A letter to a Holocaust denier:
Some context:
I carpool with a friend who tutors on the side. A couple weeks ago, I had to accompany him on a tutoring job. I was going to hang out and use my laptop, but instead was invited by his client's husband to go into the other room and talk with him. I did so; we had an interesting conversation. On some points, we agreed; on others, we disagreed. He's a Nader-voter, for example; while I have certain Green-party political sympathies, I personally cannot stand Nader and would never vote for him. We even disagreed on some basic facts: he believes everything is genetically determined, and when I pointed out identical twins share genetic code, he didn't believe that was true.
The gentleman is not racist, but he is anti-Nationalist, which means he's also anti-Zionist (though not anti-Semitic). I could disagree with him on those points, but that's a matter of opinion. However, he also decided that the Holocaust was exaggerated to support the creation of Israel: he believed there were only about 10,000 people killed. I told him that he was wrong, and replied to his inaccurate beliefs with facts. I was polite, but firm; people are free to choose their beliefs, but not their facts. When we left, he invited me back any time.
The following week, I did not accompany my friend to his tutoring job. The man was disappointed that I was not there, and asked my friend to deliver a book to loan to me. That book was "Debating the Holocaust," a book of nonsense, half-truths, and outright lies. I felt dirty just having the book around, but I did accept it for two reasons. For one thing, I am teaching 8th graders about the Holocaust this week, and I wanted an example of the sort of nonsense that they now have the obligation to speak out against. In addition, I wanted to compose a letter refuting the book, and I felt holding onto it would be best. (Lastly, it wouldn't be fair to ask my friend to hold onto it instead.)
The following letter is what I wrote to him. I hope that he comes to understand the things I lay out in this letter. If not -- well, at least I did not leave his factually-erroneous beliefs unchallenged. I am not by nature an aggressive person, and I did my best to remain polite, without insulting him personally; I hope I accomplished that.
_______________________________________
Thank you very much for the loaning of the book, “Debating the Holocaust.” I appreciate the sentiment behind it. Unfortunately, I cannot let this book stand unchallenged.
This book’s “facts” are a combination of partial truths and outright lies. The author himself is neither the name he claims to be, nor a professor at a major university as he claims, nor even a Ph. D. “Dr. Dalton” is in fact Michael Santomauro, the publisher of the book and a known anti-Semite and Holocaust denier. By claiming to be impartial and treating both sides equally, he is being a hypocrite; he treats invented “facts” with the same weight as real facts, and even ignores real facts when they conflict with his anti-Semetic, Holocaust-denying platform.
While the Holocaust generally refers to the systematic murder of 6 million Jewish people, it is important to remember that almost half of the people killed were other groups, including Communists, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, criminals (including those who tried to protect the targets of the Holocaust), and Romany - indeed, the Romany were nearly wiped out, suffering a 90% drop in their population during the Holocaust years. While the term “Holocaust” generally refers to the 6 million Jews, and not the 12 million total people murdered in these camps, no one denies that the camps were used to murder people other than the Jews. No one, that is, besides Mr. Santomauro, who refutes the straw-man argument that the Jews were the only people targeted by the Nazis.
He claims that the photographs do not prove the Holocaust happens, and in that, he is right, but this is another straw man argument. The photographs alone prove nothing. The photographs are but one piece of an exhaustive list of evidence, including a massive amount of eyewitness testimony, records kept by the Germans that they were not able to dispose of, census data, and physical evidence. For Mr. Santomauro to dismiss all this evidence, and hold up the remainder as being worth an equal weight to “facts” which he frankly just invented is intellectual dishonesty of the highest degree, wrapped up in the cloak of “intellectual discourse,” and is complete nonsense.
An excellent examination of the book can be found at http://holocaustcontroversies.blogspot.com/2009/05/old-herrings-in-new-can-thomas-daltons.html . I will not rehash the information there, but Mr. Santomauro (pretending again to be “Dr. Dalton”) comments on the page, and continues making his straw-man arguments and engaging in half-truths in his debate, until finally presented with a vast amount of evidence, at which point, he stops replying. I suggest looking at that page for specific deconstructions of his arguments. Instead, I will examine the broader scope of the Holocaust and its denial.
There is a wealth of proof to support the numbers of the Holocaust. You must include eyewitness testimony (including victims - both Jewish and non - guards, liberators, bystanders, and more); it is intellectual folly to dismiss so much testimony from all over Europe, particularly when there are so many people with no reason to lie, and when their testimony does not conflict. Indeed, if so much testimony is all a lie, this would require a conspiracy of thousands, if not millions, all coming up with the same information independently and communicating without any means of doing so, without a single person coming forward to claim the truth. In addition, all this testimony is supported by additional facts.
The Germans kept records of their murder of the Jews. They wished to be efficient in their killing, after all. While there have been greater numbers in other genocides, in no other case was there such systematic dehumanization and death. Towards the end of the war, realizing they were going to lose, they destroyed what records they could, but they were unable to destroy all records. This, too, is documented, and the records that survived also support the eyewitness testimony.
In addition, there is census data. The Jewish population of Europe dropped by a significant margin during those years, and only a small margin can be explained by migration. Indeed, there’s a discrepancy of 6 million. Where did they all go? These numbers further support the other evidence.
All these facts add up to one incontrovertible conclusion: the Holocaust is a historical fact. To deny the numbers is to deny the pain and suffering which the victims experienced. It is to pretend that the evil which was perpetrated was “not so bad.”
The Holocaust survivors who speak do so at great personal cost. Speaking of the event sends them back to that time, to relive it. One gentleman I have spoken with goes home after such events, lies on the ground in a room, and shakes for the rest of the day. It is at great difficulty that they speak of these events, but they are forever burned into their conscience. Some, such as the Sondercommandos (those Jewish people forced to load and unload the gas chambers), are so haunted and ashamed by their actions that they do not wish to testify - but they do so, and they stand up for the truth when they do so, even though it makes them look bad.
When the personal stories of the Holocaust are denied - for the Holocaust (and the associated murders) are a story of 12 million lives cut short - we not only deny the great tragedy of these events, but we also deny the great courage of those who stood up to it. We deny the courage of those who helped defend the Jewish people and other targets. We deny the Jewish freedom fighters and others who fought to keep the victims free from persecution. We deny the courage of those victims of the Holocaust who managed, against all odds, against the entire Nazi system of dehumanization and murder, to keep breathing - to survive. For when the entire system is set up to make you feel inhuman and worthy of death, it can take great courage just to stay alive. Denial of these events is harmful.
By all means, however, examine the data further. Just make sure that your data is coming from verified sources, instead of just numbers being made up, such as in Mr. Santomauro’s book. I strongly recommend “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich,” by William Shirer. It’s long - almost 1300 pages - but exhaustively researched and written by a journalist who was present for many of the events described. Just because someone sounds authoritative does not mean that they are - and treating facts as equally weighted to made-up data is folly.
Thank you.
I carpool with a friend who tutors on the side. A couple weeks ago, I had to accompany him on a tutoring job. I was going to hang out and use my laptop, but instead was invited by his client's husband to go into the other room and talk with him. I did so; we had an interesting conversation. On some points, we agreed; on others, we disagreed. He's a Nader-voter, for example; while I have certain Green-party political sympathies, I personally cannot stand Nader and would never vote for him. We even disagreed on some basic facts: he believes everything is genetically determined, and when I pointed out identical twins share genetic code, he didn't believe that was true.
The gentleman is not racist, but he is anti-Nationalist, which means he's also anti-Zionist (though not anti-Semitic). I could disagree with him on those points, but that's a matter of opinion. However, he also decided that the Holocaust was exaggerated to support the creation of Israel: he believed there were only about 10,000 people killed. I told him that he was wrong, and replied to his inaccurate beliefs with facts. I was polite, but firm; people are free to choose their beliefs, but not their facts. When we left, he invited me back any time.
The following week, I did not accompany my friend to his tutoring job. The man was disappointed that I was not there, and asked my friend to deliver a book to loan to me. That book was "Debating the Holocaust," a book of nonsense, half-truths, and outright lies. I felt dirty just having the book around, but I did accept it for two reasons. For one thing, I am teaching 8th graders about the Holocaust this week, and I wanted an example of the sort of nonsense that they now have the obligation to speak out against. In addition, I wanted to compose a letter refuting the book, and I felt holding onto it would be best. (Lastly, it wouldn't be fair to ask my friend to hold onto it instead.)
The following letter is what I wrote to him. I hope that he comes to understand the things I lay out in this letter. If not -- well, at least I did not leave his factually-erroneous beliefs unchallenged. I am not by nature an aggressive person, and I did my best to remain polite, without insulting him personally; I hope I accomplished that.
_______________________________________
Thank you very much for the loaning of the book, “Debating the Holocaust.” I appreciate the sentiment behind it. Unfortunately, I cannot let this book stand unchallenged.
This book’s “facts” are a combination of partial truths and outright lies. The author himself is neither the name he claims to be, nor a professor at a major university as he claims, nor even a Ph. D. “Dr. Dalton” is in fact Michael Santomauro, the publisher of the book and a known anti-Semite and Holocaust denier. By claiming to be impartial and treating both sides equally, he is being a hypocrite; he treats invented “facts” with the same weight as real facts, and even ignores real facts when they conflict with his anti-Semetic, Holocaust-denying platform.
While the Holocaust generally refers to the systematic murder of 6 million Jewish people, it is important to remember that almost half of the people killed were other groups, including Communists, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, criminals (including those who tried to protect the targets of the Holocaust), and Romany - indeed, the Romany were nearly wiped out, suffering a 90% drop in their population during the Holocaust years. While the term “Holocaust” generally refers to the 6 million Jews, and not the 12 million total people murdered in these camps, no one denies that the camps were used to murder people other than the Jews. No one, that is, besides Mr. Santomauro, who refutes the straw-man argument that the Jews were the only people targeted by the Nazis.
He claims that the photographs do not prove the Holocaust happens, and in that, he is right, but this is another straw man argument. The photographs alone prove nothing. The photographs are but one piece of an exhaustive list of evidence, including a massive amount of eyewitness testimony, records kept by the Germans that they were not able to dispose of, census data, and physical evidence. For Mr. Santomauro to dismiss all this evidence, and hold up the remainder as being worth an equal weight to “facts” which he frankly just invented is intellectual dishonesty of the highest degree, wrapped up in the cloak of “intellectual discourse,” and is complete nonsense.
An excellent examination of the book can be found at http://holocaustcontroversies.blogspot.com/2009/05/old-herrings-in-new-can-thomas-daltons.html . I will not rehash the information there, but Mr. Santomauro (pretending again to be “Dr. Dalton”) comments on the page, and continues making his straw-man arguments and engaging in half-truths in his debate, until finally presented with a vast amount of evidence, at which point, he stops replying. I suggest looking at that page for specific deconstructions of his arguments. Instead, I will examine the broader scope of the Holocaust and its denial.
There is a wealth of proof to support the numbers of the Holocaust. You must include eyewitness testimony (including victims - both Jewish and non - guards, liberators, bystanders, and more); it is intellectual folly to dismiss so much testimony from all over Europe, particularly when there are so many people with no reason to lie, and when their testimony does not conflict. Indeed, if so much testimony is all a lie, this would require a conspiracy of thousands, if not millions, all coming up with the same information independently and communicating without any means of doing so, without a single person coming forward to claim the truth. In addition, all this testimony is supported by additional facts.
The Germans kept records of their murder of the Jews. They wished to be efficient in their killing, after all. While there have been greater numbers in other genocides, in no other case was there such systematic dehumanization and death. Towards the end of the war, realizing they were going to lose, they destroyed what records they could, but they were unable to destroy all records. This, too, is documented, and the records that survived also support the eyewitness testimony.
In addition, there is census data. The Jewish population of Europe dropped by a significant margin during those years, and only a small margin can be explained by migration. Indeed, there’s a discrepancy of 6 million. Where did they all go? These numbers further support the other evidence.
All these facts add up to one incontrovertible conclusion: the Holocaust is a historical fact. To deny the numbers is to deny the pain and suffering which the victims experienced. It is to pretend that the evil which was perpetrated was “not so bad.”
The Holocaust survivors who speak do so at great personal cost. Speaking of the event sends them back to that time, to relive it. One gentleman I have spoken with goes home after such events, lies on the ground in a room, and shakes for the rest of the day. It is at great difficulty that they speak of these events, but they are forever burned into their conscience. Some, such as the Sondercommandos (those Jewish people forced to load and unload the gas chambers), are so haunted and ashamed by their actions that they do not wish to testify - but they do so, and they stand up for the truth when they do so, even though it makes them look bad.
When the personal stories of the Holocaust are denied - for the Holocaust (and the associated murders) are a story of 12 million lives cut short - we not only deny the great tragedy of these events, but we also deny the great courage of those who stood up to it. We deny the courage of those who helped defend the Jewish people and other targets. We deny the Jewish freedom fighters and others who fought to keep the victims free from persecution. We deny the courage of those victims of the Holocaust who managed, against all odds, against the entire Nazi system of dehumanization and murder, to keep breathing - to survive. For when the entire system is set up to make you feel inhuman and worthy of death, it can take great courage just to stay alive. Denial of these events is harmful.
By all means, however, examine the data further. Just make sure that your data is coming from verified sources, instead of just numbers being made up, such as in Mr. Santomauro’s book. I strongly recommend “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich,” by William Shirer. It’s long - almost 1300 pages - but exhaustively researched and written by a journalist who was present for many of the events described. Just because someone sounds authoritative does not mean that they are - and treating facts as equally weighted to made-up data is folly.
Thank you.