Addressing Holocaust Denial, Distortion and Trivialization Teaching Aid 6 1. Increasing Knowledge about Jews and Judaism 2. Overcoming Unconscious Biases 3. Addressing Anti-Semitic Stereotypes and Prejudice 4. Challenging Conspiracy Theories 5. Teaching about Anti-Semitism through Holocaust Education 6. Addressing Holocaust Denial, Distortion and Trivialization 7. Anti-Semitism and National Memory Discourse 8. Dealing with Anti-Semitic Incidents 9. Dealing with Online Anti-Semitism 10. Anti-Semitism and the Situation in the Middle East Addressing Holocaust Denial, Distortion and Trivialization Teachers in the OSCE region Sometimes, for example, where The purpose of this teaching aid is have reported encountering the Holocaust is not explored to provide a better understanding anti-Semitic ideas when teaching fully as part of the school cur- of these expressions of anti-Sem- about the Holocaust.1 Anti-Semi- riculum, young people may dis- itism and to support teachers in tism exists today as prejudice in tort the Holocaust in ignorance countering the following: which Jews are confronted with of the historical facts, or they hostility and treated as inhu- may deny it as a form of ado- • resistance to lessons about and man, or as an out-group. It can lescent provocation or rejec- from the Holocaust; be manifested in individuals as tion of an established narra- attitudes, in culture and various tive. Whatever lies behind • misinformation about the Hol- forms of expression.2 Anti-Se- Holocaust denial and distor- ocaust among students; and mitic sentiments can fuel resist- tion, it is often accompanied by ance to the topic of the Holocaust or promotes classic anti-Semit- • incongruous or flawed parallels and may manifest as denial, dis- ic themes, such as accusations made between what the Jews tortion or trivialization of his- of greed, power, deceptiveness experienced during the Holo- torical facts. and criminality. caust and how other groups are suffering or have suffered. 1 M. Eckmann, S. Doyle and J. Ambrosewicz-Jacobs, J. (eds.), Research in Teaching and Learning About the Holocaust: A Dialogue Beyond Borders (Berlin: Metropole Verlag, 2017), p. 233, <https://holocaustremembrance.com/sites/default/files/research_in_ teaching_and_learning_about_the_holocaust_web.pdf>. 2 Addressing Anti-Semitism Through Education: Guidelines for Policymakers (Warsaw: OSCE/ODIHR, 2018), p. 12, <https://www.osce. org/odihr/383089>. 1 In 2013, the member countries of the International ocide of the Jews is an effort to exonerate National Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) agreed on Socialism and antisemitism from guilt or responsi- a Working Definition of Holocaust Denial and Distortion: bility in the genocide of the Jewish people. Forms of Holocaust denial also include blaming the Jews “Holocaust denial is discourse and propaganda that for either exaggerating or creating the Shoah for deny the historical reality and the extent of the exter- political or financial gain as if the Shoah itself was mination of the Jews by the Nazis and their accom- the result of a conspiracy plotted by the Jews. In plices during World War II, known as the Holocaust this, the goal is to make the Jews culpable and an- or the Shoah. Holocaust denial refers specifically to tisemitism once again legitimate. any attempt to claim that the Holocaust/Shoah did not take place. The goals of Holocaust denial often are the rehabili- tation of an explicit antisemitism and the promotion Holocaust denial may include publicly denying or call- of political ideologies and conditions suitable for the ing into doubt the use of principal mechanisms of advent of the very type of event it denies.” destruction (such as gas chambers, mass shooting, starvation and torture) or the intentionality of the gen- SOURCE: For the full definition see IHRA’s “Working ocide of the Jewish people. Definition of Holocaust Denial and Distortion”, adopt- ed on 10 October, 2013, at: Holocaust denial in its various forms is an expres- <https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/working- sion of antisemitism. The attempt to deny the gen- definition-holocaust-denial-and-distortion> Background The following terms are frequent- During World War II, the Nazis The process of coming to terms ly used to describe the methods of and their allies started to pro- with the Holocaust has, in some Holocaust denial or distortion: mote the idea that the genocide countries, resulted in what has of Jews was not happening, that been defined as “secondary • Historical revisionism: advo- the gas chambers did not exist anti-Semitism”, which refers to cating a review of a certain and that the number of Jewish the notion that the very pres- interpretation of historical victims was much lower than six ence of Jews reminds others events based on new evidence million. This type of Holocaust of the Holocaust and thereby or information.3 denial or “negationism” contin- evokes feelings of guilt about ues today, and aims to present it, for which Jews are blamed.5 • Historical “negationism” or the Nazi regime and its collabo- Secondary antisemitism allows denial: denying that an event rators in a favourable light and speakers to express anti-Semit- took place, or downplaying its erase any memory of the horrors ic sentiments indirectly and is scale and impact.4 that occurred. usually considered a reaction to 3 Ronald J. Berger, Fathoming the Holocaust: A Social Problems Approach (Aldine Transaction, 2002), p. 154. 4 Some historians of the Holocaust have noted that Holocaust denial often masquerades as revisionism – a legitimate form of histor- ical critique. See: Omer Bartov, “Introduction” in Omer Bartov (ed.), The Holocaust: Origins, Implementation, and Aftermath (Rout- ledge, 2000), pp. 10-12. 5 Peter Schönbach, Reaktionen auf die antisemitische Welle im Winter 1959/60 (Frankfurt am Main: Europäische Verlagsanstalt, 1961), p. 80. 2 For a timeline of Holocaust denial, see: “Holocaust Deni- al: Key Dates”, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, <https://www.ushmm. org/wlc/en/article. php?ModuleId=10008003>. feelings of guilt that challenge suffering during the war. This establishment” movement that one’s sense of a positive nation- is also the aim of efforts to triv- aims to mobilize youth through al identity. ialize what happened. It can be popular culture. For example, motivated by hatred of Jews or a French “comedian” has used Furthermore, processes of his- victimhood competition, and a narrative whereby Jews and torical revisionism can some- builds on the claim that the Hol- Israel are depicted as the dev- times omit or manipulate facts ocaust was invented or exagger- il manipulating the “system”, in order to serve certain narra- ated by Jews as part of a plot to and who must be resisted. This tives of national identity that advance Jewish interests. There is a common and long-stand- are more psychologically com- are conspiracy theories circu- ing anti-Semitic trope.6 Adher- fortable or politically expe- lating that claim that the “hoax” ence to these ideas is symbol- dient. However, denying that of the Holocaust was created to ized by a hand gesture called there were those who collabo- benefit or advance the inter- rated with the Nazis is a distor- ests of the state of Israel, an idea tion of the facts and dishonours often instrumentalized with- the memory of the six million in anti-Zionist discourse. Hol- For the main sources of infor- Jews who were killed during the ocaust deniers depend on, and mation about the Holocaust Holocaust. reinforce, anti-Semitic ideas. used during the trials of Nazi perpetrators after the war, In many cases, the aim of Hol- Holocaust denial takes many see: “Evidence from the Hol- ocaust denial is to challenge forms and, in some cases, can ocaust”, United States Holo- the history of Jewish people’s be seen as part of an “anti- caust Memorial Museum, https://encyclopedia.ushmm. org/content/en/article/ “The primary motivation for most deniers is anti-Semitism, and for combating-holocaust- them the Holocaust is an infuriatingly inconvenient fact of history.” denial-evidence-of-the- Source: Walter Reich, “Erasing the Holocaust”, The New York holocaust-presented-at- Times, 11 July 1993. nuremberg?series=20792 6 These actions led to convictions in Belgium in relation to anti-Semitic speech and in France in relation to incitement to racial hatred under the 1990 Gayssot Act. 3 the “quenelle”, which is circu- as to whether speech should be for both educators and students lated in photos through social criminalized, denial of the Holo- to acquire skills that allow them media and often in front of Hol- caust is a criminal offence in sev- to articulate concise answers ocaust memorial or Jewish reli- eral OSCE participating States.8 and refute denial claims when gious sites.7 they encounter them. Effective education about the The murder of six million Jews Holocaust should enable stu- It may be counterproductive during the Holocaust is the most dents to identify and reject in many settings to emphasize widely documented genocide in messages of denial and distor- victim suffering in an effort to history. During the course of the tion of historical facts. Educa- evoke sympathetic reactions Holocaust, the Nazis and their tors should discuss the motiva- and reduce prejudice.9 Teach- allies kept meticulous records, tions behind using Holocaust ers can help minimize the risk including hundreds of millions of denial as a propaganda tool. of secondary anti-Semitism by pages of documentation that out- This is essential because Holo- teaching about the Holocaust lined the planning and execution caust deniers spread falsehoods in a non-accusatory manner of this atrocity. There is also a vast and misinformation that can and empowering learners to amount of film and photographic appear reasonable to an unin- actively address contemporary documentation of the aftermath formed reader. It is important anti-Semitism. of the Holocaust, including the liberation of the concentration camps, mass graves being uncov- ered, innumerable eyewitness UN General Assembly Resolution 61/255: accounts and testimonials from “1.