Is the Holocaust a Hoax?

1. Is the Holocaust a Hoax? We’ve seen the pictures We’ve read the testimonies We KNOW the facts But Some People Still Aren’t Convinced By: April-Michelle Thomas

2. Holocaust Revisionism • Headed by “historians” or “scholars” who deny the Holocaust • They say that the Holocaust is a gross exaggeration and a set of lies • Strong in the U.S.,Canada, Western Europe and the middle east • They think Jews use the Holocaust as an excuse to gain money through sympathy, so they can dominate all industry

3. The IHR and The CODOH • The IHR (Institute to Historical Review) is the main outlet for Holocaust revisionism • Its magazine, the JHR (Journal of Historical Review) publishes articles that aim to disprove the facts of the Holocaust and persuade others to deny the holocaust as well • The CODOH (Committee on Open Debate on the Holocaust) is the pet project of the IHR. • It was notable in the ‘90s for publishing articles in college newspapers across the country

4. Revisionist Theory The Holocaust Revisionists try to affirm their beliefs for the following reasons: 1. There were no gas chambers used at Auschwitz 2. Six million WERE NOT killed in WWII 3. The Nuremberg Trials were fake and their only purpose was to pacify the Jews

5. No Gas At Auschwitz • Zyklon B was the pesticide used to gas victims • No cyanide compound found on floors or walls of gas chambers • Gassings at Auschwitz were a technical impossibility

6. That’s Too Many • No net loss of Jewish lives during WWII • They say that morgue inventory reports were forged • The figures stated on the memorial at Auschwitz once said that 4 million died there, and now it says 1.5

7. Nuremberg “Sympathy” Trials • A series of trials held after WWI where many third Reich officials were tried • They think that these trials were a “Farce of Justice” for the Jews • Testimony of former SS officer Rudolph Hoss proved falseNo • Wolzek extermination camp ever existed • Lied because him and his family were being threatened by the German government

8. Revisionist Theory • Is this what an extermination camp should look like?

9. Who’s Saying All of This? Holocaust Revisionists: • Are generally affiliated with the IHR/CODOH • Are strongly anti-Semitic • Use various forms of propaganda to promote their ideas

10. Holocaust Deniers Ernst Zundel • Publishes and distributes books, flyers, and video and audio tapes through his website • “Frankly, I don’t think Jews should be so egotistical and think they are the navel of the universe. They’re not. Only a people like them could think themselves so important that the whole world revolves around them. I tend to go with Hitler-- the last thing that he was really worried about was what the Jews thought. To me Jews are just like any other person. That already will hurt them. They will be shrieking “Oy vey, that Ernst Zuendel said Jews are just like normal people”. Well, goddmanit, they are.”

11. Holocaust Deniers David Irving • Arrested in 2006 for speeches in which he denied the holocaust in Austria • Could have faced up to 10 years, but was awarded leniency when he expressed that he had changed his views • Has paid several thousand pounds worth of fines for his outspoken comments • Receives 300 letters a week from other Neo Nazis who support him

12. Holocaust Deniers The President of Iran • Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been outspoken on on a number of occasions "They have created a myth today that they call the massacre of Jews and they consider it a principle above God, religions and the prophets," he said in December 2005

13. Holocaust Deniers David Cole • Is Jewish, but doubts the reality of the Holocaust • Seen as a traitor • Made videos of extermination camps made to make them look like frauds • Physically beaten on several occasions • Received numerous death threats from both Jews and non Jews

14. Holocaust Deniers Hutton Gibson (Mel Gibson’s Dad) "It's all -- maybe not all fiction -- but most of it is," he said, adding that the gas chambers and crematoria at camps like Auschwitz would not have been capable of exterminating so many people. "Do you know what it takes to get rid of a dead body? To cremate it?" he said. "It takes a litre of petrol and 20 minutes. Now, six million of them? They (the Germans) did not have the gas to do it. That's why they lost the war."

15. How Do The Survivor’s Feel? • Outraged by the revisionists and their propaganda • Holocaust denial is a “second death” for victims • Fear that that one day it will be just a “myth”

16. Stop The Madness Deborah Lipstadt, Ph. D. • At the forefront of the anti-Revisionists movement • Consultant in the construction of the American Holocaust Museum • Book Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory scolds revisionists and others who buy into their propaganda • Sued by David Irving because she used some of his writings and speeches in her book

17. Stop The Madness Mel Mermelstein • Won $50,000 for proving to the IHR that his relatives were gassed at Auschwitz, and $40, 000 more for personal suffering • "This court does take judicial notice of the fact that Jews were gassed to death at Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland during the summer of 1944. It is not reasonably subject to dispute. And it is capable of immediate and accurate determination by resort to sources of reasonably indisputable accuracy. It is simply a fact." - Judge Thomas T. Johnson

18. Holocaust Denial on a Global Scale • Many countries have passed laws banning Holocaust denial • It is considered a form of hate-speech and Anti-Semitism • In some areas the penalty can be up to ten years in prison Austria Belgium Bosnia & Herzegovina Czech Republic France Germany Israel Liechtenstein Luxembourg The Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Spain Switzerland

19. Holocaust Denial in the U.S. • The U.S. is the base ground for many Holocaust Denial movements because they have freedom of the press here • However, There have been no major instances of prominent Americans denying the Holocaust • It seems that most Americans are outraged by Holocaust denial and DO NOT buy into revisionist theory, no mater how publicized it becomes “If one group advertises that the Holocaust never happened, another can buy space to insist that American Blacks were never enslaved. The stakes are high because college newspapers may soon be flooded with ads that present discredited assertions as if they were part of normal historical debate. If the Holocaust is not a fact, then nothing is a fact…” - David Oshinsky and Michael Curtis of Rutgers University

20. Holocaust: Fact or Fiction? Decide For Yourself