Yesterday's ZGram talked about the perception three years ago on the part of the Holocaust Lobby that Revisionists might become a worrisome "danger" on the Internet in that they might be exploding their Revisionism and snare the minds of the unwary - unless somebody reined them in. Here we are now - with the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal hearings in full swing and having all the earmarks of a medieval Inquisition, still trying to rein us all in.
Practically all of last week was taken up with qualifying Mark Weber of the Institute for Historical Review as an Expert Witness, with the ruling on his qualifications still hanging in the air. Should he be qualified, he will be testifying at the end of April of next year. Dates are now set until August!
I thought it would be apropos to let you take a look at a summary of what Mark Weber's testimony will be like, should he be qualified:
"ANTICIPATED EVIDENCE OF MARK WEBER
Mark Weber will testify that Holocaust revisionism is an acknowledged and valid school of historical thought. It examines claims that during World War II, the German government of Adolf Hitler pursued a policy of extermination against Europe's Jews and that under this policy some six million Jews were killed, mainly in gas chambers built for the purpose, in such camps as Auschwitz, Birkenau, Treblinka, Buchenwald, and Dachau.
Revisionist historians do not dispute the fact that large numbers of Jews were deported to concentration camps and ghettos, or that many Jews died or were killed during World War II. They have, however, presented considerable evidence to show that there was no German program to exterminate Europe's Jews, that claims of mass killings in gas chambers are untrue, and that the estimate of six million Jewish dead is insupportable on the evidence.
The documents complained of against Ernst Zundel, namely, Did Six Million Really Die? By Richard E. Harwood, Jewish Soap by Mark Weber, 66 Questions and Answers on the Holocaust by the IHR, Inside the Auschwitz Gas Chambers by Fred Leuchter, Different Views on the Holocaust by Mark Weber, The Liberation of the Camps: Facts and Lies by Theodore O'Keefe, and Auschwitz: Myths and Facts by Mark Weber are examples of revisionist writing. The Power Letters are newsletters and the ZGrams are Internet columns which, for the most part, give comment and opinion on revisionist and current news topics.
He will testify that Holocaust revisionism is a legitimate part of the normal ongoing reevaluation of history that naturally occurs as new documents and other evidence become available, and in light of new interpretations and insights. Revision is particularly necessary for the events of wartime. As American historian Harry Elmer Barnes stated: "Truth is always the first war casualty. The emotional disturbances and distortions in historical writing are greatest in wartime."
Weber will testify that the goal of all legitimate historical writing and scholarship is the attainment of truth; that is, to determine, as closely as is humanly possible, what actually happened, and why. All scholars acknowledge that this is the goal of legitimate scholarship, as opposed to propaganda, and that such scholarship has inherent worth and value to society.
He will testify that scholarly historical writing by its nature speaks of nationalities, ethnic groups and religions, as these are primary organizational or structural patterns of human society. World War II history thus necessarily speaks of "the" French, English, Americans, Germans, Russians, and so on. When writing of this period, historians accordingly often refer to "the Jews," including Holocaust historians who routinely speak of "the war against the Jews," for example, or the "policy of Nazi Germany against the Jews." One cannot intelligently discuss the fate of the Jews in World War II without referring to them as a group, because actions were taken against them as a group.
Weber will testify that there is no substantive evidence that Holocaust revisionism has exposed Jews to hatred or contempt anywhere in the world. Surveys of anti-Semitism by Jewish organizations themselves confirm this. On the contrary, it is revisionist scholars and activists who have suffered hatred and contempt. Revisionists have been killed and beaten by Jewish terrorist groups. For example, Dr. Robert Faurisson was almost killed by three Jewish attackers in 1989. Bookstores carrying revisionist works have been firebombed. Ernst Zündel himself has suffered a major arson attack that almost totally destroyed his home, a pipe bombing of his garage, and a nail bomb sent in the mail. But there is no evidence that any Jew has been physically attacked as a result of anyone reading revisionist works.
The Institute for Historical Review in southern California, of which Weber is now the director, has itself been the target of hate groups. During the 1980s, the Jewish Defense League -- identified by the FBI in 1985 as the second most active terrorist group in the United States -- repeatedly assaulted the IHR office and IHR staff members. Following numerous death threats, extensive property damage, five relatively minor firebombings, one drive-by shooting, and two physical assaults, the Institute's office-warehouse was destroyed in an arson attack on July 4, 1984.
Weber will give evidence that a "Holocaust Lobby" does exist, and is not a code word for Jews, as testified to by Professor Prideaux. This "Lobby" consists of individuals and groups that promote the orthodox Holocaust story in schools and the media, and, increasingly, by lobbying for criminal sanctions outlawing any questioning of the story. Primary lobbyists in Canada include parties having interested party status before the Tribunal, namely, the Canadian Jewish Congress, B'nai Brith, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Canadian Holocaust Remembrance Association. In the United States, the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai Brith and the Simon Wiesenthal Center are two of the most prominent Holocaust Lobbyists. An individual who falls within the definition is movie mogul Steven Spielberg, who has relentlessly promoted the Holocaust in such movies as "Schindler's List" and in his program to videotape Jewish persons who lived through the war ("Holocaust survivors").
Weber will give evidence that the Holocaust has become a virtual state religion -a fact that is acknowledged in mainstream writing and in books by Jewish writers such as Why Should Jews Survive? and Beyond Innocence and Redemption. Determining that the Holocaust has become a part of the Jewish religion fosters greater understanding of why Jewish organizations do not meet revisionism rationally or scientifically, but rather on an emotional level. It also explains why the Holocaust Lobby, as it has become known, seeks criminal sanctions against those who "deny the Holocaust." The terminology is that of religious conviction and blasphemy, not the rational discourse of scholars. This goes far to understanding the present Tribunal proceedings against Ernst Zündel which is a kind of heresy trial of a new religion.
Weber will give evidence that the Holocaust Lobby, by emotive accusations of anti-Semitism, has hampered scholarly writing on the fate of the Jews in World War II, and that the Lobby's actions manifest irrationality, hysteria, paranoia, deception and manipulation of facts and emotions. The Lobby seems motivated by support for Israel and its policies, Jewish-Zionist organizations and Zionism.
Weber will show how prominent Jewish figures, including Elie Wiesel and influential French academics, have tried to suppress free and open investigation of the Holocaust story, thus hampering honest historical scholarship. Weber will show that, precisely because of such efforts at suppression by the "Holocaust Lobby", Holocaust revisionism is necessary and salutary.
Because Weber has played an important role in the global intellectual movement of Holocaust revisionism for nearly 20 years, he can testify authoritatively about the role of Ernst Zundel in this. Weber will explain that although Zundel is not a scholar, and has never claimed to be one, he has nevertheless played a positive role in promoting robust public discussion of important historical, social and political issues, in stimulating constructive historical research and debate, and in strengthening civil liberties and enhancing freedom, not only for himself and those who agree with him, but for all Canadians.
Weber will show that although Zundel's words and writings are sometimes passionate and polemical, such passion is born of quite understandable frustration given the actions, including violence, of the Holocaust Lobby against both himself and other revisionists. Weber will show that heated, polemical rhetoric is not at all unusual when speaking about the Holocaust issue, even by such prominent and lauded Holocaust Lobby figures as Elie Wiesel and Edgar Bronfman. Wiesel, for example, has stated that "every Jew, somewhere in his being, should set apart a zone of hate - healthy, virile hate - for what the German personifies and for what persists in the German." (Legends of Our Time). Bronfman has referred to Austrians as "dirty" animals, comparing them to dogs.
Weber will testify that Zundel's words must be evaluated in the context of an emotional and highly charged controversy having serious ramifications for Israel and the Jewish organizations, whose credibility would be greatly diminished should it be shown that the "Holocaust" is not what has been claimed. Zundel does not expose Jews to hatred or contempt, but rather righteous indignation and moral admonition based on his belief that certain Holocaust claims are not true.
Revisionism is not anti-Semitic or hatred against Jews. It is a search for truth. There are Holocaust revisionists who are Jewish as well as many other nationalities, ethnic groups and races. The effect of Holocaust revisionism is to lessen hatred against the German ethnic group, and others, by showing that, in actuality, they did not commit many of the heinous crimes of which they have been accused. Revisionism restores balance to historical perspective by removing Germans, and others, from the class of "demons" into which the Holocaust Lobby has put them.
Especially in a democratic, multicultural society, revisionism is a healing and necessary rectification of the historical record."
Thought for the Day:
"In dealing with extortionists, there are two things the authorities must do. One, certainly, is not to give in to their demands; that only encourages them to take more hostages. But the other is to take away their knife."
(From "No more ransom payments by Andrew Coyne, National Post, November 27, 1998)