Elise Mallin
Rager 3
HELA II
18 February 2015
Holocaust Denial
When you hear the word “Holocaust” you automatically think of the genocide and
suffering of six million Jews. However some people uneducated on the holocaust do not think of
this definition automatically. Gratefully the Holocaust is taught all over America with the
exception of some states where this topic is not required to be taught. For those unaware of this
topic, a brief description of the holocaust is, the Nazi’s and Adolf Hitler’s “final solution” which
was a bona fide orderly program of extermination of the Jewish Race involving mass murder on
a rugged scale. It occurred not so long ago between 1939 and 1945. Not soon enough it was
ended in 1945 by the allies’ victory over Germany ("The Holocaust: Denial & History."). Can
you believe that some people deny the loss of half of Germany’s population during World War
II? These people are called “holocaust deniers”. They are mostly made of anti-Semitics, neoNazis, and/or supremacist. These denier’s, who lack virtues, main goal is to reestablish Nazism
and promote anti-Semitism. Deniers of the holocaust show disrespect and cause pain for those
who were affected by the holocaust. So what can bystanders, to this bullying, do about denier’s
words and actions? The question, of whether or not holocaust denial should be a crime
punishable by law, is not up for debate because the act of denying the holocaust goes against
freedom of speech protections.
Holocaust deniers, who are against the denial of the holocaust becoming a punishable
law, argue that the freedom of speech protects their rights to make these “true” statements. To
end this dispute of whether or not this should be a law is to prove whether or not the holocaust
actually happened. One major argument, made by anti-Semitics, proving the holocaust wasn’t
real, is the invalidity of the “Diary of Anne Frank”. You may be thinking that it’s absurd to even
question the diary’s validity since there has been many plays based off this diary and the famous
museum of where Anne Frank wrote her diary (the Secret Annex), located in Germany, still
exists today. The holocaust deniers have created arguments to support their position. The first
argument that they make is that the pen used to write Anne Frank’s Diary was a ball point pen,
which wasn’t available until after the war ("The Holocaust: Denial & History.”). Secondly, the
deniers claim that the diary was a forgery and was actually written by Anne’s father, Otto Frank,
after the war. Among those who support the forgery of the diary claim, are Richard Harwood
author of Did Six Million Really Die? 1975, David Irving an anti-Semitic who claimed the diary
was too mature to be written by Anne and it was actually a source of profits to her sorrowing
father Otto 1975, and lastly, Dittlieb Felderer who wrote Anne Frank’s Diary: A hoax 1978
("David Irving & The Diary of Anne Frank."). Additionally, critics of the law claim that the
living situation in the Secret Annex as described in Anne Frank’s diary was impossible and they
would have been discovered almost immediately. This is supported by Robert Faurisson a French
holocaust denier 1982 ("The Story of Anne Frank: Authenticity Diary."). All these points made
by people who hate Jews may seem believable to those uneducated, however there are many,
actual evidentiary facts to prove the holocaust deniers are so wrong.
In the following paragraph all of the holocaust deniers claims will be proven to be false.
Those affected by the unintelligence of the Holocaust Deniers argue that the negative effects
caused by this type of speech outweigh free speech protections. The argument about whether or
not Anne Frank’s diary is invalid is proven to be false by the Emory University and Tam
Institute for Jewish Studies. They prove that Anne wrote the body of her diary with a fountain
pen. The only ball point ink traces are two loose notes written by someone else with different
handwriting, which were put with the diary later on ("The Holocaust: Denial & History.”). David
Irving not even reading the whole diary didn’t do near as much research as the University and
Institute did. Next, the denier’s claim of Otto Frank writing the diary instead of his daughter has
been shown by The Netherlands State Institute for War Documentation (NSIWD) to be false.
NSIWD determined the “definitive” version is not a “novel” of “literary fraud” and all materials
were written by Anne ("An Authenticated Edition of Anne Frank's Diary."). Anne’s father
remained true to the essence of his daughter’s writings. Also Anne changed during the 25 months
she spent in hiding; Maturing, her diary entries also matured ("The Holocaust: Denial &
History."). Lastly, Tam Institute for Jewish Studies proved that the Secret Annex was very hard
to live in but not impossible. The residents had some close calls but were also very aware and
organized on times they could talk or move. Furthermore the entrance to the Secret Annex was
disguised in a way to look like the materials in the rest of the room ("The Holocaust: Denial &
History.”). After proving every single one of the Holocaust Deniers claims to be false, with
actual evidence, it should be recognized by the world that they are disrespectful, uneducated, and
not sympathetic whatsoever. The deniers’ use of speech outweighs every right for their freedom
of speech on this topic.
The question, of whether or not holocaust denial should be a crime punishable by law, is
not up for debate because the act of denying the holocaust goes against freedom of speech
protections. Based on evidence and how many people suffered from the holocaust the world
should make, as an honor, the negative use of speech, denying that the holocaust ever happened,
a crime punished by law. This doesn’t mean that any negative talk of holocaust is to be made
illegal, it simply means that if you deny that it ever happened you would be punished by the law,
keeping humans safe from the denier’s bullying.
Works Cited
ProQuest Staff. "At Issue: Holocaust Denial." ProQuest LLC. 2015: n.pag. SIRS Issues Researcher.
Web. 18 Feb. 2015.
"The Holocaust: Denial & History." Holocaust Denial on Trial. Emory University, 2013 Web. 19
Feb. 2015. <http://www.hdot.org/>.
"David Irving & The Diary of Anne Frank." David Irving & The Diary of Anne Frank. The Nizkor
Project, 8 Mar. 1999. Web. 20 Feb. 2015. <http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/f/frankanne/press/anne-frank-001.html>.
"The Story of Anne Frank: Authenticity Diary." Anne Frank House. Anne Frank Stichting. Web. 20
Feb. 2015. <http://www.annefrank.org/en/Anne-Frank/The-diary-of-Anne-Frank/Authenticitydiary/>.
Mitgang, Herbert. "An Authenticated Edition of Anne Frank's Diary." The New York Times. The
New York Times Company, 7 June 1989. Web. 20 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/08/books/an-authenticated-edition-of-anne-frank-sdiary.html>.