DOCSLIB.ORG

Smith's Report

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Smith's Report SMITH’S REPORT On the Holocaust Controversy No 163 | www.codoh.com | July 2009 See back issues at www.smithsreport.com Challenging the Holocaust Taboo Since 1990 THE CAMPUS CAMPAIGN FROM THE WASHINGTON JEWISH WEEK TO YALE UNIVERSITY, ETC. Bradley Smith he Summer 2009 CODOH being raised in class, or by another Example. It was a Monday T Campus Campaign began academic at lunch? Not many? morning, 22 June, and I was at the to make its presence known at uni- Probably not many. VA Hospital in La Jolla in the versities around the country the A short revisionist text placed muscular/skeleton clinic to see a middle of June. It’s still very early, before fifty-thousand-plus new doctor about the pain in the back but the Eisenhower ad has run or is folk? It’s worth the effort. And and leg. It had been an over- running in the Daily Lobo at the maybe another 50,000 shortly? nighter, I hadn’t slept well, but University of New Mexico, the It takes a lot of man hours to when my cell phone rang I pretty University Chronicle at St. Cloud run a campaign like this. Submit- much woke up. For all I knew, it University (Wisconsin), and The ting the ad is painless, but follow- was someone I would want to talk Helmsman at the University of ing up with it is where the time is to. Memphis. Three other are to begin spent. No issue with those who It was. A young man named the week of July 6th. ignore the ad (most of them), or Gallagher was calling from adver- The size of student populations those that contact us to make cer- tising at BG-News, Bowling Green during summer classes is larger tain we know that they will not run State University. I was immedi- than I would have expected—at it. With those who are agreeable to ately aware that he and my right the first three campuses alone it running the ad there is the back hand man (I’ve been calling him adds up to some 48,000 students and forth regarding formatting, Hernandez but I think I’ll start and 2,550 faculty. How many of scheduling, changes in scheduling, calling him Roberto) had been in a these 48,000 students have ever emails gone astray, contracts lost, back and forth about running the been exposed to any sensible text faxes not arriving (we’re in Mex- Eisenhower ad. whatever that implies that some- ico), contracts signed, sealed, de- Gallagher told me the BG-News thing might be wrong with the gas- livered and then renounced—I wanted to run the ad, it had been chamber story? How many of don’t think renounce is the right worked out between him and Ro- these 2,550 academics have ever word. Maybe it is. berto, and all that was left to do had to think about such a question was to arrange payment. I said I could do that in the moment, we Green State University. For the writing at Wellesley College. His did it using my Visa debit, Galla- moment. doctorate is in religious studies, he gher thanked me, with some enthu- As part of the Campus Cam- coordinates the Yale Journalism siasm I thought, and there we paign I would be obligated to write Initiative. That’s not all, but it’s were. I wonder how many grown Mr. Bortel a letter. I did. Mr. Bor- enough to demonstrate that The men, particularly grown men my tel felt personally obligated to re- Washington Jewish Week is read age, would get so much pleasure spond. He did. I posted both letters by informed people in Washington from such a simple business trans- on my Blog. Then I wrote him a D.C. and at Yale University as action with a college student. second, more critical letter and well. So of course I was obligated I was still sitting there a few posted that on my Blog. Haven’t to give him an interview. minutes later when Gallagher heard from him. But now of course Oppenheimer was going to be called back, apologized, and said I feel obligated to distribute my in the Pasadena area and maybe we the BG-News could not run the ad. response to Mr. Bortel’s letter to could meet in the “middle” some- I asked why. He didn’t want to talk Mr. Bortel’s colleagues. And obli- where. Sure. When I understood he about it, but told me that the Direc- gated perhaps to write to the presi- was going to be in the Pasadena tor of Student Publications was dent of his university. area I asked if he were going to see standing there if I wanted to talk to Michael Shermer of Skeptic Maga- him. I figured, what the hell, un- At the same time, though zine, but he did not respond. Any- derstanding that it would be a use- I didn’t know it, another sto- how, that was none of my busi- less exercise. ness. We could meet in San Cle- Mr. Robert Bortel was a per- ry was developing because of mente. fectly civil adult who, while he the Campus Campaign. We did. Irene and Li’l Brad was not a professor, explained to You will remember that the went along for the ride. Irene real- me that he had spent a good Washington Jewish Week pub- ly went to chaperone me, I had amount of time studying the his- lished an article on the Campus only recently ended my 10-month tory of World War II. We talked Campaign on 18 February (my struggle with lymphatic cancer and about ten, twelve minutes maybe. birthday, but I believe that was she didn’t trust me to be “on the The drift of what he said was that almost certainly a coincidence) road” by myself. The most obvious he had read widely in the orthodox titled “Local College Papers say place for Oppenheimer and me to literature, it was obvious that the ‘No’ to ad challenging the Holo- meet was at the Starbucks on the Holocaust happened, and that it caust.” I reported on it here in the main drag. Irene took Li’l Brad for would be “offensive” to many at March issue (#159). The journalist, a walk while I took a nap in the car BGSU if the News were to run the Adam Korbel, was straight with to wait. I was pretty tired, I went ad that suggested it did not. He me, something that doesn’t always right to sleep, probably with my used the words “offend” and “of- happen with journalists writing for mouth open. Here is how the pro- fensive” a number of times. It was any publication. fessor describes our meeting. a fine example of civility used in Unknown to me, a young Ph.D. the service of suppressing a free professor of history who teaches at “[….] the elderly Smith was exchange of ideas. Yale University, Mark Oppen- kindly enough to endure the traffic I brought up a few ideas that he heimer, read the article and was jam at the Mexican-American bor- seemed unprepared to deal with intrigued by the idea of doing der and meet me at the Starbucks directly. You would be familiar something with the core story it in San Clemente, California, the with them. When I had the impres- represented. Early in April he con- beach town where Richard Nixon sion that he was about to hang up I tacted me, asked for an interview, began his exile. Smith had left a would suggest a new line of and I said sure. I googled him and message on my mobile phone say- thought. He would hold on. In the found that he is a real guy. ing that he would wait for me in end it was as it was. Censored. I learned that he is a writer for the parking lot, and that’s where I And so it goes, as we used to The New York Times Magazine, found him, snoozing behind the say. I heard my name called, it was Slate, The Boston Globe, The For- wheel of his pickup truck. I rapped my time to see the doctor about my ward, and other publications. In on the window, and the aging rad- muscular and skeletal arrange- the school year 2008-2009 he’s ical opened his eyes with a lecturing in the English and Politi- ments, such as they are, and that was the end of it with Bowling cal Science departments of Yale Continued on page 13 University, and teaching creative 2 My article described the two- Dead Sea Scrolls,” CJN, June 11). LETTERS thousand fold differential as ‘the Otherwise, we will end up with a central axis around which future generation that defines their Juda- Nick Kollerstrom, PhD, discussion of ‘the Holocaust’ will ism by hysterically defending it [email protected] have to revolve.’ May these figures without even knowing what they assist that revolution. I’d be happy are defending. In my ‘Leuchter 20 years on’ if anyone wants to check through Remember that your paper is article (issue 153 Smith’s Report), them, they are all in the Rudolf called the Jewish News, not The I showed graphs of the data of Ru- Report and Mr. Desjardin’s CO- Canadian – Oh, Woe Be Us, the dolf and Leuchter combined, for DOH article (slight differences are Hated People News three distinct groups: wall cyanide possible, where more than one samples from the delousing cham- analysis was done per sample).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Brigitte Bailer-Galanda “Revisionism”1 in Germany and Austria: the Evolution of a Doctrine
    www.doew.at Brigitte Bailer-Galanda “Revisionism”1 in Germany and Austria: The Evolution of a Doctrine Published in: Hermann Kurthen/Rainer Erb/Werner Bergmann (ed.), Anti-Sem- itism and Xenophobia in Germany after Unification, New York–Oxford 1997 Development of “revisionism” since 1945 Most people understand so called „revisionism“ as just another word for the movement of holocaust denial (Benz 1994; Lipstadt 1993; Shapiro 1990). Therefore it was suggested lately to use the word „negationism“ instead. How- ever in the author‘s point of view „revisionism“ covers some more topics than just the denying of the National Socialist mass murders. Especially in Germany and Austria there are some more points of National Socialist politics some people have tried to minimize or apologize since 1945, e. g. the responsibility for World War II, the attack on the Soviet Union in 1941 (quite a modern topic), (the discussion) about the number of the victims of the holocaust a. s. o.. In the seventies the late historian Martin Broszat already called that movement „run- ning amok against reality“ (Broszat 1976). These pseudo-historical writers, many of them just right wing extremist publishers or people who quite rapidly turned to right wing extremists, really try to prove that history has not taken place, just as if they were able to make events undone by denying them. A conception of “negationism” (Auerbach 1993a; Fromm and Kernbach 1994, p. 9; Landesamt für Verfassungsschutz 1994) or “holocaust denial” (Lipstadt 1993, p. 20) would neglect the additional components of “revision- ism”, which are logically connected with the denying of the holocaust, this being the extreme variant.
    [Show full text]
  • Das Internet Und Die Leugnung Des Holocaust
    Bei dieser Arbeit handelt es sich um eine Wissenschaftliche Hausarbeit, die an der Universität Kassel angefertigt wurde. Die hier veröffentlichte Version kann von der als Prüfungsleistung eingereichten Version geringfügig abweichen. Weitere Wissenschaftliche Hausarbeiten finden Sie hier: https://kobra.bibliothek.uni-kassel.de/handle/urn:nbn:de:hebis:34-2011040837235 Diese Arbeit wurde mit organisatorischer Unterstützung des Zentrums für Lehrerbildung der Universität Kassel veröffentlicht. Informationen zum ZLB finden Sie unter folgendem Link: www.uni-kassel.de/zlb Wissenschaftliche Hausarbeit im Rahmen der Ersten Staatsprüfung für das Lehramt an Gymnasien im Fach Geschichte Eingereicht dem Amt für Lehrerbildung Prüfungsstelle Kassel Thema: „Das Internet und die Leugnung des Holocaust. Neue Perspektiven in deutschsprachigen Veröffentlichungen“ Vorgelegt von: Dennis Beismann 2011 Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Friedhelm Boll Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Einleitung............................................................................................................1 1.1 Stand der Forschung.....................................................................................3 1.1.1 Publikationen aus den Jahren 1970 bis 1993........................................3 1.1.2 Holocaustleugnende Publikationen im Internet....................................4 1.2 Anlage der Studie.........................................................................................7 1.2.1 Fragestellung.........................................................................................7
    [Show full text]
  • Holocaust-Denial Literature: a Fourth Bibliography
    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Publications and Research York College 2000 Holocaust-Denial Literature: A Fourth Bibliography John A. Drobnicki CUNY York College How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/yc_pubs/25 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] Holocaust-Denial Literature: A Fourth Bibliography John A. Drobnicki This bibliography is a supplement to three earlier ones published in the March 1994, Decem- ber 1996, and September 1998 issues of the Bulletin of Bibliography. During the intervening time. Holocaust revisionism has continued to be discussed both in the scholarly literature and in the mainstream press, especially owing to the libel lawsuit filed by David Irving against Deb- orah Lipstadt and Penguin Books. The Holocaust deniers, who prefer to call themselves “revi- sionists” in an attempt to gain scholarly legitimacy, have refused to go away and remain as vocal as ever— Bradley R. Smith has continued to send revisionist advertisements to college newspapers (including free issues of his new publication. The Revisionist), generating public- ity for his cause. Holocaust-denial, which will be used interchangeably with Holocaust revisionism in this bib- liography, is a body of literature that seeks to “prove” that the Jewish Holocaust did not hap- pen. Although individual revisionists may have different motives and beliefs, they all share at least one point: that there was no systematic attempt by Nazi Germany to exterminate Euro- pean Jewry.
    [Show full text]
  • Robert Jan Van Pelt Auschwitz, Holocaust-Leugnung Und Der Irving-Prozess
    ROBERT JAN VAN PELT AUSCHWITZ, HOLOCAUST-LEUGNUNG UND DER IRVING-PROZESS Robert Jan van Pelt Auschwitz, Holocaust-Leugnung und der Irving-Prozess In 1987 I decided to investigate the career and fate of the came an Ortsgeschichte of Auschwitz. This history, publis- architects who had designed Auschwitz. That year I had hed as Auschwitz: 1270 to the Present (1996), tried to re- obtained a teaching position at the School of Architecture create the historical context of the camp that had been of of the University of Waterloo in Canada. Considering the relevance to the men who created it. In 1939, at the end of question of the ethics of the architectural profession, I be- the Polish Campaign, the Polish town of Oswiecim had came interested in the worst crime committed by archi- been annexed to the German Reich, and a process of eth- tects. As I told my students, “one can’t take a profession nic cleansing began in the town and its surrounding coun- seriously that hasn’t insisted that the public authorities tryside that was justified through references to the medie- hang one of that profession’s practitioners for serious pro- val German Drang nach Osten. Also the large-scale and fessional misconduct.” I knew that physicians everywhere generally benign “Auschwitz Project,” which was to lead had welcomed the prosecution and conviction of the doc- to the construction of a large and beautiful model town of tors who had done medical experiments in Dachau and some 60,000 inhabitants supported by an immense synthe- other German concentration camps.
    [Show full text]
  • Scattered Thoughts on Trauma and Memory*
    Scattered thoughts on trauma and memory* ** Paolo Giuganino Abstract. This paper examines, from a personal and clinician's perspective, the interrelation between trauma and memory. The author recalls his autobiographical memories and experiences on this two concepts by linking them to other authors thoughts. On the theme of trauma, the author underlines how the Holocaust- Shoah has been the trauma par excellence of the twentieth century by quoting several writing starting from Rudolf Höss’s memoirs, Nazi lieutenant colonel of Auschwitz, to the same book’s foreword written by Primo Levi, as well as many other authors such as Vasilij Grossman and Amos Oz. The author stresses the distortion of German language operated by Nazism and highlights the role played by the occult, mythological and mystical traditions in structuring the Third Reich,particularly in the SS organization system and pursuit for a pure “Aryan race”. Moreover, the author highlights how Ferenczi's contributions added to the developments of the concept of trauma through Luis Martin-Cabré exploration and detailed study of the author’s psychoanalytic thought. Keywords: Trauma, memory, testimony, Holocaust, Shoah, survivors, state violence, forgiveness, Höss, Primo Levi, Karl Jaspers, Martin Heidegger, Vasilij Grossman, Amos Oz, Ferenczi, Freud, Luis-Martin Cabré. In memory of Gino Giuganino (1913-1949). A mountaineer and partisan from Turin. A righteous of the Italian Jewish community and honoured with a gold medal for having helped many victims of persecution to cross over into Switzerland saving them from certain death. To the Stuck N. 174517, i.e. Primo Levi To: «Paola Pakitz / Cantante de Operetta / Fja de Arone / De el ghetto de Cracovia /Fatta savon / Per ordine del Fuhrer / Morta a Mauthausen» (Carolus L.
    [Show full text]
  • The Second Leuchter Report
    Fred Leuchter The Second Leuchter Report AAARGH Copyright Samisdat Publishers Ltd. 1988. Please note: Commercial use and/or exploitation is expressly prohibited by copyright. To contact the Zundelsite: www.zundelsite.org [email protected] 3152 Parkway #13, PMB109 Pigeon Forge, TN 37863, USA This text has been displayed on the Net as a tool for educational purpose, further research, on a non commercial and fair use basis, by the International Secretariat of the Association des Anciens Amateurs de Récits de Guerres et d'Holocaustes (Aaargh). The E-mail of the Secretariat is: [email protected]. Mail can be sent at PO Box 81475, Chicago, IL 60681-0475, USA. We see the act of displaying a written document on Internet as the equivalent to displaying it on the shelves of a public library. It costs us a modicum of labor and money. The only benefit accrues to the reader who, we surmise, thinks by himself. A reader looks for a document on the Web at his or her own risks. As for the author, there is no reason to suppose that he or she shares any responsibility for other writings displayed on this Site. Because laws enforcing a specific censorship on some historical question apply in various countries (Germany, France, Israel, Switzerland, Canada, and others) we do not ask their permission from authors living in thoses places: they wouldn't have the freedom to consent. We believe we are protected by article 19 of the Human Rights Charter: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom
    [Show full text]
  • Holocaust-Denial Literature: a Sixth Bibliography
    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Publications and Research York College 2010 Holocaust-Denial Literature: A Sixth Bibliography John A. Drobnicki CUNY York College How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/yc_pubs/13 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] BffiLIOGRAPHY Holocaust-Denial Literature: A Sixth Bibliography John A. Drobnicki York College/CUNY This bibliography is a supplement to five earlier ones that were pub­ lished in the March 1994; December 1996, September 1998, December 2000, and September 2002 issues of the Bulletin of Bibliography, which has since ceased publication. During the intervening time, Holocaust denial has continued to be discussed in both the scholarly literature and the main­ stream press, especially during the trial resulting from the libel lawsuit filed by David Irving against Deborah Lipstadt and Penguin Books, and his sub­ sequent appeal of that verdict. The Holocaust deniers, who prefer to call themselves "revisionists" in an attempt to gain scholarly legitimacy, have refused to go away and have continued to take advantage of new media. Holocaust denial is a body of literature that seeks to prove that the Jewish Holocaust did not happen. Although individual deniers may have different motives and beliefs, they all share at least one point: that there was no systematic attempt by Nazi Germany to exterminate European Jewry. Hence they claim that the Holocaust is a hoax perpetrated by Jews (Zion­ ists) in an attempt to blackmail the rest of the world for sympathy, money, and legitimacy for the state of Israel.
    [Show full text]
  • Smith's Report
    SMITH’S REPORT On the Holocaust Controversy No. 157 www.Codoh.com January 2009 See Back Issues at: www.smithsreport.com Challenging the Holocaust Taboo Since 1990 The Growing Self-Accusation Movement In Germany By Kevin Käther Translated by J. M. Damon [Translator’s note.] Truth Is Coming to the In the tradition of Henry Tho- Reich Capitol Day 2 of the of the Self- reau and Mahatma Gandhi, the Accusation Trial of Kevin new activists demand that they be Kevin Käther Käther tried and punished for their crimes. My self-accusation trial con- r. Kevin Käther is a rep- tinued on 18 November 2008, and M resentative of the grow- let me begin by saying that it was ing "Self-Accusation" movement, the best trial day so far! Court re- or citizens’ demanding that they be sumed shortly after 1 pm, at which charged and tried for crimes of time I continued submitting my opinion. evidentiary motions, namely the The following trial report re- body of facts establishing the sci- flects the growing courage, enthu- entific validity of Germar Rudolf’s siasm and freshness of vision analyses of the so-called “gas among patriotic young Germans as chambers” at Auschwitz. they answer the call for a new kind Today I submitted the Rudolf of civil disobedience. They are Kevin Käther Expert Report on the ‘Gas Cham- publicly “confessing” the “crime” bers’ of Auschwitz, making clear to of expressing opinions critical of Growing numbers of judges the Court that Rudolf’s critics have their government’s inquisitorial and public officials are also ex- been unable to disprove it.
    [Show full text]
  • A Brief History of Ernst Zündel, and the Leuchter Report
    A Brief History of Ernst Zündel, and the Leuchter Report Ernst Christof Friedrich Zündel was imprisoned twice (1985 & 1988) in Toronto, Canada for his public denial of the Holocaust claims concerning how people were, and how many people were murder at the hands of the Nazi's operation Concentration Camps. Zündel was convicted under a ridiculous rarely implored law which criminalizes the knowing publication of false news which was likely to cause harm to public interest. - Yes, this is a true story! His first conviction in '85 was tossed-out on a technicality and the second in '88 was upturned in 1992 when the Supreme Court of Canada found that the law was an unreasonable limit on freedom of expression. Zündel's lawyers presented the Leuchter Report findings as a share of their defense to overturn the second conviction. Furthermore, well-known [so-called] “Holocaust Denier” and British Historian David Irving took the stand in Zündel’s second trial and vouched for the validity of the Leuchter Report. The publicity Zündel received was more damaging to the overall agenda of the pro- Holocaust individuals attempting to imprison him than they ever expected. Soon, more credible Holocaust Revisionists would appear on the scenes such as the three authors of the Leuchter report which recorded scientific experiments done at Auschwitz and other concentration camp locations. These three men were Fred Leuchter, Robert Faurisson, and Germar Rudolf. After living in the United States but removed to Canada after over-staying his visa, Zündel underwent another lengthy legal process and was deported to Germany in 2005.
    [Show full text]
  • Hate Crime on the Internet Hearing Committee on The
    S. HRG. 106–803 HATE CRIME ON THE INTERNET HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED SIXTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON RAMIFICATIONS OF INTERNET TECHNOLOGY ON TODAY’S CHILDREN, FOCUSING ON THE PREVALENCE OF INTERNET HATE, AND REC- OMMENDATIONS ON HOW TO SHIELD CHILDREN FROM THE NEGA- TIVE IMPACT OF VIOLENT MEDIA SEPTEMBER 14, 1999 Serial No. J–106–48 Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 67–653 CC WASHINGTON : 2001 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 09:22 Apr 24, 2001 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 SEPT14.TXT SJUD2 PsN: SJUD2 COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah, Chairman STROM THURMOND, South Carolina PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR., Delaware JON KYL, Arizona HERBERT KOHL, Wisconsin MIKE DEWINE, Ohio DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California JOHN ASHCROFT, Missouri RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin SPENCER ABRAHAM, Michigan ROBERT G. TORRICELLI, New Jersey JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama CHARLES E. SCHUMER, New York BOB SMITH, New Hampshire MANUS COONEY, Chief Counsel and Staff Director BRUCE A. COHEN, Minority Chief Counsel (II) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 09:22 Apr 24, 2001 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 0486 Sfmt 0486 SEPT14.TXT SJUD2 PsN: SJUD2 C O N T E N T S STATEMENTS OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS Page Hatch, Hon. Orrin G., U.S. Senator from the State of Utah ................................ 1 Leahy, Hon. Patrick J., U.S. Senator from the State of Vermont ....................... 3 Kennedy, Hon.
    [Show full text]
  • Holocaust Denial
    Holocaust Denial Information compiled by Stephen Rosenberg, obtained from Wikipedia. David Irving born in 24/3/1938 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, Hitler's war, Churchill's war and Goebbels: mastermind of the Third Reich. In his works, he argued that Adolf Hitler did not know of the extermination of Jews, or, if he did, he opposed it. Irving marginalised himself from the mainstream of the study of history in the 1970's when he began the claim that Hitler had neither ordered the extermination of the Jews nor known about the Holocaust. He went even further in 1988 when based on his reading of the pseudoscientific Leuchter Report, he began to expose Holocaust denial, specifically denying that Jews were murdered by gassing at the Auschwitz concentration camp. Irving's reputation as a "historian" was discredited in 1996 when, in the course of an unsuccessful libel case he filed against the American historian Deborah Lipstadt and Penguin Books. He was shown to have deliberately misrepresented historical evidence to promote Holocaust denial. The English court found that Irving was an active Holocaust denier, anti-Semite and racist, who, "for his own ideological reasons persistently and deliberately misrepresented and manipulated historical evidence". In addition, the court found that Irving's books had distorted the history of Hitler’s role in the Holocaust to depict Hitler in a favourable light. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fred a Leuchter, an American manufacturer of execution equipment and Holocaust denier who is best known as the author of the report, a pseudoscientific document that alleges there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz Birkenau.
    [Show full text]
  • Holocaust Denial Cases and Freedom of Expression in the United States
    Holocaust Denial Cases and Freedom of Expression in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom By Charla Marie Boley Submitted to Central European University, Department of Legal Studies In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of … M.A. in Human Rights Supervisor: Professor Vladimir Petrovic Budapest, Hungary 2016 CEU eTD Collection Copyright 2016 Central European University CEU eTD Collection i EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Freedom of expression is an internationally recognized fundamental right, crucial to open societies and democracy. Therefore, when the right is utilized to proliferate hate speech targeted at especially vulnerable groups of people, societies face the uncomfortable question of how and when to limit freedom of expression. Holocaust denial, as a form of hate speech, poses such a problem. This particular form of hate speech creates specific problems unique to its “field” in that perpetrators cloak their rhetoric under a screen of academia and that initial responses typically discard it as absurd, crazy, and not worth acknowledging. The three common law jurisdictions of the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom all value free speech and expression, but depending on national legislation and jurisprudence approach the question of Holocaust denial differently. The three trials of Holocaust deniers Zundel, Irving, and the the Institute for Historical Review, a pseudo academic organization, caught the public’s attention with a significant amount of sensationalism. The manner in which the cases unfolded and their aftermath demonstrate that Holocaust denial embodies anti-Semitism and is a form of hate speech. Furthermore, examination of trial transcripts, media response, and existing scholarship, shows that combating denial in courtrooms can have the unintended consequence of further radicalizing deniers and swaying more to join their ranks.
    [Show full text]