Session Date
Lesson Topic
Holocaust Denial: Summary, Analysis & Critiques
Lesson Outline
Holocaust denial is the insistence that the Holocaust did not happen or wasn't that bad. What do we do when we're confronted by people who deny historical fact? Today we examined three arguments that Holocaust deniers use and the facts that refute these arguments, then learned strategies for confronting Holocaust deniers. We have learned that the Holocaust was an ethnic cleansing program planned and carried out by the Nazis that resulted in the death of six million European Jews, we primarily learned about Holocaust denial, which is the distortion of arguing that the genocide of Jews in WWII either never happened or was greatly exaggerated. It's based on three primary arguments: that the death rates are exaggerated, that there was no formal policy of genocide, and that Auschwitz was never used for mass executions. All of these points have been thoroughly debunked by historians, as well as an English court of law when denier David Irving sued American historian Deborah Lipstadt. Lipstadt won, with the help of testimony from historian Christopher Browning, but Holocaust denial is maintained by white supremacists. It's a movement built on anti-Semitism and prejudice, but one which is entirely vulnerable to a simple antidote: facts.
Session Minutes
60
Minutes Student Attended
60
Session Hours
1.00
Hours Attended
1.00
Entry Status
Review Status
Student Name(s)
Subject