OT: Why do some groups/ people deny the Holocaust?

[ha98ed14]

I just read this article on CNN about a group (NGO, 501c3, I'm not sure) but it is a group devoted to denying or debating the Holocaust. Somehow they managed to get an ad saying as much in the Harvard Student Newspaper, The Crimson. Everyone at Harvard admits running the ad was a mistake. They say it got missed because of the 3 weeks of summer vacation. Article link: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/09/09/mas...ust/index.html

My question is, why do some people deny the Holocaust? What do they gain from denying it? And why do they devote time and resources to denying it? I just don't get it. *I* know it is real because my dad's family is Jewish, from an area that has been part of Russia, Ukraine and Poland in different points in history. My grandfather's parents came here before WWII, but all his cousins and aunts and uncles died. We know that because we have the letters from Europe from before the war saying how things were. After a certain point there were no more letters.

Since the vast majority of SS soldiers or people suspected of war crimes are dead, who are these people who keep denying it? What is their motivation? I just don't get it.

[kijip]

Originally Posted by ha98ed14

I just read this article on CNN about a group (NGO, 501c3, I'm not sure) but it is a group devoted to denying or debating the Holocaust. Somehow they managed to get an ad saying as much in the Harvard Student Newspaper, The Crimson. Everyone at Harvard admits running the ad was a mistake. They say it got missed because of the 3 weeks of summer vacation. Article link: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/09/09/mas...ust/index.html

My question is, why do some people deny the Holocaust? What do they gain from denying it? And why do they devote time and resources to denying it? I just don't get it. *I* know it is real because my dad's family is Jewish, from an area that has been part of Russia, Ukraine and Poland in different points in history. My grandfather's parents came here before WWII, but all his cousins and aunts and uncles died. We know that because we have the letters from Europe from before the war saying how things were. After a certain point there were no more letters.

Since the vast majority of SS soldiers or people suspected of war crimes are dead, who are these people who keep denying it? What is their motivation? I just don't get it.

This is not a reason I am willing to use often because I generally believe people to be very intelligent and well-intentioned, but it applies here:

Because some people are racist, cruel, heartless and stupid.

Repeat, some people are stupid.

To deny that Hitler aimed to eliminate Jews and others systematically is to deny first person accounts, news records and soooooo much other documentation. It takes a lot of hate, a lot of willful ignorance to deny that or attempt to explain it away as famine; necessary or elected diaspora; or as overdone hype.

I don't think a lot of people outside the Jewish community in this era realize the depths to which anti-semitism reached and continues for some to reach. For example, many in the US would be surprised to realize there were once limits in the US as to how many Jewish people a college would accept, if they would accept them at all. This includes publicly funded colleges. I know people that still grumble about when their country club started letting Jews join. Crazy, isn't it?

[c&j04]

I didn't really comprehend how much some of these feelings still existed until three or four years ago when my dad was in his "approval" stage to be on the transplant list. One of the questions was is there ANY person he wouldn't consider taking an organ from. The person interviewing him specifically asked if a Jewish donor was a problem. After he answered, she said almost everyone IMMEDIATELY said absolutely any organ besides one from a Jew! At a Jewish hospital!!!!!! I cannot understand this thinking at all.

[blisstwins]

Sadly, I have to agree with kijip. There are many profound antisemites (and racists) who believe Jews control banking and media and therefore dreamt up the holocaust as a means of manipulation.

[LexyLou]

Originally Posted by kijip

This is not a reason I am willing to use often because I generally believe people to be very intelligent and well-intentioned, but it applies here:

Because some people are racist, cruel, heartless and stupid.

Repeat, some people are stupid.

To deny that Hitler aimed to eliminate Jews and others systematically is to deny first person accounts, news records and soooooo much other documentation. It takes a lot of hate, a lot of willful ignorance to deny that or attempt to explain it away as famine; necessary or elected diaspora; or as overdone hype.

I don't think a lot of people outside the Jewish community in this era realize the depths to which anti-semitism reached and continues for some to reach. For example, many in the US would be surprised to realize there were once limits in the US as to how many Jewish people a college would accept, if they would accept them at all. This includes publicly funded colleges. I know people that still grumble about when their country club started letting Jews join. Crazy, isn't it?

Exactly, this. It's insane!

[Nooknookmom]

My 14 yo came home from school last yr w/ the same question! She was fuming. It infuriates me as well-how do these idiots dissmiss history...

[ChunkyNicksChunkyMom]

Because you can't fix stupid. Seriously.

[egoldber]

Because some people are racist, cruel, heartless and stupid.

Repeat, some people are stupid.

And for some, add in healthy doses of paranoia and group think.

[MamaMolly]

Originally Posted by kijip

Because some people are racist, cruel, heartless and stupid.

I have an uncle who I always KNEW was a racist, but only recently learned that he denies the Holocaust. I am flabbergasted to explain it, other than the reasons above. I think he'd be shocked to hear himself describes as such, he considers himself a 'good Christian'. How he reconciles the evil in his heart with the beliefs he spouts I will never, never know.

[BabyMine]

What burned me is when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denied the Holocaust in public. To me that just shows what a stupid a$$ he is. I cannot fathom why people pick a certain ________ (fill in religion, race, sexuality..ect) to hate. It makes absolutely no sense.