In 1633, Galilei was
put before the Inquisition court, where he was forced to renounce everything
concerning the so-called "false doctrine", namely that the earth was
round. In 1983, 350 years later, Prof. Faurisson was put before court because
of preaching a so called "false doctrine", namely not believing in
the Holocaust gas chambers, the "Holocaust Doctrine".1
Professor Rober Faurisson
Few days ago
as I was watching one of Noam Chomsky’s videos on free speech (a separate topic
in itself), I came to know about Prof. Robert Faurisson. In the video NC was
being criticized for supporting RF back in the 90s. RF was questioning the
reality of so called ‘Holocaust’ which was turning out to be sour on him. I remembered once watching Ahmadinejad, Iranian president from
2005 to 2013, denying Holocaust as well. So my deep seated curiosity on this
topic was raised and I decided to dig more on this topic. Surprisingly, this
topic has turned out to be very interesting and the research seems never
ending. Alice in the Wonderland wouldn’t be a wrong term to use.
Throughout
the history people have been reluctant to accept two things, truth and change.
The level of reluctance varies though. This topic is no exception. The skepticism on Holocaust started in 1970s and has been gaining support since then. The main reason, among other reasons, for the skepticism is lack of scientific evidence. Holocaust
denial or revisionism has been highly criticized and steps to stop it have been
taken in forms of books, articles, speeches, ted Talks and even a feature film
named Denial(2016). But still it is gaining fame owing to its support by
various historians like David Irving and other important personalities. A list of revisionists can be found here. If searched on Google, you will get most hits on topics against it and a very minute number of hits in support of it. So far, revisionism is following the pattern of history.
Time will reveal more.
There are basically
two philosophies (I like using that word) regarding Holocaust, Exterminatism
and Revisionism. The following table pretty much summarizes the point of views
held by both sides.These points, in detail, have been explained by Prof. RF himself in a video which can be watched by following this YT link.
Revisionism
|
Exterminatism
|
Concentration
Camps
|
Extermination
Camps
|
Disinfection
Gas Chamber
|
Homicidal
Gas Chamber
|
Ordinary
Gas Vans
|
Homicidal
Gas Vans
|
Zyklon
B to protect
|
Zyklon
B to Kill
|
Territorial
Final Solution
|
Homicidal
Final Solution
|
Crematories
for Dead Bodies
|
Crematories
for Living People
|
Now I will relate an event in the favor of each side.
Victory of Revisionists
In 1979, RF was accused by nine organizations, mostly
Jewish, for “personal injury through falsification of history” and other
charges. In the end
accusers could not extract a satisfied verdict from the courts. On 8 July 1981,
the lower court in Paris rendered its verdict. It convicted Prof.RF of 'personal
damages'. RF appealed on this judgment. On April 26, 1983 the final verdict was
given in which Paris Court of Appeal, while upholding the previous judgment,
paid a solid tribute to the work of RF. It
ruled, in effect, that there could be detected in my writings on the gas
chambers no trace of rashness, no trace of negligence, no trace of
having deliberately overlooked anything, nor any trace of a lie and that, as a
consequence, “the appraisal of the value of the findings [on the gas
chambers] defended by Mr Faurisson is a matter, therefore, solely for
experts, historians and the public.” This was nothing less than a victory
for revisionists. A detailed account can be found on this link.
Victory of
Exterminalists
In 1996, David Irving, a revisionist, filed a lawsuit against Penguins UK
and Deborah Lipstadt, an American Historian, of libeling him in her book. The judgment
was presented on 11 April 2000. The court ruled out Irving’s claim of libel 'not
valid' and Deborah’s claim that he had deliberately distorted evidence to be
substantially true. An application of appeal by Irving was denied in 2001.
David Irving became bankrupt in 2002. A feature film has been made on this
event by the name of Denial in 2016. Its reviews on IMDB are worth reading. A ted talk
was given by DL on her experiences regarding Holocaust denial. An interview of DI was taken by BBC Hardtalk
back in 2000 in which he points towards some very interesting things like the
amount of money which was poured in to bring him down.
This was just an introduction to the topic. For more, please
refer to FURTHER RESEARCH.
______________________________
FURTHER RESEARCH
and References
David Irving’s Hardtalk interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF4GFGMNm3g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF4GFGMNm3g
Deborah’s ted talk
Denial (2016) reviews
1.Taken from the description of RF’s lecture on Holocaust
denial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjuH-8w1Y5w
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