Customer Reviews

Denying History: Who Says the Holocaust Never Happened and Why Do They Say It? (S. Mark Taper Foundation Imprint in Jewish Studies)

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Denying History succeeds on two levels. First, it is a thorough demolition of the arguments of Holocaust deniers, presenting the overwhelming evidence for the systematic and deliberate murder of about 6,000,000 Jews by the Nazis during World War II. On this level, it is a very painful book at times, but clear and utterly convincing.

Second, and perhaps more importantly, it is an exploration of historical method intended to show how not only Holocaust deniers, but fringe groups of all kinds, distort and pervert history to make their points. The book is a virtual guide to BS detection, displaying the techniques used by pseudo-historians and how the conclusions drawn by these techniques evaporate in the light of a careful, objective evaluation of the evidence.

In a sense, it is too bad that the Holocaust, a very emotional topic (and this book can be quite angry at times), is the test case; less of a hot-button issue might have made for a calmer (and at times less disturbing) book. But the Holocaust deniers need to be denied, and Shermer and Grobman do a masterful job of it, without losing sight of the larger historiographical issues involved. Denying History is intense, readable, valuable, and for anybody who has ever been upset by bizarre historical claims, essential.

You will not find a more straightforward Holocaust book than Denying History: Who Says the Holocaust Never Happened and Why Do They Say It. The authors' basic argument is this: The extermination of six million Jews during the Second World War is a historical fact. Those who deny it are wrong.

It's hardly a provocative thesis. But ask yourself this: Would you be able to refute a Holocaust denier? The fact of the Holocaust is like the spherical Earth: Every reasonable person accepts it, but few can prove it. That is why Skeptic magazine publisher Michael Shermer teamed up with historian Alex Grobman to write Denying History. They believe thinking people have a duty to fight Holocaust denial head on; and they want them to come to the battle armed with historical facts.

When the eyes of the public are upon them -- such as during the 1985 trial of Canadian Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel, or the famous 1994 Donahue episode that pitted two Holocaust deniers against Shermer and an Auschwitz survivor -- deniers often get the best of staged confrontations. The most prominent deniers know a lot about the Holocaust, especially arcane subjects like the chemistry of Zyklon-B gas and the architecture of gas chambers. Many of the sound bites they spit out are quite true. It is a fact, for instance, that the Nazis never manufactured soap from Jewish bodies on a mass scale -- contrary to urban legend. Deniers are also correct when they claim that there is no known Holocaust order bearing Hitler's signature. David Irving, the on-again off-again denier who recently lost a defamation suit in Britain, has never had to make good on his $1,000 challenge to any historian who could produce such a document.

But, as Denying History makes clear, there is still a mountain of evidence proving the nature and scale of the Holocaust. The Nazis' use of gas chambers has been established by, among countless other sources, the 1946 Nuremberg confession of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss, as well as the 250-page autobiographical manuscript he wrote while awaiting execution. The estimate of six million killed is supported by a spate of historical studies, and also by Nazi physician Wilhelm Hoettel, who testified at Nuremberg that: "In the various concentration camps approximately four million Jews had been killed, while about two million were killed in other ways." None of this evidence convinces the true denier, of course. He is, by necessity, a conspiracy theorist. To him, every confession was coerced, every photograph faked. As the authors of Denying History demonstrate in psychological profiles of today's most prominent deniers, they see the "holohoax" as a plot by Jews (or, "the traditional enemies of truth" as they are commonly referred to in denier circles) to discredit the Nazi regime and the German people. "There are certain aspects of the Third Reich that are very admirable [such as its eugenics and euthanasia programs] and I want to call people's attention to these," Zündel told Shermer and Grobman in an interview. What the Holocaust has done, he argues, is to "bar so many thinkers from re-looking at the options that National Socialism German-style offers."

It is tempting to mock these confused men (there is a great essay to be written on why there does not exist a single preeminent female denier). But Denying History betrays no contempt for its subjects. The authors believe everyone has a right to be heard; and they treat Holocaust deniers with clinical detachment. This attitude reflects the authors'position of intellectual strength. Hatred for Holocaust deniers is compounded by the helpless fear that the pseudo-historians' specious lies may spread. When one is armed with concrete knowledge, however, that fear is lessened and hatred gives way to pity.

It is both puzzling and painful to recognize that there are still serious(?) people abroad in the world who loudly deny the veracity of the historical record concerning the Holocaust. As if to extend the unconscionable cruelty of the world yet longer for the millions of victims of this century's most heinous and tragic phenomenon, some actually continue to claim that either the Holocaust never happened, or that its dimensions and scope were much more limited and constrained that so-called Jewish revisionist historians would like the public to believe. This book puts the lie to all this nonsense, giving those who would deny the truth and accuracy of the history of the Holocaust an exceptionally thorough trip to the intellectual back shed to give them the whipping of their cranial careers.

With this volume, historians Michael Shermier and Alex Grobman have presented a virtual tidal wave of substantiating evidence of the nature of the complex social movement that the Holocaust deniers comprise. The authors trudge through a depressing tour of every aspect of this social movement, and go deeper into every aspect of the deniers and their social network in an effort to both better understand what motivates them as well as how to finally and authoritatively refute their claims. In so doing, they not only illustrate how shallow, self-serving, disingenuous, and disreputable these claims and positions are, but also provide much more substantial proof of the existence of the Holocaust.

In some ways this tour into the deep underbelly of continuing hate, bigotry, and ignorance is a descent into a Dante-like inferno, one the reader tends to recoil from because of its `in-your-face' portrayal of such rampant and continuing racial hate and conflict. In other ways it seems more like an impromptu visit to the comical land of the Keystone cops, or the gang who couldn't shoot straight. Anyone falling for this grab-bag crack-pot mixture of conspiracy theories, racial suspicions, and social paranoia isn't likely to be sitting next to anyone in a graduate course in history, anyway. Still, one must remember that Hitler graduated from the ranks of the likes of these cretins.

This is a profoundly disturbing but altogether necessary book. To suggest that after fifty years serious people could still question the historical record regarding the savage and murderous events collectively referred to as the Holocaust is but one more painful indicator of how far the world must go to reach any kind of intellectual maturity or cosmopolitan compassion. One of the most interesting sidelights of the book is the fact that the authors have devised an ingenious framework that both contemporary and future historians and social scientists can employ to verify and virtually any historical event. I highly recommend it for anyone who has ever had someone say (as I have heard a number of times), "The Holocaust never happened."

This is the most comprehensive book yet to appear which seeks to refute the claims of Holocaust deniers and revisionists. It seeks to put the nature of historical "truth" in a semi-philosophical framework as well as tackling the empirical claims of deniers head on. There is a strong section attacking Fred Leuchter's so-called research on the bricks at the Auschwitz crematoria (no wonder no traces of cyanide remain after 50 years in the open air) and a thorough account of the nazis' own incriminating records and confessions. Will the book actually convince any Holocaust deniers themselves? Probably not. They will doubtless pin-prick the book, for example Heydrich's death at one point is wrongly given as 1943. And they will continue to maintain that Eichmann's confessions in custody were his last ditch effort to cooperate and thus save his life. As Sherman and Grobman make very clear, Holocaust deniers are ideologically motivated and devoted to rehabilitation of nazism. A final thought: the main media organ of deniers these days is the Internet. There is still scope for a detailed analysis of the content and impact of these hate pages. The authors have written a valuable book, but the debate (like it or not) will go on.

This book is the most convincing refutation that I've seen of the claim that there was no systematic Nazi plan to murder Europe's Jews, and the most penetrating analysis of why some people make that claim. Shermer and Grobman are to be commended for dealing with the subject from the standpoint of historiography, avoiding the shrill ad hominem arguments that are, alas, all too frequent in this sensitive area, and for making an attempt to figure out exactly why people believe what they do. Their analysis of David Irving is especially enlightening: Irving is certainly an intelligent man, and doesn't appear to be a vicious anti-Semite. The authors' explanation of how this otherwise sensible historian was led down the garden path by the ex-Nazi "in crowd" is one of the most interesting, and thoroughly convincing parts of the book.

Not my words. They were the words of a modern-day Luftwaffe squadron leader, who I had the pleasure of meeting back in the seventies. His point was that nobody in their right mind could in any way justify the Holocaust. As Denying History goes on to prove, nobody in their right mind could in any way justify Holocaust denial.

At the (for me) prohibitive price, I would never have bought the book, but a friend lent me his copy, for which I am most grateful. Shermer leads an unassailable destruction of the various denial approaches, from those who question the figure of six million, to the extremists who deny that there ever was a Holocaust.

On a personal note, I grew up in Britain as a non-Jew, and one of my neighbours, a Mr. Hammill, was a Survivor. In the summer, when everybody slept with their windows open, you could sometimes hear him screaming in his sleep. Literally.

The capacity for genocide is inherent in humans. To deny that, to deny that it DID happen to the Jews, is just the first step towards creating the basis for the next Holocaust. Denying History goes as far as is humanly possible in proving that the Jewish Holocaust did actually happen, and that virtually all of those who question the reality, have agendas of their own.

Passions tend to boil with the subject of Holocaust denial, so one would expect, when reading this book, to see some rather heated language. However it does not happen; Shermer and Grobman are cool and methodical as they tackle this thorny subject.

This is as valuable a source on historical methodology as I have seen in quite some time. The authors could simply have dealt with the issue of Holocaust denial, but they choose also to discuss the very nature of the science of history, and how proper historical methodology must be adhered to if the past is to be protected from distortion. The authors draw clear boundaries between legitimate revision and deceptive denial posing as revision. "It is not enough for deniers to concoct an alternative explanation that amounts to nothing more than denying each piece of free-standing evidence. They must proffer a theory that not only explains all of the evidence but does so in a manner superior to the present theory. This they have not done." (p. 172) That is as concise an explanation of what defines true revision as you will find.

The authors methodically confront each of the deniers' contentions, and refute them one by one. The deniers' sloppy methodology (deliberate or otherwise), inconsistent standards regarding evidence, or simple distortion of the historical record are exposed for all to see. The authors accomplish this without resorting to any name-calling. They let the evidence (or lack thereof) speak for itself.

The authors also examine the background of the deniers, showing that the deniers are far from being simple seekers of truth. A clear agenda is at work, and the deniers' claims that they are simple students of history, trying to clarify the historical record, simply doesn't wash.

There have criticisms in other reviews that the authors do not discuss the millions of other victims of the Holocaust, but this is hardly the point of the book. The authors make it clear and explicit that they are dealing with the issue of Holocaust denial and the distortion of history, and are not embarking on an extended discussion of the nature of the Holocaust itself.

It is evident to me that the importance of the sanctity of history, and protecting it from distortion for ideological purposes, is as important to the authors as the specific subject of Holocaust denial. The final chapter, "The Rape of History," mentions the Holocaust only at the end of a lengthy discussion of revision versus denial. The conclusion of this chapter reads, "Whatever else it might be, history is the primary story of the storytelling animal, the narrative of our past that offers meaning to our present and, ultimately, our future." (p. 256) Distorting that past robs us of our meaning today.

No matter your field of interest, if you are a student of history you will find this book invaluable.

"Denying History" is best seen as a case study of historiography; the authors' take on the issue of defining the difference between history, revision, and denial. Shermer and Grobman argue that there is a very real difference between revisionism and denial, and that, despite arguments to the contrary, Holocaust deniers' are engaged in exactly that - denial.

The book gets into many of the relevant issues of historiography; bias, what are facts, the interpretation of facts, etc. and applies it to Holocaust denial. First the authors' discuss the issue of historiography in their introduction, "Who Speaks for the Past," and in Chapter 2, "The Noble Dream: How We Know Anything Happened in History." The next two chapters address who the deniers are, and why they say the Holocaust never happened - this gets into motivation and bias. Chapter 5 then addresses, "the flaws, fallacies and failings in the Denier's Arguments."

The next three chapters are spent addressing denier arguments and "facts" and demonstrating how and why their "facts" do not fit into a rational historiography-based argument. Essentially Shermer and Grobman argue that the volume of data and the variety of sources overwhelmingly demonstrate the Holocaust was real; the sources all converge on a single conclusion. And the authors' are not just talking about the number of eye witness accounts, but also legal proceedings, archaeology, scientific and forensic evidence, and a variety of other historical documents from a wide variety of allied and even Nazi sources. As they point out, the deniers' discrediting of one eye witness account, or several, does not negate the volume of other eye witness accounts nor does it negate other types of evidence. Nor does their attempt at making an equivalency argument (the idea that what was done was no worse than what others did) negate the evidence.

The authors' finish off the book with, "The Rape of History: Denial, Revision, and the Search for a True and Meaningful Past." This chapter has a brief review of other examples of denial, such as the Japanese and the rape of Nanking, and examples of legitimate revision, such as Martin Bernal's "Black Athena" among others. Essentially the authors' conclude that, "The difference between denial and revision is not in the extremity of the claim..., but in the purposeful distortion of the past for personal reasons...." (p. 241), and, "If there is no method of discriminating between true and false interpretations of the past, between history and pseudo-history, between revisionism and denial, then there is no point in even having a discipline of history." (p. 244)

Of particular interest are Shermer's and Grobman's ten tests for denial (pp. 248-250):
1. How reliable is the source of the claim?
2. Has this source made other claims that were clearly exaggerated?
3. Has another source verified the claim?
4. How does the claim fit with what we know about the world and how it works?
5. Has anyone, including and especially the claimant, gone out of the way to disprove the claim, or has only confirmatory evidence been sought?
6. In the absence of clearly defined proof, does the preponderance of evidence converge on the claimant's conclusion or a different one?
7. Is the claimant employing the accepted rules of reason and tools of research or only ones that lead to the desired conclusion?
8. Has the claimant provided a different explanation for the observed phenomena rather than just denying the existing explanation?
9. If the claimant has proffered a new explanation, does it account for as many phenomena as the old explanation does?
10. Do the claimant's personal beliefs and biases drive the conclusions or vice versa?

An excellent resource for those interested in gaining a better understanding of the events of the Holocaust. Very helpful in explaining how to deal with the deniers and refute their false claims. I am a public tour guide for a Holocaust Museum, and need to be prepared to handle some of the misinformation and disbeliefs held by so many folks. This is not a "how to" guide, but rather a detailed look at the arguments presented by the deniers, and how a convergence of facts can provide a true and accurate portrayal of this horrible tragedy.

This book is a godsend to anyone that is sickened by holocaust deniers. Written by the editor of the Skeptic, this book shows definitely who the deniers are, why they deny and explodes their theories. The author takes every denier to task and shows how the claims of those that deny the holocaust are totally and clearly false. From photographs to Nazi records the authors explode the myth of holocaust denial, a wonderful book. Really the essence if historical critique must be met with strong voices like those crushing those that would lie about history. Holocaust denial is a plague , it is a disease and this book uncovers those responsible and their reasons.

Seth J. Frantzman