What Is Holocaust Denial? – Dangerous And Wrong
During the years that the Nazi party was in power, they systematically murdered between five and six million people, most of them Jewish. While there are countless photos, testimonies, and records that prove the severity of the atrocities the Nazis are responsible for during the Holocaust, there is a growing number of people who claim that the Holocaust never occurred or that it is far overblown. Holocaust denial is nothing more than the act of denying that the mass genocide of Jews and other undesirables actually occurred during WWII.
There are various claims that Holocaust deniers make to argue that the Holocaust is a fallacy. The three main arguments they try to claim are:
· That the Nazis did not use extermination camps to mass murder Jews
· That the number of Jews killed was far lower than historians claim
· That the Nazis had no policy or intention regarding Jewish extermination.
While these are obviously three very inaccurate assertions and while the American Historical Association agrees that Holocaust denial is "at best, a form of academic fraud" and that "No serious historian questions that the Holocaust took place", the number of people who believe that the Holocaust never happened is alarmingly on the rise.
This is largely due to the increasing size of neo-Nazis and of the growing proliferation of works by people like David Irving, largely considered the most vehement Holocaust denier.
In many cases, legitimate historians outright ignore denier's claims largely due to the fact that they feel it would be a waste of time and a never-ending process. This is because most deniers hold tight to a basic ideology and that they shape their evidence to support it instead of actually using facts and history to form their opinions, which is what true historians and scientists do.
Most deniers insist that the Holocaust is a Jewish conspiracy created to advance the Jews place in the world. This is why it's usually categorized as an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory and why it is so dangerous. The more people who believe that the Holocaust never occurred, the greater the risk that some may eventually attempt to repeat it. It largely serves to breed anti-Semitism and is frequently used by groups like the neo-Nazis. Most of its prominent spokespeople are anti-Semites themselves, and some openly admit to it.
The Holocaust did happen, and the rise of Holocaust denial is as alarming as it is appalling to historians, survivors, and the general public.