(Paper written and permission to post by Brooklyn Slater, 2023)
When opening a school textbook, thousands of words pour out and culminate into various stories and events. Sentences connect through the organization of paragraphs, which, in the end, finish as papers, essays, and records. However, not everything read is accurate, and many are eager to argue that certain historical events are entirely fabricated to ease prejudiced minds. One of the most shocking is the claim that the Holocaust was fictitious. The number of individuals who object to the existence of the Holocaust is disturbing; therefore, understanding the Holocaust and its effects on future generations is crucial.
Holocaust deniers’ ideology is supported by the logic that since no written document nor decree from Hitler initiated the Holocaust, it is a fabricated story that served as a justified reason to enter the Second World War and publish the New Deal. Professor John P. Jackson Jr. describes the pre-history: “Holocaust denial grew out of a rejection of the New Deal political order and simultaneous commitment to isolationism in foreign policy” (Jackson 27). Many right-winged men in the United States rejected President Roosevelt and his deal. Jackson elaborates what on one man thought: “Roosevelt sneaking us into war was all of a piece with his creation of unconstitutional agencies to institute his plan for overall regimentation of the U.S. economy and his court-packing scheme to make sure no other branch of government would stop it” (Jackson 27).
Holocaust deniers also theorized that the Holocaust was used to gain reparations from Germany and to allow Israel to become an established state. Willis Carto was one of the many individuals who declared themselves as far-right political figures, anxious to be known as a Jeffersonian or populist; instead, he became known as a raging antisemitic. The Southern Poverty Law Center states that “In 1978, he founded the first major American Holocaust-denial outfit, the Institute for Historical Review” (SPLC 1). Carto used this to instigate and encourage the blaze of hatred towards the Jews: “The revisionist collaborative circle allowed members to manage tensions between the conservative/libertarian individualist ideology and racist antisemitic ideology. Antisemites like Carto tolerated libertarians because their presence provided some political cover for their attack on what they viewed as a massive Jewish conspiracy” (qtd. in Jackson 47). Carto successfully grouped many men to encourage one another’s antisemitic mindsets. His influence and approval are critical factors in the rise of antisemitism in the Western world after the Second World War and throughout the 50s up to the 90s.
Film and the media contribute to confusion and intrigue about the Holocaust. Cinematography is one of the most valuable tools in transforming an individual’s ideas and opinions about some issues. During the Second World War, antisemitic propaganda films, The Eternal Jew, and pro-Nazi propaganda films, Triumph of the Will, were the most discreet ways of spreading falsified information nationwide. Dr. Stefanie Rauch writes about the effect of watching movies taking place during the Holocaust and World War ll in order to discern whether or not the audience takes the message or story literally. Rauch uses her research to explain that:
Despite the paucity of empirical research into individual reception of films about the Holocaust, scholars have often made and perpetuated assumptions regarding the alleged strong impact of Holocaust representations on viewers, which are not adequately substantiated by empirical evidence. This includes both scholars who warn of film and television’s supposed inherent risks and shortcomings and others who have a more positive view of the effects of “Holocaust films” on viewers. (Rauch 4)
Many educated and scholarly individuals agree that Hollywood and independent studios take events and add or remove scenes to portray the vision they have in mind. Rauch notices that the knowledge of how people receive the film afterward is unknown when focusing on the movie’s contents, not the story it is retelling. Everyone who walks out of a movie theatre enjoys or dislikes the story they watched. However, people talk about whether or not the movie stood true to the original afterward and after research. “When it comes to the representation of the Holocaust on film, historiography has largely focused on theoretical, philosophical and ethical considerations, critical and public reception and contemporary media responses” (Rauch 3). It is based mainly on the reception gained from audiences through their letters and opinions. Films such as Conspiracy, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Reader, Defiance, and The Grey Zone all focus on different viewpoints, some from the eyes of genuine historical figures/survivors or as a historical fiction story. However, the plot of historical fiction movies is questionable because the story must have been inspired by an actual event or personal testimony, especially if it is a movie about a man or woman in one of the concentration camps.
The Holocaust has been subjected by many towards a list of questionable events; such as the Flat Earth Theory and Bigfoot. “Holocaust deniers argue that this entire chapter of history is an elaborate hoax by Jewish propagandists who simply wanted reparations from Germany, the creation of a Jewish state, and a distraction from their double-dealing” (ADL 1). Younger children are more likely to be exposed to storing this information in their minds, which could confuse them as they are in a school or public setting. The Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum discusses the ten stages of genocide, including examples from the Bosnian, Rwandan, Albanian, and Guatemalan genocides. Dr. George Stanton separated each stage by its title: classification, symbolization, discrimination, dehumanization, organization, polarization, preparation, persecution, extermination, and denial. Dr. Stanton evaluates:
“The perpetrators of genocide […] deny that they committed any crimes and often blame what happened on the victims. They block investigations of the crimes and continue to govern until driven from power by force, when they flee into exile. Unless they are captured and placed of trial, they will continue to deny” (Stanton 4). He continues that trial and punishment are the best and most effective ways of stopping denial. Asserting the evidence in a broad light and publicly displaying records allows people to see for themselves the truth and evidence. From evaluating past massacres, denial is one of the most apparent indicators of a genocidal massacre.
Holocaust ignorance is the outcome of prejudiced minds who have managed to influence many young adults. A study in 2018 announced that nearly two-thirds of young adults between the ages of eighteen and thirty-nine do not know about the Third Reich nor that a genocide even occurred within the concentration camps during the Second World War. “The Internet is now the chief source of Holocaust denial and the chief means of recruiting for Holocaust denial organizations” (Holocaust Encyclopedia 1). Many have ignored or allowed personal biases/opinions to blind their eyes from the truth.
The First Amendment protects students and young adults in the United States of America to speak about whatever they choose; however, the repercussions allow for misinformation and disagreement to be published, confusing the younger generation. Across the globe, in France, Germany, Australia, Belgium, and Canada, antisemitic acts have increased; but action has followed because many have decided to criminalize antisemitic publishes, including neo-Nazi ideology. Even the United States, the land that offers freedom of speech and religion, has a negative past regarding the treatment of Jews. “The history of Jews in America is a history of the ongoing negotiation between hard-won legal freedoms and the lingering social effects of racial and religious prejudice as it persists and reignites in this country” (ADL 1). Books such as Erik Larsons’ novel, based on the written accounts and diaries of the first American ambassadors in Germany before the invasion of Poland, reveal an American viewpoint of what United States citizens saw and thought of Germany. The Pew Research Center discovered that “…visiting a Holocaust museum and knowing someone who is Jewish are strongly linked with Holocaust knowledge” (Pew Research Center 1). These books and museums, such as the Holocaust Museums in Washington D.C. and Texas keep the memory of survivors, victims, and history relevant. It is vital to comprehend that not understanding history, whether ours or not, will significantly impact what the next generation inherits.
Holocaust denial has been rooted in personal bias’, and though action has been made, the statistics show a shocking increase in recent years. Advocates have used their voices and power to aid the Jewish community but face modern issues of technology, films, and personal opinions. Many individuals struggle to break away from the deep past that holocaust denial has created in their families. Film has been a more public podium of advocacy for Jews by sharing testimonies, culture, and events through storytelling. There is hope for the Jewish community, but it will be a matter that can only be dealt with through respectful confrontation and awareness of the signs of racism or discrimination of ethnic groups.
Works Cited
Anti-Defamation League. “A Guide to Old Myths in a New Era.” Antisemitism Uncovered, antisemitism.adl.org/. Accessed 9 Oct. 2023.
Anti-Defamation League. “Antisemitism in American History.” Antisemitism Uncovered, antisemitism.adl.org/antisemitism-in-american-history/. Accessed 10 Oct. 2023.
Anti-Defamation League. “Our Mission and History.” www.adl.org/about/mission-and-history. Accessed 10 Oct. 2023.
Jackson, John P., Jr. “The Pre-History of American Holocaust Denial.” American Jewish History, vol. 105 no. 1, 2021, p. 25-48. Project MUSE, https://doi.org/10.1353/ajh.2021.0002.
Pew Research Center. “What Americans Know About the Holocaust.” Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project, 22 Jan. 2020, www.pewresearch.org/religion/2020/01/22/what-americans-know-about-the-holocaust/.
Rauch, Stefanie. “Understanding the Holocaust through Film: Audience Reception between Preconceptions and Media Effects.” History and Memory: Studies in Representation of the Past, vol. 30, no. 1, spring-summer 2018, pp. 151+. Gale OneFile: World History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A553126861/PPWH?u=txshracd2552&sid=bookmark-PPWH&xid=a37e19ec. Accessed 22 Sept. 2023
Stanton, George H. “Ten Stages of Genocide.” The Genocide Education Project, www.genocideeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/ten_stages_of_genocide.pdf. Accessed 10 Oct. 2023.
The Foundation to Combat Antisemitism. Stand Up to Jewish Hate, 31 Oct. 2023, www.standuptojewishhate.org/.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Holocaust Deniers and Public Misinformation.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/holocaust-deniers-and-public-misinformation. Accessed 21 Oct. 2023.
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