Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory (Paperback)

The book is extremely well written with both compassion and authority. It illustrates that despite the irrefutable evidence and clinical accuracy in which the Holocaust was meticulously documented and in which the genocide of the European Jews was pursued, there are still sources who would dispute that the Holocaust ever occurred or that it has been greatly exaggerated. An attitude which appears to increase in parallel with the present day's rising anti-Semitism.

It is made very clear in this book that very few historical events are as well documented as the Holocaust, yet few if any of these other events are questioned. Indeed, despite other genocides and slaughters having occurred throughout history, (with none having been as well documented as that of the Jews), none receive the denial and hostility afforded the Jewish Holocaust.

On page 22 the book cites a seeming "contradiction" where it outlines many instances where even the Nazi perpetrators of the Holocaust actually admitted the crimes that they committed, whilst a growing group who were not even present at the time claim that the perpetrators were innocent.

The book citing neo-Nazis who once argued that the Holocaust, however horrible, was justified now content that the entire event was a hoax. The latter being more expedient to furthering their cause, where the book alleges attempts are made to "rehabilitate the persecutors and demonise the victims".

The book addresses the issue of how Holocaust deniers are often afforded near celebrity status and their views given unbelievable credibility with a ready platform frequently being provided for the proponents by many elements of the media under the banner of free speech.

Many Holocaust deniers are described as often using the guise of scholarship to camouflage their anti-Semitic ideology. With the increase of anti-Semitism the book contends that the average uninformed person will find it increasingly difficult to discern the true objectives of the Holocaust deniers, who use arguments carefully designed to take advantage of the vulnerability & fragility of memory, truthfulness and reason. Indeed a number of public surveys are quoted in the book which reveal an alarming ignorance amongst the public in relation to the Holocaust, despite the wealth of material and information available.

The contents of the work show that for the first 40 years after the Holocaust, there was a sort of protective "Teflon" against blatant anti-Semitic expression. Now, due to the process of Holocaust denial, that protective covering has become eroded and society has moved from where anti-Semitism was a crime, past where anti-Semitism was classed as distasteful, to it now simply being another opinion. Something which the book declares will increase as the number of Holocaust survivors become less and less as the years progress.

My only criticism of this book is that, amongst the many areas/avenues of Holocaust denial studied, no attention is made to the Holocaust denial amongst the Arab nations in the Middle East. For those interested in the latter subject might I respectfully recommend Arieh Stav's book entitled "Peace: The Arabian Caricature: A Study of Anti-Semitic Imagery". Thanks for your time.

She defines the difference between history, a rational discipline aiming to uncover and understand events, and revisionism (which she insists is denial), an irrational ideology based on and propagated by the creation of falsifications and distortion of facts. She demonstrates unequivocally how this ideology is based on a master-race philosophy and vitriolic hatred of Jews, Communists, etc. as inferior and conspiring against the master-race. Her account of the development of 'revisionism ' in response to WWI and the main characters that revived and extended it after WWII illustrates deniers' projection into 'the Jews' of their own disowned elements resulting in paranoid fear of them.

So powerful is the appeal of their irrational ideology that the deniers believe their own fabrications and live in a 'wonderland of mythology'. Jews, as the embodiment of moral values and truth, present a threat to their 'wonderland' and must be anihilated to 'purify' the master-race. Furthermore, the powerful appeal of mythology is a part of human make-up. Holocaust revisionists and deniers trade on this to sow the seeds of doubt with their perverted propaganda and make converts to their irrational fabrications.

Lipstadt draws attention to details of real evidence to counteract these seeds of doubt. But those already converted to Holocaust denial have entered the wonderland of its mythology and are immune to rational discourse. Lipstadt warns of the dangers of getting involved in dialogue with them as this gives them a platform for their propaganda and unwarrented validity as 'the other point of view'. She recommends vigilance and exposure of their lies and subterfuges.

The book itself provides the solution to the puzzle why David Irving could self-destructively sue Lipstadt and Penguin for libel in it. Irving was deluded into believing he could single-handedly convince the judge, journalists and readers of his ideology and make a 'killing' in converts. He lost the libel case but gained publicity. Hopefully the publicity for Lipstadt's book has been even greater.

R. B.