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4.2.12 WC: 191694 Chapter 9: The Right to Falsify History: Holocaust Denial and Academic Freedom In some European countries, (particularly Germany, Austria and France), it is a crime to deny the Holocaust. In other countries, such as Turkey, it is a crime to claim that the Turks engaged in genocide against the Armenians, even though it is an historical fact recognized by scholars around the world. Under our First Amendment, no one can be punished either for denying or proclaiming that an historical event occurred. Several years ago I became embroiled in a heated controversy with Professor Noam Chomsky over the issue of Holocaust denial and the proper role of a civil libertarian in defending the right of Holocaust deniers, without defending the substance of their claims. In the 1970s a Frenchman named Robert Faurisson, who was an obscure lecturer on French literature at the University of Lyon, began to dabble in Holocaust denial. He wrote a book—and gave talks—in which he mocked Holocaust victims and survivors as perpetrators of a hoax. The Holocaust, according to Faurisson, “never took place.” The “Hitler gas chambers” never existed. “The Jews” bear “responsibility” for World War II. Hitler acted reasonably and in self-defense when he rounded up the Jews and put them in “labor camps,” not death camps. The “massive lie” about genocide was a deliberate concoction begun by “American Zionists”—in context he obviously means Jews. The principal beneficiary of this hoax is “Israel,” which has encouraged this “enormous political and financial fraud.” The principal victims of this “fraud” have been “the German people” and the “Palestinian people.” Faurisson also called the diary of Anne Frank a “forgery.” Following the publication of Faurisson’s book, the lecturer received threats from irate survivors. The University of Lyon, claiming that it could not guarantee his safety, suspended him for a semester. Chomsky sprang to Faurisson’s defense, not only on the issue of free speech, but on the merits of his “scholarship” and of his “character.” Chomsky signed a petition that characterized Faurisson’s falsifications of history as “findings” and said that they were based on “extensive historical research.” I too defended Faurisson’s right to express his views, but I also checked his “historical research” and found it to be entirely faked. He made up phony diary entries, omitted others that disproved °° For example, Faurisson relies on an entry, dated October 18, 1942, from the diary of SS doctor Johann-Paul Kremer written during the three months he spent at Auschwitz in 1942. An eminent scholar checked Faurisson’s use of the entry, and demonstrated that Faurisson’s “research” was fraudulent. The diary entry read: “This Sunday morning in cold and humid weather I was present at the 11™ special action (Dutch). Atrocious scenes with three women who begged us to let them live.” [39 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_017226