How can people say that the Holocaust never happened? -- LiveWire Teen Forums

A word beforehand: I don't really question the holocaust all that much. I have some skepticism, but I really don't outright deny it. I'm simply going to give you the perspective of what I've seen from most holocaust deniers who do not base their belief on anti-semiticism (and eys, one can deny the holocaust and not be anti-semitic).

Holocaust denial usually comes in three specific points:

1) That the number of deaths is not as high as 6 million.
2) There was never any official intent by the Nazi Party to eradicate all Jews.
3) Gas chambers were never used to kill people during the holocaust.

The first point generally looks at the demographic data of Jews pre and post WWII in Europe and Europe only, and it's only done on a national scale. In other words, Poland would only count the number of Polish Jews pre and post WWII and not consider whether or not those Jews may have migrated elsewhere, perhaps outside Europe to the United States or Israel. I've looked all over the internet for a reliable statistic on the world Jewish population pre and post WWII, but I am unable to find anything other than immediately before it. Anything after it comes many decades after WWII, where the Jewish population would obviously have shrunk given their fertility levels.

During the second point, I have also yet to see any protocol or document released by the Nazis advocating the eradication of all Jews. It's often mixed up with the forced internment and relocation of Jews, but if you know anything about the intent of the Nazis, expelling the Jews was their idea of attaining the racial purity of the German race, not the slaughter of Jews. I have read transcripts of the Wannsee conference, the most cited source for proof of the Nazi's intent to kill the Jews, but reading it, it doesn't explicitly state it. You could misconstrue a statement out of it into advocating that, but to do that, you'd have to ignore what they were referring to (that is, expelling Jews to the east [Russia] and using them as slave labor).

The third point deals with the simple fact that there is no room solely for gas chambers, but that they're combined with showers. It might make sense at first glance, though you'd have to wonder why, and why they'd do all sorts of things (like cut the incoming Jews' hair, etc.) before coming into the internment camps before killing them. Seems like a waste of labor to me. Moreover, there were never any "useless" Jews as many holocaust stories seem to lead you to believe. The old were excellent for sewing clothes for the Wermacht soldiers, and the young had small enough hands to work with very small bolts and place little things together. The fact that the German and Polish governments do not allow you to do tests on the soil of concentration camps today to see if there's any human remains (through cremation or what have you) also leads to quite a bit of skepticism. If you question the second point, the third point would obviously come into question.

Generally holocaust deniers are simply passed off anti-semitics and crazies. They are ridiculed, and many countries now prohibit holocaust denial. And they all do this without answering their questions and suspicions. This, in turn, makes their beliefs more firm and makes them believe that the holocaust is a conspiracy. If you truly want to end holocaust denial, you'd have to be able to address all these points in a very straightforward manner. And no, testimonials do not count for they fall under the same criticism that testimonials in a court of law do (that is, various psychological effects such as retroactive interference, etc.).

Hope that clears up why some people may go as far as to deny the holocaust.

Post edited at 7:13 pm on Nov. 7, 2008 by Bud2400

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