Holocaust denial Critical Essay | Roger Eatwell

Roger Eatwell

SOURCE: "The Holocaust Denial: a Study in Propaganda Technique," in Neo-Fascism in Europe, Luciano Cheles, Ronnie Ferguson, Michalina Vaughan, eds., Longman Group Limited, 1991, pp. 120-46.

In the following essay, Eatwell analyzes propaganda techniques used in Holocaust denial literature

The Holocaust of Jews during the Second World War is part of modern collective memory. Images of the emaciated living, of rag-doll heaps of the dead, of gas chambers and ferocious SS guards, are vivid not just for survivors. Popular media, such as film and television, provide constant reminders of the twentieth century's potential for bestiality. Yet, during the 1970s and 1980s there was a notable growth of articles, pamphlets and books seeking to deny that there was a systematic Nazi policy of genocide. Such views might be considered the historical or political equivalent of the 'scientific' belief that the moon is made of green cheese. However, four opening points about...
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