Holocaust a hoax?

Question

Now, don't jump all over me!!! I will be teaching a unit on the holocaust this year to high school sophomores and would like to share the idea that some people believe it was an elaborate hoax to show the extent to which people will engage in denial to protect a belief system. Does any one know where I can find some short document that explains this??

Of course, I will be presenting the Holocaust as the gruesome history that it is. Near the end of the unit, I just want to relay the idea of revisionism because I think it will come as such a shock to them that people can choose to deny it happened. I don't think making students aware that revisionism happens is wrong, provided it's handled carefully. Maybe that should be a new question?

Answer 1

I think it a good way to encourage critical thinking. It will likely help your students develop a respect for evidence and confirmable facts over stereotypes and unverifiable beliefs.

Start with Wikipedia and follow some of the links.

Answer 2

It would seem since this is fairly recent history really well documented and all the first hand survivors stories there wouldn't be any question but somehow people think it didn't happen. One of my Dad's friends was in the Army and was at one of the camps when they discovered it and had pictures of these people. anyone who thinks it was a hoax should have to go to the Holocaust Museum, and then spnd some time talking to the survivors.

Googliing it gets a bunch of Christian\conspiracy theory Hate group sites that advocate the hoax but there are plenty of legit sites. Here are a couple.


http://www.holocaust-history.org/denial-hoax/

http://www.ihr.org/leaflets/auschwitz.shtml

Answer 3

Well, you may want to schedule a visit to Washington, DC, and visit the Holocaust Museum...or if your budget allows, why not go to Poland and visit Auschwitz? Should be a real eye-opener for these students, don't you think?

Here's a quote from the museum: Thou shalt not be a victim. Thou shalt not be a perpetrator. Above all, thou shalt not be a bystander.

The truly amazing thing is that people can actually think this...that this is a hoax...hmmm, sad really...if only it were a hoax and not a deadly-real fate for millions of Jews and others who were caught up in a time when fear and power collided.

Answer 4

The Holocaust is an irrefutable fact. The evidence, of course, is overwhelming. The countless photographs (most of them taken by Nazi SS and military personnel), testimonies of survivors, and Allied liberators as well as from Nazi documentation media and their war-time propaganda films all prove that this mass Judeocide took place. Yet, there are a number of people that claim it was all nothing more than a hoax. These deniers call themselves "revisionist historians." Their express purpose is to alter documented historical fact. In the process, they turn scholarship into mockery, transforming truth into a make-believe fantasy spawned from unmitigated cynicism. They use the resulting misinformation to spread their anti-Jewish beliefs to the general public. Moreover, their theories, derived from blatant fabrication of data, misquotations, and quotations used out of context, are presented under the deceptive mask of scholarship and are made available to the world by way of the Internet, radio, and television. Although only relatively few fringe groups, propagandists, and pseudo-scholars embrace Holocaust denial, their activity is increasing and the potential for their influence to grow is evident. Therefore, it is incumbent upon all Holocaust survivors, historians, and those sincere chroniclers of the Holocaust to inform the world of the truth before the peoples around the world potentially fall prey, over time, to collective amnesia and adopt a romantic mythical view of the past events.
Denying the fact that the Holocaust occurred makes about as much sense as claiming that the earth is flat. It was the meticulous Nazis themselves who produced a large portion of the documents now available to anyone who desires to peruse them. They all point to the deniers' hypocrisy and make it plain that their claim to a "Holocaust hoax" is an unmitigated farce. Furthermore, contrary to the deniers' assertions, Hitler was fully aware of and did, in fact, order the annihilation of the European Jews. The facts of the Holocaust are so well documented in serious scholarly accounts that denial of Hitler's responsibility for the murder of the Jews is too preposterous to require refutation and argument.

Source(s):
1. http://www.yadvashem.org
2. http://www.ushmm.org

Answer 5

Ironically, General Eisenhower feared this very thing, that nobody would believe it in view of the scope of the atrocities committed. The Wikipeidia suggestion is a good one. Google "holocaust" for additional info.

I think your point is a good one, just don't lose sight of it as you try to explain it. The Holocaust was frighteningly real and unforgettable.

Answer 6

There are many sites try typing in search 'denials of the holocaust'. Below is one of the sites that popped up.

http://www.ideajournal.com/articles.php?id=27

After having said that, I personally think it is wrong to play the devils advocate in such a serious topic as the holocaust.

Answer 7

they have self assurance interior the Jewish conspiracy (that Jews international are working mutually to take ability and administration the international; some human beings as a result additionally carry them in charge for national and international crises such through fact the 1st international conflict) and so that they argue that the Holocaust is a lie instructed by Jews and Jewish sympathisers to regain credibility after the Nazis "uncovered them". that's clearly an exceedingly unfounded argument to declare the least! attempt sorting out "Denying the Holocaust" by Deborah Lipstadt, that's an exceedingly solid e book on why human beings have self assurance interior the 'Holohoax' and the adverse outcomes of people believing issues like that. based on aminu2763 (decrease than) who believes that none individuals have truly appeared into the opportunity of it being a Hoax: I truly have. I wrote my dissertation for my very final twelve months on the Holocaust and appeared into a great deal of examine. as nicely through fact the e book i discussed above, I additionally must advise "Auschwitz: the Nazis and the perfect answer" by Laurence Rees, and particularly the television documentary per that e book which exhibits a great deal of eye-witness debts and interviews with victims and perpetrators interior the Holocaust. of direction we can't merely deny the opportunity of it being a Hoax with out finding on the info, yet there is lots of info and you will desire to no longer anticipate criticism of Holohoax believers is blind popularity of the norm. that's popularity of info.

Answer 8

Any white supremist or anti-Semitic site would be a start. Those types love to say all the time that the Holocaust didn't happen or that it was blown way out of proportion by "them evil Jews".

Answer 9

No, but find a holocaust survivor with the number tattooed on their arm. Let them come to your class and talk about their experiences first hand in the death camps. I have great aunts that lived through it, and were at Auschwitz. They sometimes go to local schools and speak to students. NEVER FORGET.

To find survivors, call any local synagogue.

Answer 10

A good resource for Holocause information is the Israeli Holocaust Museum, Yad Vashem. They have people who will be willing and able to help you.

http://www.yadvashem.org/