har- tion against Chomsky is that he belongs to vard honestly seemed surprised that Jews the category of "explicit denier." May I in- were pai-ticularly offended by the swasti- vite Johnson to produce a single passage of ka—a tribute to the decline of American Chomsky's work that would substantiate history education. One has to suspect, such a grave and damaging claim? If he can- though, that much comes from efforts of not do so, he will owe an apology not just to some black leaders, and their many support- Chomsky but to you and your readers for ers, to maintain the black place as the "most treating such a serious matter in such a pro- persecuted"—the unfortunate ultimate goal pagandistic and deceitful way. in this era of the cult of the victim. They CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS lack the sophistication to separate the Jew- Washington, D.C. ish experience in this country from that of In Paul Johnson's review of Deborah Lip- European Jewry—to recognize that Nazi stadt's book, he makes one small but very GerrnanActions do not detract from the his- important error. Johnson refers to Fred A. torical tragedy of slavery. These black lead- Leuchter as "a Boston engineer ... who ers also lack the moral courage to take a specialized in constructing execution appa- look at their own black community, to see ratuses." Johnson, in this particular case, the degree to which cultural problems might has been taken in by the deniers that he be limiting black achievement. By their lack writes about in the review. Fred A. Leu- of moral fortitude, by raising false issues, chter is not an engineer—nor has any cre- they make the fight against real bigotry so dentials that would remotely qualify him as much harder. such. In a well known court case, Leuchter BRUCE BRAGER was charged with illegally practicing engi- Arlington neering and a Massachusetts court barred With reference to "anti-Semitic history" him from identifying himself as an engineer. and the remarks —Continued on page II