Holocaust Denial, double standards, and Freedom of Speech
The Holocaust must be the epitome of fascist atrocity to many, but to me there is something more outrageous: holocaust denial rules. There are actual rules that condemn Holocaust denial and you could be sentenced up to three years in prison for doubting history’s credibility in relation to such an event. To think that a number of European countries mainly: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, and Switzerland, and of course non-EU Israel, who constantly preach about democracy actually have such rules is a direct insult to Human Rights and Freedom of Speech. Such laws are making false assumptions that if you are questioning history then you are discriminating against Jews. If a person were to say that the Paranoiac civilization wasn’t attacked by the Roman Empire, could this mean he’s discriminating against Egyptians nowadays?
Why is such a topic so sacred, that it can’t be debated, even more sacred than God and religion to Europeans? Can you be jailed for not believing in God in Europe? Without alluding to the numerous conspiracy theories, the only reasonable explanation is that these rules are unjust and discriminative. Not only foreigners are affected by this, even Jews who question the holocaust are bashed and labeled as Anti-Semitic. That brings us to a good point, that Tololy has brought my attention to the other day, anti-Semitic? How come this term always refers to Jews, although it’s a commonly known fact that all religious sects occupying that area were Semitics?
Let us put Arabs and the world aside, don’t the Jews have the right to question whatever they have in their books; just like any person in the world would? People like Noam Chomsky, who is Jewish by birth, were labeled as anti-Semitic for questioning history! We’re not here today to discuss whether the holocaust really happened or not, as far as I am concerned, if it happened then it’s a monstrous crime. If it didn’t… really… what difference would it make? People around the world are able to question every single account of history, and they should be able to discuss and question the holocaust account without persecution. Otherwise, governments are simply carrying out double standards when it comes to democracy and freedom of speech.
Join the Conversation
“The Holocaust must be the epitome of fascist atrocity to many, but to me there is something more outrageous: holocaust denial rules.”
You really mean to tell me that the Holocaust is less outrageous than holocaust denial rules? I hope that you wrote that without really thinking.
They should not even be equated.
Have you ever met a survivor of the Holocaust or read any accounts? If not, I would be happy to point you in the right direction.
“How come this term always refers to Jews, although it’s a commonly known fact that all religious sects occupying that area were Semitics?”
Because the term was devised by a German academic as a more scientific and respectable substitute for a German term translating to “Jew Hatred”.
The meaning of a word is not always the sum of the definitions of its components
(E.G. Semitic and anti-).
Linguistics is weird sometimes, but this is an etymological fact.
When someone equates the Holocaust and Holocaust (anti)denial rules what it shouts is that he belongs to one of two categories:
1)Ignorant of the Holocaust
2)An anti-semitic bigot(either conciously or unconciously)
Until proven otherwise I assume that it is 1), as I like to think the best of people.Go and check out some information- Yad Vashem have a good site, if less extensive then their physical premises.
Comparing anything less then a genocide with the Holocaust demeans both it and the writer who made the comparison.I hope that after you read something of it you understand the difference.
Reading your words I wanted to react almost on each sentence… Reading the comments of Esther, Joel and Anton I could just agree with their reactions. It seems me just incredible that people could deny a such huge atrocity.. What shock me a lot more than the rules it’s that we need them.. that Human being is able of such atrocities and even, not to face it, to deny it…
I would thus not come back again on what E, J and A say but I want to react on following words “the only reasonable explanation is that these rules are unjust and discriminative”…
Where is discrimination ? injustice ? I could agree with you that holocaust denial rules limit the individual liberty, not the one of thinking but the one of teaching, of trying to convince others,..but they do not disciminate some people from others.. Face to such atrocity the reaction will be the same who ever is the victim.. And don’t forget that Hitler’s victims were already from different origin and not only jews… Hitler discriminated people from each other, the holocaust denial rules don’t..
You’re right these rules limit the liberty as the laws that forbid killing, robbing, lying in front of justice, harassing, … but there’re full of them to make our world civilized. Maybe this one seems you particular but based on History, I understand it. When democracy and election were able to create Hitler and all his consequences and when you see after, humanity not able to face and to admit it, starting to deny it, you wonder how we’ll avoid all this again… Not knowing History, not recognising it, rewritting it as narrated in the book 1984 (Orwel), as always said, is the best way to redo all of it…
Holocaust as been a really dark page of our History as others… We should never forget it and stop to link it with the present Jews/Arabs question/situation… I’ve sometimes the impression that people denying it hope on this way to weaken Israel position and/or change the situation in this part of the world. … Of course, Holocaust has probably played a role as hundred of other things but denying atrocities of the past will not change anything at the present situation as these atrocities do not inversely justify atrocities of today…
Holocaust is a reality and has to stay a conscious part of our History as crusade, indian exterminations, 9/11, every day’s reality of any community suffering from others,…
PS : I’m conscious, leaving far from middle east not to know what’s your everyday lifes, your cultures, your realities.. so please, if some of my words could be misunderstood by some of you : don’t !!
Well said, Cécile. Historical awareness is key. Without it, history will keep repeating itself (doesn’t human nature make that inevitable though?)
This is a really touchy subject. I have many Armenian friends who go through so much just to help increase awareness on the Armenian genocide, which is still being denied. It’s not only hurtful, but also a bit inhuman to deny that their nation once had to suffer through this.
We all have every right to doubt and to question, but we also have to consider the people we’ll hurt by denying or simply not “buying” things that happened in the past. Imagine how Palestinians will feel if 100 years from now, people deny that they ever suffered in the first place. What they’re going through is not exactly genocide, but definitely one of the most tragic things to occur in Arab history, or even all of history. Or imagine how a Rwandan will feel if you call 1994 a year of fictional events that were designed to win people’s attention.
There is a lot of truth in what you say and you make some good points, but we also need to consider the outrage and the reactions such thoughts will receive (and for good reason.) It’s not so much a matter of freedom of expression as it is a matter of having respect for those who either a) believe that it happened and feel strongly about it and b) went through it personally. We all have certain duties to ourselves and to our societies, and I think maintaining respect is one of them. We can question it and keep demanding more evidence, but to come out and say “I don’t think it happened” is irresponsible, and I think having consequences is important to kind of control the extent to which people will take things. There’s a fine line between freedom of speech and speech that can somehow harm or insult others (and denying the Holocaust does just that.)
Please read Minoo’s shocking article which I find very relevant to this:
http://www.mideastyouth.com/?p=5
I also disagree with Holocaust denial rules as they restrict freedom of speech and are antithetical to democracy and a free academia. That said, I think you are totally in the wrong about the holocaust. To say that it is less outrageous than holocaust denial rules is incredibly offensive. The Holocaust killed, and brutally so, six million people and contributed to a world war that killed millions more. It served the good of no one and was a human tragedy on a scale yet to be replicated. It also wasn’t good for Arabs, since it served as the pretext for the creation of the state of Israel. Though Arabs should be upset simply at the notion of people dying. The holocaust denial rules, though I think they are wrong, only affect a very small minority of thinkers who are just not allowed to express their views, which may be considered hateful, about a certain subject. If they do so in the country of the law, they must serve a three year jail sentence. The people who flaut this law make a choice to go to prison, the victims of the Holocaust never had a choice. I’d take three years in an EU jail to a brutal death/human experiment any day.
Also, the Holocaust did not solely impact Jews. Hundreds of thousands of gypsies were affected as well, as were handicapped, gays, and communists. It was a universal tragedy. However, the Holocaust plays far too great role in shaping current events. More people died in the Sino-Japanese genocide, but that is rarely if ever discussed. Ditto for the Ukranian famine. If we devote so much damn time to the Holocaust, about putting one ounce of effort to even ACKNOWLEDGE THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE. I mean, we seriously spent weeks upon weeks learning about the Holocaust in school, and yet so few academics and government officials even bother to mention the Armenian genocide, which the US and ISRAELI (talk about hypocrisy) governments still refuse to acknolwedge. Obviously Israel feels Jewish lives are more precious than Armenian lives. The whole purpose of learning about history is to not repeat the same mistakes twice. Yet as we spend so much time and effort learning about and debating the Holocaust, there is genocide taking place in Sudan. We have a genocide today and NO ONE IS WILLING TO EXERT AN OUNCE OF EFFORT TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. We’re spending more time talking about dead people than talking about how to save people TODAY.
Patrick, some of the founders of the Armenian National Committee of America will be invited to this site as “guest appearances” to share what we all need to know about the Armenian genocide. I made an effort to make updates on what the committee was up to in the past, I will continue to do so in the future.
I think it’s extremely important to be aware of these things. I’ve received some encouraging e-mails from them and they have some suggestions as to how we can help their cause.
This guy is absolutely crazy. Denying objective History should be a crime always. Subjective interpretation is fine everyone can have one. but objective history cannot be denied.
If u had cheese sandwich for breakfast today morning that’s objective history undeniable set in stone for eternity.
Why u had cheese sandwich and not something else? that can be debated for eternity.
Unfortunately, many Arabs do not believe in the Holocaust and that is their personal choice. To me, I am more concerned with the Jews who are hunted down for questioning the Holocaust and demanding answers. Yes, you may not understand my point of view, but to me being prosecuted because of questioning or denying previous prosecution is outrageous, because it reflects the double standards we have. If a man walked into the room today, and declared that he denies the Holocaust, I’d hear him out, and I’d want him to present a reasonable argument, but if he managed to come up with racist comments about Jews, I’d want him arrested in a jiffy.
The Holocaust victims have our sympathy because they died for no reason but a bigot’s prejudice, however; our laws must be there to protect the living, and not the dead. There are many genocides in the world, that happened and are still happening, yet we do not have laws against denying them.
Any Historian could tell you history is never objective, and is open for debate any time a day. If I pass on the accounts of history of two feuding nations to you, you’ll see the drastic difference, and you’re ought to question and figure it out for yourself. We can’t force history on people, no matter how we much we think it’s true. We couldn’t force evolution, God, or even moral codes on them, so why History now?
You can call me a devoted humanist, since I believe the dead should be in our hearts, and the living on our mind. These laws restrict freedom of expression, and the Holocaust – although a massive genocide – should be treated like any of the genocides in the world. We should be careful not to be bigots like the man who murdered our people. We either impose rules that no man should question any part of the history, or give up such laws.
Checkout this:
Darfur Genocide
“Unfortunately, many Arabs do not believe in the Holocaust and that is their personal choice.”
That’s exactly the problem. If the Arab world understood the Holocaust, they would be much more capable of dealing with Israel. There would be a much greater understanding of the fears that Israelis feel when they hear similar rhetoric coming from Arab leaders as they heard coming from Nazi leaders. Even when no real action is planned or taking place, the rhetoric itself is frightening. The situation in the Middle East gets more and more dangerous because the players refuse to understand the fears and motivations of one another.
As far as laws restricting free speech go: In the U.S. the rule of thumb is that you cannot falsely shout fire in a crowded theater. In Europe, speech preceded the Holocaust. It was speech, like in Rwanda, that made the unimagineable possible. This is recent history in Europe. For them, holocaust denial is like shouting fire in a crowded theater. I am sure that as the distance between the event and the possibility of its repetition in Europe grow, the laws will mature and change.
The premise of freedom of speech is one that we allow voices to be heard even if we don’t agree with them. However there has to be responsible speech which is where everything gets a bit messy.
The question remains, is hurting ones feelings, or upsetting someone enough of a reason to make a law that prevents such speech. And this is what is being suggested with such laws. Shouting fire in a crowded theatre puts immediate physical risk to those in the theatre. It isn’t exactly the same at all.
Freedom isn’t always easy, you actually have to allow for voices that make your skin crawl. And as much as you want to shut them up you have to make an allowance for them to be heard. Even at times stand up for them to have the right to be heard.
We owe respect to the living. To the dead we owe only truth. -Voltaire
Denying a crime that actually happened is participating it. Period!
Or why else would anyone do such a terrible thing with all the historic accounts that prove it happened?
And I actually think, that denying the Holocaust is a clear avocation of violence and murder, it tells who ever has murderous tendencies: “go ahead Hun, commit genocide and we won’t mention it in history, cause you know what? we’ll deny it, it’s as easy as that”
I think honestly that whoever denies the Holocaust is a dangerous individual, who wants killers to get away with murder, and I find that very disturbing and definitely requires the interference of law for the safety of other individuals not just Jews, I have seen people who denied the Holocaust, and I’ve also seen them compliment Hitler!! Hmmm guess why?
Advocating murder by denying it ever happened, is not freedom of speech, it’s just advocating murder.
I’m not sure why this made me laugh really hard, but it did.
Well put.
Questioning and demanding evidence is normal, however, and is very different than denying.
Cynthia, some of these deniers are indeed Pro-Hitler and bigots themselves. The majority of these people, are quite oblivious and brainwashed, and some of them draw the Nazi sign on their hand, and when asked they’ll say we just love the sign. They are obviously not qualified to question, since their judgments and denial are just born from their racism and nationalism. A lot of scholars, thinkers, and free spirits, however; do look for answers for themselves because they need to be satisfied, and you can’t force anyone to believe, no matter how much it’s true to believe in something. As long as that person is not inciting hatred, he should be free to believe what he wants. I believe if we must put such rules, they shouldn’t be specific about the holocaust, rather the whole concept of genocide, because in the end we want to spread awareness about genocides not a single monstrous event.
I’ll have to disagree with that, not all people who question the holocaust are in it because they have murderous tendencies. We should be fair and reasonable; we can not jail someone because he does not believe in something we think is true. As long as he doesn’t commit an act of racism or violence, he should be free to find answers for himself, because in the end, no matter how clichéd it seems: the truth shines…
Dear Amino,
I totally agree with that:
“they shouldn’t be specific about the holocaust, rather the whole concept of genocide, because in the end we want to spread awareness about genocides not a single monstrous event.”
and I definitely agree with this too:
“not all people who question the holocaust are in it because they have murderous tendencies.”
Actually I agree with all what you said in your reply, maybe I haven’t been clear enough.
You will notice I strictly spoke of the act of denial and not questioning, there is a huge difference between both, questioning everything in life and life itself is a totally healthy approach in a person’s mind in my opinion, which indicates that the mind is progressing.
The processes of Skepticism and critical thinking are not easy ones, which go through various stages of analysis and information evaluation through study, research and/or different means of communication, and that process has to overcome Cognitive bias which is distortion in the way humans perceive reality, till the critical thinker reaches a conclusion if he does at all.
That was an extremely brief idea of the many complicated mind calculation a person takes to reach a specific judgment, and in our case the Holocaust is simply a historical fact that is documented in modern history by modern means, so when a person goes through his research he had to come across clear evidence yet, he still decides to deny it, and takes it a step further which is announce this denial, it means that this individual is either in a state of Self-deception or deliberately denying this terrible crime, which happens most of the time, simply because he goes through a long mental process before declaring publicly his decision of denial, which of course the people living in the middle east know the agenda behind it, I’ve spoken too much I know I’ve bored you, I’m sorry!
Questioning is very much different from denying.
But I think that:
Deliberate denial of a crime “equals” another crime.
Let me give you a small example, the thousands of men, women and children raped annually in Egyptian police station, and it won’t stop and still they will rape, torture and kill many more, because of “deliberate denial” the government refuses to end.
“If the Arab world understood the Holocaust, they would be much more capable of dealing with Israel. There would be a much greater understanding of the fears that Israelis feel when they hear similar rhetoric coming from Arab leaders as they heard coming from Nazi leaders.”
A very good point indeed.
When I hear Arab leaders calling for the death of every Jew in “Palestine” (which includes the vast majority of all the Jews that fled Arab countries), how can I believe anything but that Israel is the last thing that stands between the Jewish people and another Shoah?
Perhaps if Palestinian Arabs never named their children “Hitler” or would decide to give up the Arab nationalist flag which was a child of WW2′s national socialism and instead make up their own, representing not the “Arab nation” but the “non-Jewish Palestinian people”, I could believe something else.
If a Jew in the Arab world was as common as a Jew in America or a Jew in Europe before WW2, I would have no fears.
Until then I do think that the rockets that were shot at my university in Haifa were meant for me.
Having family that survived the Holocaust it is interesting to hear there experiences. I’ve often found that because I am family they will tell me more about it than they do when talking about it to other people. My grandmother (who’s entire family and friends were murdered in the Holocaust) and I were once talking about it, and she said that she can almost understand why someone would deny the Holocaust (in a horrible sort of way) because she has had such a hard time accepting the fact that something so terrible could actually happen.
Much of what I had in mind to respond to this remark in your entry: “actual rules that condemn Holocaust denial ” is already answered to my full satisfaction by Esra, Cecile & especially Cynthia – I am German & live in Nuremberg, the town where once Hitler had his big parades, where these evil racism laws were written that exclude Jews from about everything in social life here – there’s so much proof that the holocaust really happened here around, that only utterly fools or Nazis by spite would refuse that – Germany’s government after the Nazi-Reich of Hitler officially confesses & admits the holocaust that’s been done here to the Jews, the Gypsies & some strict Christian groups, comunists etc. – some of these concentration camps where multi-thousands of Jews were starved, gased etc. still exist as memory to what had happened here – like in Dachau etc. – there is million of proof, by testimonies, by documents, by long lists of Jewish people who once lived here in all German cities & then got deported to those death camps – I was born in the next generation, but in all my youth & childhood I never met a Jew here around – they were just extinguished or had fled – all bigger cities here had Jew quarters, synagogues etc. old streets named after Jews (like in Nuremberg the Judengasse (Jewstreet)) – but of course in these quarters there live about no Jews anymore & I personally met only 2 Jews, living in Germany in all of my life & all other Jews I know come from other countries – it’s so obvious to see that the holocaust really had happened & so easy to find a lot of proof about it, that those deniers in my minds eye must be really so reckless & careless or even by spite on the side with the committers or just badly guided by wrong leaders – it’s like if there’s a child getting molested, raped & killed by an abuser & then later someone tries to argue with the the parents whether it really had happened or wasn’t the child maybe sexual provoking somehow? – And don’t you think that if even that country where this holocaust was comitted, admits & deeply regrets what has happened here, what more proof do you need? – Yes & me as German also feels bad & guilty for the genocide done here in the generation before me & I deeply hate those Nazi’s & all those who still think, behave & act in that spirit – we the next generation here (at least partly) are very conscient about what is anti-semitism & see with solicitude that the same anti-semitic (anti-jewish) spirit has spread largely in the muslim world – I have the
sense, that I just have to fight them, to not getting guilty again by neglecting the guard, that sensitive & thinking Germans should have showed much stronger & decisive, when the anti-semite hunt in Nazi Germany once started – & I strongly believe that who-so-ever denies holocaust tends to be partner in crime to those who did it.
Holocaust denial is a hot topic because of what lies beneath the surface.
What goes unspoken?
It is not merely a historical debate. If I wanted to claim, for example, that Chinese sailors reached North American before Columbus, that is a historical debate. I could point to this document or that legend, and say see, if I interpret this like so, then Minister Yang was possibly referring to the coast of British Columbia when he wrote…
This is different. We have, on the one hand, not only a few records, but the historical experience of not one but a number of people- the Jews, yes, also the Germans, many of whom described their involvements, and the Russians, Americans, and British who liberated those camps and saw what they saw, and the others who experienced it all along with the Jews but not being as expressive in the arts, saw their stories told less often. 1.5 Million gypsies, for example.
A claim of Holocaust Denial, then, is a claim against ALL of these people, a claim that ALL of them, all the Jewish survivors, all the repentant ex-Nazi guards, Russian infantrymen and African-American tank drivers in the Rainbow Division and the Gyspies and homosexual Germans who saw what they saw… ALL of these people are part of some vast conspiracy that is somehow supposed to benefit… guess who? The Jews.
And it begs the question, why on Earth would all these Russians and Germans and Americans and British and Gypsies and Poles and everyone else want to be part of this incredible Jewish plot? Last time you checked, was the average Ukrainian a pro-Jewish activist? Of course they would not join such a plot willingly. So this line of logic then tells us: They were unwilling participants, controlled and manipulated by… guess who?
So Holocaust Denial takes us to a shadowy anti-universe where Jews have secret powers to control all these people, and concoct these stories of mass murder for their own gain. And you know where THAT kind of reasoning leads- those rotten,scheming, controlling Jews… we must stop them, kill them!
Another hidden question: if this were all true, if Jews really did have the power to manipulate and control the minds of the world, why didn’t they just finish the job, and control the minds of the nazis and Islamic extremists too? If they could manage to control the official reports of Soviet Army officers, can’t they control a few loonies?
And the hidden answer, from the point of view of the holocaust denier, is pure paranoia on display: The Jews control everyone ELSE, they control the whole world, you see, but ho ho, not me, I am smarter than them!
But in a nutshell, that is why so many nations make this illegal- it is not the questions asked, but the assumptions left hidden.
Ben
Pingback: adult free online tv