There are several reasons for why people have denied the
holocaust. Some have done it because they're
neo-nazis. Others because they simply can't get it into their head that something like that could possibly happen in the wonderfully
enlightened 20th century (these are the same people that don't blanch in horror when they hear of massacres in
Uganda; they simply can't comprehend such a thing). Still, others do it because the
holocaust is a major event in the world of the mainstream about which it is often trendy to gasp at in a collective horror, and hence, in an attempt to show their
cool,
rebel tendencies, disbelieve it.
As pointed out, in many countries it is
illegal.
Israel and
Germany spring to mind (in the latter, it is also illegal to spread
NAZI beliefs and so forth). I do not condone or support this one whit: the
freedom of speech protects even the most
repulsive and
monstrous words there ever were. Making it
illegal to speak such
repulsive words--such as, say, speech about
holocaust denial--is every bit as horrible and dangerous as making it illegal to speak of
homosexuality,
Judaism, or what-have-you.
Denying the
holocaust tends to be a gross thing indeed, in both idea and actuality. It asks questions about the colors of smoke from ovens, what the ashes of bodies were used for, if corpses were used for the manufacture of soap. (my skin creeps) Deniers have also argued that the entire
holocaust was a
myth perpetuated for the sake of the state of
Israel; that the testimony of witnesses (both the poor souls who were
victims and that of the
exterminators) is worthless because it is
anecdotal; that there were not enough
Jews in all of
Europe to account for the number of deaths.
Surprisingly,
sci.skeptic (at least when I was there) was the sight of periodic, ongoing flamewars between a few
holocaust deniers and everyone else.
Many people have treated the
holocaust as a sacred manner, and they have acted as though the discussion of some of its aspects is a
desecration. That is a poor view (although I can understand it entirely when there are those who would have its memory eradicated altogether). The fact is, all events of the past are questionable, and a good many of them are sure to suffer from inaccuracy in our recordings. Revising some of their finer points should not be treated as
sacrilege, but revising is a
far cry away from denying.
Some (like
tftv256) ask why the
holocaust is continuously brought up, and he just suggests that sleeping dogs should be let to lie. There are many answers, more than I could even begin to offer. Mine is this: man does not change, and he is chillingly apt to
repeat the past. The
holocaust is one of those events that should be brought up and retold through the ages as a reminder of what was and
what should not be ever again.
For the refutation of
holocaust deniers and information on the
holocuast, see the Nizkor Project: http://veritas.nizkor.org/
I feel obligated to post the
URL to a site that purports that the
holocaust didn't happen, though I cannot find a
URL (what
holocaust denial I've been exposed to has been on
television and
usenet, and a quick
google search was
fruitless) . Please /msg me if you have one.