I COMMENT
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Bee Kalt Travel
presents
'Revising' Holocaust
Has Devious Motives
DR. FRANKLIN H. LITTELL
Special to The Jewish News
H
Thursday, September 28th
7-10 p.m.—Southfield Civic Center
Tickets $1.00 Advance Only
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CRUISE NIGHT '89 RESERVATION
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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1989
Total Enclosed S
istorical revisionists"
are those who chal-
lenge the accepted in-
terpretations of historical
events.
There has been a "revision-
ist" history of the American
Revolution, in which the
Founding Fathers were por-
trayed as money-grabbing en-
trepreneurs rather than
patriots who risked all for
liberty.
There has been a "revi-
sionist" history of the
American Civil War: the view
that the war was fought over
slavery was challenged by
books that claimed the cen-
tral issue lay between in-
dustry in the North and plan-
tation economy in the South.
There are "revisionist"
historians who have challeng-
ed that common picture of
President Franklin Roosevelt
as a champion of the oppress-
ed, especially as a champion
of the Jewish people.
Now, there are self-styled
"revisionists" who challenge
the standard interpretations
of the history of the German
Third Reich, the Jewish
Holocaust, and the role of the
Allied powers in the conflict.
There is a difference,
however. "Revisionists" dis-
cussing the American Revolu-
tion of the Civil War never
denied that there had been
wars. They agreed with other
historians about times and
places. "Revisionists" writing
about FDR never denied that
there was a man named
Franklin Delano Roosevelt,
who was the 32nd President
of the United States.
It was left to self-styled
"revisionists" writing about
the Holocaust — trying to
make their opinions respec-
table by calling them "revi-
sionist," a term familiar to
academic historians — to at-
tempt to deny the facts
altogether. They are not real-
ly entitled to use the term
"revisionist," for their aims
are political rather than
scholarly. A survey of the in-
dividuals involved will un-
cover no historians, but
rather display a number of
amateurs from other fields
who are driven by anti-
Semitism and belated sym-
pathy for Hitler's cause.
It has been hard to take this
level of denial seriously. But
Tess Wise, of the Holocaust
Center of North Florida,
herself a survivor and a close
friend as well as colleague,
has sent materials from a
new and dangerous offensive
of "revisionist" type. Among
the "innocents" who have
been snagged to lend
credibility to the enterprise is
none other than James
Michener!
lb be sure at one level those
who deny the Holocaust
should be taken seriously;
that is the political.level. Four
years ago, at Gideon
Hausner's request, I research-
ed a study of "revisionism"
which the Yad Vashem
memorial group distributed.
The gist of the matter was
this: the "Institute of
Historical Revision" and The
Journal of Historical Revision
are only the latest "fronts"
set up to promote anti-
Semitic and fascist views.
They are among the con-
siderable number set up over
the last three decades by one
of the most notorious anti-
Semites and Facists in
America: Willis Carto.
They have no scholarly im-
portance for their view of
►-1
I
The most
dangerous deniers
to date have not
been the
"revisionists."
history, but they are worth at-
tention because of the kind of
politics they reveal.
In sum, no astronomer or
geologist spends his time
arguing with members of the
International Flat Earth
Society. But a social
psychologist might uefully
spend time studying where
society members come from,
including collecting data on
their education, social and
economic backgrounds.
The most dangerous deniers
to date have not been the
"revisionists." There are
other deniers of greater
influence: •
• Gentiles who turn their
eyes away from what they
have been told is a "Jewish"
issue.
• Jews who consider the
Holocaust a Jewish treasure,
of no concern to Gentiles;
• Philosophers who flatten
the Holocaust out to just
another illustration of "man's
inhumanity to man";
• Theologians who talk
about the Holocaust as just
another case study of the pro-
blem of evil in the world.
All of the above types of
deniers destroy, in one way or
another, the moral and
spiritual uniqueness of the
Holocaust. Some of them
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