Challenging Holocaust denial is growing ever more important

(OPINION) As 2020 marks the 75th anniversaries of the liberation of Auschwitz, the biggest German Nazi concentration camp in occupied Poland, and the 75th anniversary of the end of Holocaust, it is crucial to explore some of the issues that continue to poison the narrative. One of them is Holocaust denial and distortion. 

The dismissal of irrefutable and established facts that the Holocaust happened belittles the suffering of the victims and survivors of the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis. Holocaust denial and distortion are forms of hate speech that dehumanize the victims and survivors and aim to question and justify the acts. 

During the British defamation trial Irving v. Lipstadt, Professor Evans suggested that views expressed by Holocaust deniers include: 

“I. That Jews were not killed in gas chambers or at least not on any significant scale;

II. That the Nazis had no policy and made no systematic attempt to exterminate European Jewry and that such deaths as did occur were the consequence of individual excesses unauthorized at senior level;

III. That the number of Jews murdered did not run into millions and that the true death toll was far lower;

IV. That the Holocaust is largely or entirely a myth invented during the war by Allied propagandists and sustained after the war by Jews in order to obtain financial support for the newly-created state of Israel.”

Indeed, the case of Irving v. Lipstadt went to the core issues of Holocaust denial. The case concerns Deborah E. Lipstadt, a professor focusing on the subject who in 1993 published her book “Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory” to scrutinize the underlying issues, and among others, discussed some of the statements made by David Irving, an author. 

In response, in 1996 Irving filed a lawsuit in British courts against Lipstadt and Penguin Books Ltd. (the publisher of the book), for defamation (libel) claiming that the book had defamed him and tarnished his reputation as a historian. Under the applicable law, the defense against defamation is truth. The case proceeded to trial and was heard over a period of 32 days.

The judgment concluded that, “The charges which [Judge Charles Gray has] found to be substantially true include the charges that Irving has for his own ideological reasons persistently and deliberately misrepresented and manipulated historical evidence; that for the same reasons he has portrayed Hitler in an unwarrantedly favorable light, principally in relation to his attitude towards and responsibility for the treatment of the Jews; that he is an active Holocaust denier; that he is anti-semitic and racist and that he associates with right wing extremists who promote neo-Nazism.” 

The case was the basis for the feature film “Denial” starring Rachel Weisz. 

Failing to challenge Holocaust denial risks the danger of repeating false claims and so blurs the line between truth, opinions and lies. We need to ensure that we and the generations to come are equipped to know the difference between them as we cannot allow the three to be conflated.

Again, Lipstadt warns that, “Truth and facts are under assault… social media allowed the difference between the established facts and lies to be flattened.” Such lies need to be challenged, otherwise they will be accepted as truths by someone somewhere, and so create an “alternative history.” 

In Lipstadt’s words, “For Holocaust deniers to be right, who would have to be wrong? The victims, the survivors, the bystanders (…) and above all the perpetrators (…) who may say, ‘I did not have a choice, I was forced.’ But nonetheless, they say, ‘I did it.’” Giving in to Holocaust deniers means ignoring the evidence and testimonies of them all. 

We need to be critical about the world around us, challenge opinions and views. However, we must also be careful to identify established facts and ensure that whatever opinions or views we have are not distorting to deny these facts, and consequently, the suffering of millions of people who once where targeted for annihilation.

Ewelina U. Ochab is a legal researcher and human rights advocate, PhD candidate and author of the book “Never Again: Legal Responses to a Broken Promise in the Middle East” and more than 30 UN reports. She works on the topic of persecution of minorities around the world. This piece was originally published at Forbes.