Thursday, March 30, 2006

Katrina vanden Heuvel in Washington Post:"Stop Using Hitler analogies"

A group of scholars of the Holocaust -- myself included -- have sent a letter to the Washington Post supporting an op-ed by Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of the liberal political newsweekly The Nation, who offered what she called “A modest proposal for improving national political discussion”: a “cease-fire” on Nazi analogies.

Friday, March 24, 2006

David Irving as a metaphor for ignorance

The opening line of a review of in the Music Express, a London based publication reads as follows:
"Aside from the deaf or those in a level of denial up there with David Irving's idiot pronouncements on the Holocaust, everyone's aware that we live in great times for music."

http://www.nme.com/reviews/be-your-own-pet/7895

This clearly demonstrates that Irving is being subjected to the worst fate of all for someone who so desperately wants to be taken seriouly: ridicule.

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Humor is a wonderful weapon

As I have said before on this blog, humor is a wonderful way of exposing the idiocy of your opponents arguments. Charlie Chaplain and Mel Brooks knew that in their powerful riffs on Hitler.

And now a Swiss cartoonist whose work was reprinted in the International Hearld Tribune has done the same to the Iranian president.

I am unable right now to post a link to it but it essentially showed the Iranian president Ahminajead at a meeting of the IAEA [Int. Atomic Energy Commission] and saying: I would like to announce the Hisoshima cartoon contest. The other people present have their heads in their hands.

It is a commentary on how he and -- to some degree his country -- have become the laughing stock of the world.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Holocaust denier Rbert Faurisson outreach to the Iranians on a White supremacist website

For a long rambling but revealing letter by Robert Faurisson see the website of Storm Front.org, a White power and rather revolting website. Fauri

Faurisson is full of priase for the Iranian effort to deny the Holocaust.

For those of you not in the "know" on these matters [and be happy you are not], Faurisson is the same man who declared that the Diary of Anne Frank must be a hoax because it's written in green ball point pen. It's not.

His many other claims are equally trustworthy.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

A no-holds barred attack on me....

Some people have asked about some of the attack mail I receive. I thought, therefore, that I would post the following. It really calls for no comment, except that it says a lot about the mental state of the author.

The author threatens to publicize her email to millions of people, unless I apologize to Arthur Butz of Northwestern among others. I thought I would help her out by posting it here.

Actually, two things deserve comment. Even I, who am rarely surprised by these things, find myself a bit gob smacked at the correspondent's use of the murder of Ilan Halimi as proof of the world's awakening against the Jews.

In fact, I would have assumed that even virulent antisemites would try to distance themselves from this terribly gruesome act. It reveals a side of the antisemites that does their efforts no good.

And secondly, please note, that for someone who declares herself to not be an antisemite, she hardly misses any of the antisemitic canards.

Clearly not one of the sharper knives in the drawer.....

Dear Ms. Lipstadt,

I am appauled at your disgusting and one-sided attack of Dr. Arthur Butz at Northwestern University on FOX News. Have you no shame!! Although I am not anti-semitic, your Jewish greed is overbearing and crippling. The world is beginning to see the collective Jewish attempt to control the world economy and world media.

In fact, the recent arrest of Dr. Irving in Austria shows that European Jews are scared.

Another example: the recent killing of the French Jew raises interesting questions. There is no doubt that the world is beginning to feel the oppression of Jewish greed.

Why have attacks on Jews been increasing in Europe and Russia? Why is the Jewish media pressuring the arrest of people speaking out against the extent of the Holocaust? Why have the Jews written all major history books for! our young children to become indoctrinated with? Why have thousands of Palestians been slaughtered yet Jews will not accept the Palestian holocaust? Two-faced?

Why have the Jews created laws making freedom of speech a crime? Is it merely chance? Fortunately, you know the answer. Please call up Dr. Butz and extend your deepest apology!!

Please call Mr. O'Reilly and extend your apology!! Please write a letter to all students, faculty and Americans extending your apology!! Remember what you say... those who forget history are bound to repeat it.

Have you no intellect? The world Jews are doing exactly what the Romans did 2,000 years ago: they got arrogant, stupid and overextended their luck. By the end of the Roman empire, they had more enemies than allies. STOP your exaggeration of the Holocaust to simply get more $$$.

The world is catching on sister!! I ! have a feeling that you will probably not extend you apologies to the above mentioned individuals. Thus, let me do it for you. As you know, the internet is a beautiful thing. I will extend this e-mail to your president and faculty, to individuals of interest, to hundreds on my e-mail address list and have them send it to thousands more. Hopefully, within 5 days tens of thousands will read this e-mail. Good day...
[In a fashion that is typical of the people who send these kinds of attacks, the whole email was one long paragraph. I broke it down into shorter ones. I figured the stuff is hard enough to read as is... why make it any harder for the readers of this blog. Other than that, it is precisely as I received it.]

Lipstadt in Wall Street Journal

http://online.wsj.com/search/aggregate.html#

David Irving's 'Bit of Fun' -- Who's Laughing?
Wall St. Journal

March 4, 2006; Page A9

I agree with much of your Feb. 24 editorial "Defending the Indefensible1" (Taste page, Weekend Journal) regarding David Irving. Censorship laws are not efficacious, especially when, as is clearly the case with Holocaust denial, the fight can be won with history, evidence, and the truth. During Mr. Irving's libel suit against me, his Holocaust denial claims collapsed when we tracked his sources and found all of them predicated on lies and fabrications.

I must disagree, however, with your statement that, as a result of jailing him, "Austria has forced serious people to come to the principled defense of a detestable man." I disagree. David Irving knew there was a warrant for his arrest. Yet he went to Austria anyway, announcing his visit on the Internet. According to his wife, Mr. Irving thought it would "be a bit of fun, to provoke a little bit." He assumed that, if the Austrians arrested him they would release him with a slap on the wrist. He had even booked a first-class ticket home for Monday night, the day of the trial. Spectators report that he looked "stunned" when his little prank resulted in a three-year sentence. Given that this was a lark designed to provoke the Austrian authorities, and that he could have voiced his protest without entering that country, I am not sure why serious people should feel compelled to make a principled defense of him.

I have repeatedly criticized the notion of Holocaust denial laws, but I have no intention of defending someone who is not only an anti-Semite and a racist, but who goes out of his way to get himself in trouble.

Deborah E. Lipstadt, Ph.D.
Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies
Emory University
Atlanta

Saturday, March 11, 2006

March 21: At the Gregoiran Pontifical Institute in Rome

If you happen to find yourself in Rome on 21 March you are invited to attend my lecture at the Gregorian Pontifical Institute:
http://www.unigre.it/pug/eventi/2006/20060321.pdf

La presente per invitarVi alla conferenza dal titolo "The Holocaust: From Memoirs to Material Evidence - How Can We Know and Understand What Happened" della Prof.ssa Deborah Lipstadt della Emory University di Atlanta (USA). La conferenza, in lingua inglese, si terrà martedì, 21 marzo, 2006 alle ore 16.00 nell'Aula delle Tesi (C012) della Pontificia Università Gregoriana.

In allegato la locandina dell'invito.

Con la speranza che possiate partecipare e con preghiera di massima diffusione, Vi inviamo i nostri più cordiali saluti,


Prof. Joseph Sievers, Direttore
Sr. Lucy Thorson, nds, program planning
Ms. Flavia Galiani, Segretaria

Centro "Cardinal Bea" per gli Studi Giudaici
Pontificia Università Gregoriana
Piazza della Pilotta, 4
00187 Roma - Italia
Tel. +39/06-6701-5522
[ mailto:judaicstudies@unigre.it ]judaicstudies@unigre.it
[ http://www.unigre.it ]www.unigre.it

Friday, March 10, 2006

Attacks on Lipstadt for references to Armenian genocide: Part 2

I am not looking for any kudos for the little I have done.

At the risk of being accused of "protesting too much," I don't want folks to think I am looking for praise. I am not.

I just wonder why that attacks?

Now I shall go back to enjoying the beauty of Florence, where I am lectuing on Monday p.m.

Attacks on Lipstadt for references to Armenian genocide

There have been a number of people -- including those whose comments I have posted on this blog -- who have attacked me for being concerned "only" with the Armenian genocide.

When other folks have taken them on, e.g. the Artyom Reader, and said that I was being unfairly attacked, my critics have responded by saying things such as "it’s sad that some people feel the need to go and bow in front of people like Lipstadt just because she mentioned the ‘Armenian genocide’.

Though these negative comments have not come from a lot of people, they have been pretty voiciferous in their critiques of me. [Some were so obnoxious that I stupidly deleted them, which I now regret doing.]

I find this all very strange. A simple Google search of lipstadt + Armenian will bring up a number -- though certainly not all - my references to and comments, many of the quite public, about the Turkish denial of the genocide of the Armenians.

Some of my statements have even been posted on Armenian websites, placed in the Congressional Record, and reported on at top American universities, e.g. Princeton.

Given this easily accessible record, I can only assume that there is another motive behind these attacks. But what is it?

I have to wonder. It seems there is another agenda here but I can't figure out what it is.

Wednesday, March 8, 2006

Arson at the Holocaust HIstory Project

Someone -- and the authorities are sure it was deliberate --- tried to burn down the offices of the thhp causing over a million dollars of damage. This is not the first time that thhp has been targetted. The project does great work and this attempt is quite disturbing. The following press release on the fire has just been released:

Trial By Fire: Holocaust History Project Won't Be Silenced


In the early hours of March 6, 2006, a fire broke out at a warehouse complex near San Antonio International Airport, causing extensive damage to the offices of The Holocaust History Project (THHP), an organization that has been, for the last ten years, in the forefront of confronting Holocaust denial online, in addition to providing educational materials to students throughout the world. Arson investigators now have confirmed that the fire was intentionally set and are continuing their investigation.


It was just the latest in a series of attacks with the apparent intent to silence THHP. For the past 18 months, the THHP website has been under an unprecedented Distributed Denial of Service attack. This cyber attack began on September 11, 2004, and is being carried out by a specially modified version of the MyDoom computer worm, programmed to target the THHP web server. (see the THHP statement: [ http://holocaust-history.org/denial/denial-of-service.shtml ]http://holocaust-history.org/denial/denial-of-service.shtml)


Harry Mazal, the Director of THHP said, "We have been able to defend our work against these cyber attackers. They tried, but couldn't shut us down. We have strong indications that this arson is the next step in a series of attacks against our educational and scholarly work. Although the fire caused significant damage to our offices, there is no way we will be silenced. Our web site has not been affected, and our work will continue."


While an arson attack such as this cannot be specifically anticipated, THHP has long ago taken steps to minimize the impact of any attacks, physical or virtual. Several mirror sites ensure that even as serious an attack as occurred Monday morning will be unsuccessful in forcing THHP to go offline.


Background:


THHP ([ http://holocaust-history.org/ ]http://holocaust-history.org) is one of the largest repositories of information relating to the Holocaust on the Web. For the last ten years, an international staff of volunteers has worked tirelessly to make information on the Holocaust, and on those who would deny it, easily accessible to students, scholars, and anyone who has an interest in the truth.


Among the material on the site are essays about various events and people, scientific and legal analyses, original Nazi documents, expert witness testimony, transcripts of many of the Nuremberg trials, and the complete texts of two seminal works, Jean-Claude Pressac's "Auschwitz" and Robert Jay Lifton's "The Nazi Doctors." In addition, THHP volunteers personally answer emails from thousands of students each year who are looking for information to further their studies.


The site registers more than 50 million hits a year. "Traffic to our site increases every year," said Mr. Mazal, "we intend to keep adding new content to the site. Right now we are preparing the Belsen trial transcripts, and the transcript of Adolf Eichmann's trial in Israel."


The Holocaust History Project Internet site may be reached at
[ http://www.holocaust-history.org/ ]http://www.holocaust-history.org.


Media questions should be addressed to Sara Salzman, 303-617-9412, [ mailto:media@holocaust-history.org ]media@holocaust-history.org







###

Monday, March 6, 2006

Neteurei Karta rabbis visit Iran

According to the Mehr [Iranian] news service, two Neturei Karta rabbis visited Iran "to set the record straight" about the difference between Judaism and Zionism.

Maybe while they are there they can also set the record straight about the Holocaust. Methinks, they lost some folks in that tragedy.

Dissenting from Iran's Holocaust denial: The voice of the moderate Muslim

I mused in my previous post whether the Holocaust denial in certain Muslim quarters and the violent reaction by Muslims in many parts of the world to the Danish cartoons might not prompt moderate Muslims to feel freeer to speak out in dissent.

Would they not feel even more motivated to differentiate their world view from that of adherents to Islamicism, i.e. reactionay Islam.

Such seemed to be the situation in the case of the "Manifesto," which , as I have noted was signed by a number of self professed moderate Muslims.

Such also seems to be the case, according to Deutsche Welle, among certain Muslims in Germany who are distressed by the Iranian presidents outright Holocaust denial. http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1907670,00.htmls

Sunday, March 5, 2006

Manifesto on Islamism: signed by Rushdie, Bernard Henri-Levi, and other Europeans

A manifesto [that is apparently the term used by the signatories] signed by leading European intellectuals and writers including Bernard Henri Levy and Rushdie has been issued in Paris. It attacks Islamism which it defines as “reactionary ideology which kills equality, freedom and secularism.”

It declares that "After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new global threat: Islamism."

Their concerns were aroused by the violent reaction to the Danish cartoons Many Europeans, as exemplified by these intellectuals, see the violent reaction to the cartoons as exemplifying the threat to Europe from adherents to Islamism who, the intellectuals believe, lack fidelity to democratic values.

Not all Muslims share these views, but the signatories worry about those who do. It should be noted that the signatories included a number of self-professed Muslim moderates who worry that their religion is being hijacked by extremists.

While this has not gotten great press, it may well be the beginning of a trend among moderate Muslims who are less afraid to speak out. Maybe the completely out of proportion reaction to the cartoons and the fact that there is has been a far greater outcry about the violence of the reactions than about the cartoons themselves, have given the moderates a feeling that this is a moment that must be seized.

Portland State Univesity Vanguard on Irving sentence

Riggs Fulmer, writing in the Portland State Vanguard, issues another ringing defense of freedom of speech.

He cites my position that opposes Holocaust denial laws correctly. However, he misstates my position when he says that I don't think Holocaust denial is a form of antisemitism. That it is, without doubt.

He also fails to understand the national context. As I said in the previous post, the same words, costumes, and symbols have different meanings in different contexts.

I must say that I continue to be amazed at the column inches this is getting

Saturday, March 4, 2006

Lipstadt in New York Jewish Week: Irving's No Martyr

http://www.thejewishweek.com/top/editletcontent.php3?artid=4874

In this week's New York Jewish Week, I add a postscript to some of my comments about Irving. One of the points I don't stress, though I have made it before, is that of national context. The context in Austria for Holocaust denial is different from that in other places [with the exception of Germany].

Some people have called this a double standard. But I saw a picture of some people walking in Seville today in the newspaper. Except for the fact that their hoods were black, they looked precisely like Ku Klux Klan folks. Except they were not. Yet before I read the caption, I did a double take.

Another example that a number of people have raised is cross burnings. In America when a cross is burned with the intention to intimidate it is against the law. That's because of the context in which it was used for so many years, particulalry -- but not only -- in the south.

Bottom line: don't be for censorship [especially in an arena where there is no need since truth and evidence are available to show the deniers to be the liars that they are] but understand that in certain places Holocaust denial has a very different resonance that it does in other places.

Wednesday, March 1, 2006

Irving Denies Holocaust from his cell: Does he intend to provoke or can't he help himself???

According to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur, the German press service, Irving has been using his meetings with various journalists to recant his recanting [which the court did not accept as genuine] of Holocaust denial, i.e. he is using his time to deny the Holocaust.

The proves that the court, from the perspective of Austrian law, got it "right," i.e. his recantations were not genuine.

What is so striking about this -- even to me who has seen him in action -- is how he can be saying these things when his lawyer is trying to get a reduced sentence and the prosecutor is trying to get a stiffer one.

Austrian prosecutors: We'll have to react to new Irving remarksMar 1, 2006, 14:12 GMT

Vienna - Austrian prosecutors said Wednesday they would have to act over a fresh denial of the Nazi Holocaust by jailed British
historian David Irving.

The new denial came in interviews with several British journalists in his Austrian prison cell, where he is beginning a three-year sentence.

A spokesman of the state prosecution said: 'We're going to have to react to that. We can't overlook it.'

It was possible that Irving had again broken Austrian laws banning Nazi 'revivalism.' In a British BBC interview, Irving cast doubt on the number of victims in Auschwitz.

He described the organized annihilation of the Jews under the eyes of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler as 'absolutely wrong.'In the immediate future, said observers, the 67-year-old historian's latest remarks would not improve his chances of lowering his prison sentence on appeal.

But more than that, they could result in new charges being raised against him under Austrian law.Critics also questioned whether the Austrian justice system had been put in a good light by allowing Irving to 'hold court' to journalists in his prison cell.

On February 20, Irving was jailed for three years in a one-day trial in which he was accused of falsifying history and claiming there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz.The charges carry prison sentences of one to ten years.

[...]


© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur