Holocaust

[salhus]

Why aren't we allowed to scrutinise the Holocaust. By making it illegal in many countries it raises suspcions as to why.

[johnlambert]

You can scrutinise it, you can even deny that it happened, however, it is illegal to deny it happened in Germany, Austria and Israel.

[Bev2007]

My view (not a historian) is that we aren't allowed to scrutinise it (something of a gross generalisation) because in certain geographical locations there were/are still enough sympathisers for this to be a genuine threat, ie Germany and Austria. Denying the Holocaust in Israel speaks for itself.

The 'problem'(?) is that this can become transferred to geographical areas where this isnt the case and then it simply becomes an issue of people jumping on a bandwagon where something is unquestionable because it was atrocious. For me the parallel is racism in the UK - somebody (I wonder who) said that racism is the new witchcraft.

Racism is rooted in a lack of education. Id like to consider myself an educated person and as such think that racism and the Holocaust are such obvious no-brainers that they stand up well in any fact-based arguments. That some people prefer to argue and take views without facts is another issue entirely.........

[salhus]

We should be allowed to question any historical incidents or atrocities. If a person collects evidence and then bases his or her judgement on the evidence then we can not and should not be able to force them to adhere to a particular version. So, if someone concluded that the US never committed atrocties in Vietnam then they should be free to conclude that.

It is far better to discuss openly. There are people who deny that Elvis Presley is dead and claim to have seen him In Tecos. This does not mean it should be illegal. There are people who claim that Israel was promised to the Jews by God. This is not illegal. There are people who question the numbers killed in the Slave trade. This is not illegal.

There should never be special cases in history. The various governments that try and suppress any debate on the Holocaust only serve to fuel the fire of suspicion as to why.

[jno]

it's not illegal, not in Britain. You can scrutinise the Holocaust all you want. What are you on about?

[anotheoldgit]

I posted this web address in answer to another question, but I think it is more appropriate for this question. I do not go for these conspiracy theories, but it makes for interesting reading if you have the time to spare.

http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/roundone.htm

[Philtaz]

Why do you find the need to question it? If you are intent, why not take a trip to Dachau, Aushwitz-Birkenau or Bergen-Belsen? You'll find all the evidence you need and more besides. Your Elvis Presley analogy is pretty poor. Your talking about a single person, not the genocide of 6 million people. I'm sure their fate is well documented from testimonies of their families, Nazi records at concentration camps and witness accounts from Allied soldiers who liberated the survivors.

[JillP]

It looks to me like salhus was not questioning the holocaust, just asking why we can't question it. It seems from the answers above then that it is not illegal to question the holocaust in Britain. In one speech by Tony Blair, he was decrying the Iranians for 1/. Their plutonium enrichment policies. 2/. Denying the holocaust. In all the news reports I have seen, the Iranians have not denied the holocaust, only questioned it.