Holocaust Denial
Faurisson's activism as a Holocaust denier first surfaced in 1974, when he contacted Yad Vashem with a lengthy letter detailing a variety of arguments which he claimed demonstrated that there had been no genocide of Jews during World War II. These assertions were based on his own interpretation of archival records and his skepticism about the assertions and testimony of various historical figures, including Nazi officials such as Rudolf Höss.
He became involved with the Institute for Historical Review during the 1970s, lecturing and publishing prolifically. He twice testified in defense of Canadian-German Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel, and his testimony has been associated with laying the groundwork for the "Leuchter Report", a Holocaust-denial publication which has been influential. Faurisson's activism garnered him several dedicated critics, including the Jewish French historian Pierre Vidal-Naquet.
In 1978, Faurisson authored a French-language text entitled "The Diary of Anne Frank—Is It Authentic?". It appeared in Dutch-language translation in 1985, with the modified title, "The Diary of Anne Frank—A Forgery". The text questioned various elements of the Diary of Anne Frank, including the use of a vacuum cleaner by the family while they were in hiding. Faurisson continued,
Vacuum cleaners at that time were exceptionally noisy. I must ask: 'Is this credible?' My question is not just a formality. It is not rhetorical. Its purpose is not to astonish. My question is simply a question. An answer will have to be found.
Faurisson interviewed Otto Frank in researching the article, though much of what Faurisson asserted Frank had said was later contradicted by Frank himself. Faurisson's writing on the subject first came into the spotlight amidst a court case between Otto Frank and Heinz Roth, a publishing-house owner who was responsible for the circulation of various neo-Nazi writings, including several publications impugning the authenticity of Anne Frank's diary; Faurisson's writing on the subject was entered into the court record as an expert opinion in defense of Roth. (The 1978 finding of the court was that Roth must refrain from publishing any more pamphlets claiming that the diary was a fraud.)
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad granted Robert Faurisson an award for "courage" in Tehran on 2 February 2012.
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Famous quotes containing the word denial:
“The line that I am urging as today’s conventional wisdom is not a denial of consciousness. It is often called, with more reason, a repudiation of mind. It is indeed a repudiation of mind as a second substance, over and above body. It can be described less harshly as an identification of mind with some of the faculties, states, and activities of the body. Mental states and events are a special subclass of the states and events of the human or animal body.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)