Student Revisionists' Letter To Nizkor

by Jeremy Calkins A response to the open letter we received from Nizkor

The Student Revisionists' Resource Site [SRRS] recently received a letter by e-mail from Mr. Jamie McCarthy of Nizkor and its website. Mr. McCarthy was concerned about how we'd referred to his site. He was troubled by words and phrases we use in describing Nizkor.

Mr. McCarthy wanted to know why we at the SRRS claim that the Nizkor site contains faulty logic and outright lies. We understand the concern Mr. McCarthy feels and we don't want to ignore his query. We believe Mr. McCarthy knows the answers to his questions, and we do not want him to miss any opportunity to correct the errors of his site in the privacy of his own head.

Mr. McCarthy asked us for two examples of faulty logic and two examples of outright lies. We do not believe his motives are sincere, yet we will use this opportunity to explain how easy it is to identify the faulty logic and outright lies that Nizkor uses. While Nizkor has had little success with professional revisionists, they evidently feel they should have no problem taking on a bunch of college students.

It's really very simple: A group of open, honest students, such as ourselves, believe in intellectual and academic freedom. There exists a strong disagreement between those who believe in the Holocaust as a religious dogma and those who want to examine it in the light of scientific proof. We take no firm position at this point. We at the SRRS wish to bring this controversy into the light of the mainstream educational system. We are the ones who are attending today's colleges and universities, and we are the ones who examine this issue like we do all others.

We have studied both sides of the Holocaust controversy for a few years and feel we know the basic arguments of both Revisionists and Exterminationists, such as Nizkor. One must ask himself if Nizkor really believes what they (it) are (is) saying. We thought about whether or not Mr. McCarthy was serious about wanting examples of faulty logic and outright lies.

We don't think so, because Nizkor has played this game before. They have played it in fact, to the hilt, and it is getting old. This will be the only time we will respond to Nizkor, as we believe they have no true motive in finding the truth of the matter. It is the job of historians to DEBATE these issues; it is the job of college students to STUDY what these historians have to say. What Nizkor likes to do is to confuse its readers to the point of no return by presenting a faulty rendering of the Revisionist arguement. This is a tactic known as setting up a straw-man or scare-crow. It could be that Mr. McCarthy is completely sincere, yet deluded; nevertheless, whatever "sincerity" Mr. McCarthy possesses is of the "bought-and-paid-for" variety.

In order to find the faulty logic of the Nizkor site, all one has to do is to study both sides of the Holocaust controversy. We wonder if Mr. McCarthy has done so himself. Nizkor prides itself in professing the absolute truth, yet ironically the Nizkor site is intended for individuals who have heard about Holocaust Revisionism, yet have never really looked into it, so that they may be easily reassured that Revisionists are crackpots. All they have to do is type OUT "Holocaust" on their search engines, and there you go, "Nizkor!"

Nizkor is trying to block the thought-processes, so that when one visits a Revisionist site, he's "immune" to considering the issues, but Nizkor is helping their opponents more than they know! "So that is what those anti-Semitic deniers think," the individual will say to himself - and consequently take himself straight to a Revisionist site.

We were once Exterminationists, but have decided to look at both sides of the Holocaust controversy. The debate over the Holocaust is far from over, and we must allow honest inquiry to prevail in an age that seems to condemn any inquiry into this one single subject of history.

No other subject enrages honest, sincere people as does the subject of Holocaust Revisionism. This should not be the case, as there is nothing to fear from honest inquiry. The truth will prevail, whatever the truth is.

Faulty logic begins as soon as one arrives at Nizkor. Right on the Home page, the visitor is greeted with a quotation from Deborah Lipstadt, a Heavyweight Conservator of Holocaust Mythology (these are accorded the Goodthink honorific "Affirmers" by Nizkor and its supporters) and Professor of "Holocaust Studies" -- a pseudo-theological discipline -- at Emory University. Faulty logic begins right there. Ms. Lipstadt is quoted as saying that Reason is not sufficient to protect the Truth. This is faulty logic in the extreme. The very foundation of logic_is Reason! Any "truth" which cannot be verified by Reason must fall under the category of religious dogma.

In dogma, Reason plays no role. Is it "reasonable" to assume that gassings existed -- when impeccable scientific and forensic investigations tell us otherwise? Sure it is, if you adhere to dogma.

The Holocaust has become something of a religion. Some say it is a State Religion. It is the job of an historian to find out what happened and why, not do try to defend a state-imposed religion. Nizkor has both a hidden and open agenda -- that being to try and save the myth of the Holocaust, not to engage in honest inquiry. We believe there is a group of individuals who have a vested interest in maintaining the Exterminationist viewpoint of the Holocaust legend, and they are, we believe, behind Nizkor. Nizkor claims the data it presents is historical; therefore, factual and totally within the purview of Reason, yet before a visitor even enters the Nizkor site, he's banged over the head with "faulty logic." That's where it begins; NOT where it ends!

Another example of faulty logic? Gladly! It is part and parcel of mythology: Nizkor employs every means, fair or foul, to maintain that it was the unquestionable intention of the Hitler regime to exterminate every Jew in Europe. The historical truth is that the German plan was one of emigration, not extermination, as Nizkor would have one believe. Ask Nizkor to explain the Madagascar Plan.

The very word Holocaust is an umbrella term that came to mainstream usage in the 70's. Check older encyclopedias, and you will be amazed! You will notice that in many, there is no reference to "the Jewish Holocaust." Exterminationists, such as Nizkor, always use the word "the" before the word "Holocaust," as if there can be only ONE Holocaust, the JEWISH Holocaust. According to David Irving, you would almost expect to see a little "tm" next to it for "trademark".

As for outright lies, let us begin with the vicious, vile slander that Revisionists aren't "Revisionists" at all: they're "Deniers" who deny there ever was a horrible, criminal persecution of the Jews by the Hitler regime. That's the buzz-word jargon created by Nizkor's masters in lieu of "heretic" and "Crime thinker," because those terms are far too obvious.

Nizkor depicts Revisionists as "anti-Semites", "Nazi apologists", "dupes", or out-and-out "Nazis"! The very words "revisionist" and "revisionism" are taboo. Nizkor states these are masks "Deniers" hide behind to conceal their "evil" intentions. No credence is given to the proposition that Revisionists are just what the name implies: those who strongly suspect that what is being passed off as "history" is factually inaccurate, and that historical integrity is a mandate upon civilization.

We at the SRRS, have no political agenda except to advance the ideas of free-speech, academic and intellectual freedom. We could be wrong and, if so, we are willing to admit when we are wrong. We do, however, demand the right to follow where fact and reason lead us. Furthermore, to deny one part of this story does not mean one denies all encompassingly that one single hair on the head of any Jew was ever harmed during WWII. Of course many Jews were hurt. Nobody argues that. This is another angle of the tactic known as "the straw-man," or, "the scare-crow."

Another outright lie is that Nizkor supports Freedom of Speech and opposes censorship of the Net, when in fact Nizkor engages in a program worthy of the Gestapo or the KGB in compiling dossiers on anyone and everyone who presents dissenting views: a manifest effort to intimidate and stifle all contrary opinion. The hypocrisy is so blatant it would be laughable, if it were not so vicious. Note that not a single Revisionist site is doing what Nizkor is doing!

Nizkor is riding the tide of 50 years of systematic indoctrination. To the average Joe, the idea of a person who "denies the Holocaust" is simply horrible! The immediate image that flashes into this person's mind is, of course, images of piles of dead bodies stacked up like cordwood, and for good reason! How many average Joes have seen pictures of healthy looking inmates being liberated from any of the German WWII concentration camps? These pictures exist, yet they are suppressed. The pictures shown over and over are the piles of dead bodies - who just as well could be victims of the Allied bombing raids.

To Nizkor, it doesn't matter how these people died, they know that people simply associate the site of dead bodies with the murder of Jews, which means "Holocaust". That's cheap! And it's dishonest. Similarly, there are many, many pictures of WWII Soviet Prisoners, and one would have a hard time telling the difference between the German camps and the Soviet camps. The crimes of the German government were stressed after the end of this horrible war, yet the crimes of the Soviets were not discussed on the same level, but of course, Germany lost the war, and the Soviet Union won. You see, it is always the victors that get to write their version of history. It is up to honest historians to separate truth from war-time propaganda.

Holocaust Revisionists do not try to claim that Jews did not suffer a horrible catastrophe in WWII. The whole war was a catastrophe, and there is no getting around this fact. The German government persecuted the Jews, stripped them of their belongings and interned them in concentration camps. Allied countries did the same with other peoples. The fact that large numbers of Jews died is not the catastrophe. The fact that large numbers of innocent people, Jew and non-Jew, died is both a catastrophe and a tragedy.

Nizkor uses the term "genocide." The term "innocenticide" should be used, not genocide. Some Jews who died in concentration camps were innocent, and some were not. Some non-Jews who died in concentration camps were innocent, and some were not. Revisionists are not denying that large numbers of Jews were rounded up and shot on the Eastern front. The activities of the Einsatzgruppen is an area of history which has not been fully researched to date. The execution of many of these people was a crime, as many things that happened during World War II were crimes. However, innocent people were also shot by the Allies, and during the Korean War, Vietnam War and during Desert Storm. During war, life is brutal; all too often, innocent people are killed, along with saboteurs, deserters and traitors. War is evil, and one should never try to portray it as a battle of PURE GOOD VS. PURE EVIL.

There are many individuals, such as Winston Smith of the N.S.W.P.P. who portray Germany as the symbol of PURE GOOD, and the Allies as a symbol of PURE EVIL. Nizkor does the exact opposite, and both are wrong. Revisionists have no position other than to seek the truth which certainly lies somewhere in between. In short, Holocaust revisionists do not "deny the Holocaust," as Nizkor would have one believe. What Holocaust revisionists do is to try and separate the truth from propaganda.

Nizkor claims that there was an alleged "gas-chamber" built at Dachau which was intended to kill human beings. To support their argument -which, by the way, flies directly in the face of all logic - Nizkor predictably uses a quote from a Dr. Charles Larson, who supposedly conducted an autopsy of victims from Dachau after the liberation. However, has Nizkor ever PRODUCED the actual report, along with the results of the toxicological tests which were supposed to have been conducted on the corpses? So far, the answer is NO. Yet, they still maintain the imposture as if it is an incontrovertible fact.

Nor has it stopped here - they also claim a gas chamber at Neuengammen. Furthermore, as to Dachau, they evidently expect people to believe that this alleged gas chamber was completed and ready for use in late 1944 (!) when the Germans had already allegedly destroyed every trace of Treblinka, Sobibor, and the "gas chambers" at Auschwitz, so the allies would have no proof of their dastardly "crimes". Is that logic? Nizkor would have us believe that the SS rushed to construct this lethal gas chamber at Dachau only a few months or so before the liberation of the camp by the Allies! Just in the nick of time, I would venture to say - otherwise, who would ever believe it, and how else could the U.S. Army justify it's own mass murder of hundreds of guards at the Dachau camp at the time of liberation, many of whom were not even members of the SS, who were by mere chance dispatched there after the original contingent of guards fled.

This simple fact here is that there is NO legitimate war-time document that refers to gassings or gas chambers! None! Nizkor knows this fact, yet they confuse their readers by offering highly dubious materials subject to conflicting interpretations in hopes of defending the Exterminationist position.

Nizkor also feasts on the good, old lamp shade story. This is one of my favorites. Although Nizkor would like its readers to believe the Germans made lamp shades out of Jewish skin, the best evidence they can come up with is a highly questionable document. They selectively ignore other research that contradicts this claim.

If Nizkor wishes to re-hash the lamp shade story, why should they stop there? They also can re-hash the soap story, the shrunken head story, the pedal-driven brain bashing machine story, the atomic bomb story, the electro chamber story, the forcing inmates to climb trees and then cutting them down story, the portable bone-grinding machine story, the steam-chamber story, the driving gloves out of Jewish skin for SS officers story, the book binding with Jewish skin story, and many other ridiculous and totally fabricated stories. All these are outright lies. *They might as well claim that the Germans had special cars designed to run off of Jewish blood.* Heck, Nizkor could re-hash the classics. There is about just as much evidence to support these other absurd claims as there is to support the lamp-shade story.

Nizkor likes to use a quote from Winston Smith of the N.S.W.P.P. In this quote, Winston Smith argues that the real reason for Holocaust Revisionism is to white-wash Hitler and to revitalize National Socialism. This is very dishonest of Nizkor. Mr. Smith knows very little about revisionism, as he himself admits. He also does not represent the revisionist movement in any way. Winston Smith is the kind of individual who would claim the six million Jews should have been put to death in gas-chambers. [That's not precisely true, but close enough. - WS] Most Revisionists do not share Mr. Smith's ideologies. Most Revisionists are liberals and some are even leftists. When Nizkor uses this man's quote to explain the motives behind the revisionist movement, they are practicing dishonesty.

All one has to do to examine the faulty logic and outright lies that Nizkor uses, is to view BOTH sides of this controversy. The above examples are just a few of the obvious. To get a better feeling for yourself, I encourage you to visit several excellent revisionist sites, as well as Nizkor's site.

We at SRRS wish to study both sides, and come to our OWN objective conclusion. We wish that for other students as well. We even wish that for our teachers. We do not want to take anything for granted. We actively endeavor to seek out as many sources as possible - and see for ourselves which hold up, and which don't. We will continue in pursuing the Truth, letting Reason be our sole mentor.

Finally, let me say this: Mr. McCarthy now has another page to add to his Fear and Intimidation File. But we are NOT afraid and we will NOT be intimidated. We do not get paid. We struggle not for gain but for integrity, that we and all posterity may know the Truth -and judge the McCarthy's and Lipstadt's accordingly.

We will no longer be responding to Nizkor, or Jamie McCarthy. We are simply students who wish to study BOTH sides of this controversy without Nizkor running interference, and encourage others to do the same. If Nizkor is serious about debating Revisionists, then they will seek to debate professional Revisionists who have both the means, the knowledge and the time to debate the fine points of the Holocaust controversy. They may feel that they will be successful in intimidating a bunch of college students, but this is not the case. We are not afraid to be added to Nizkor's rather large KGB-type file. If Nizkor feels this is how they can fight honest inquiry, they are wrong.

A house built of lies and distortions and based upon a foundation of falsehoods is sure to crumble one day into dust.

For more information regarding BOTH sides of this controversy, we urge you to visit all of the sites we have linked that deal with the issue of the Holocaust.