Holocaust revisionism lite
Holocaust revisionism lite or semi-revisionism refers to minority view variants of Holocaust revisionism that criticize much fewer aspects of the politically correct view of the Holocaust than most Holocaust revisionists do.
One example is such revisionists criticizing many of the politically correct claims regarding Auschwitz, but be more accepting of other politically correct claims, such as regarding Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka and the Einsatzgruppen, although also here certain aspects may be criticized.
Such views may be associated with other views not part of majority Holocaust revisionism, such as Hitler being deceived by elements within the SS regarding mass killings of Jews.
Such variants have at certain times been argued to have been expressed by David Irving, David Cole, and Mark Weber. These views are often only very briefly sketched, are often unclear regarding many details and many aspects of the Holocaust, do not necessarily agree with one another, and may have changed over time.
Majority Holocaust revisionism critics have criticized the arguments as well as the motives involved, such an argued possible desire to avoid, or at least lessen, persecutions for "Holocaust denialism". See the "External links" section.
Background
Auschwitz is by far the most known Holocaust camp. It is also relatively intact, there is an extensive amount of surviving documents, and there were many "Holocaust survivors" and "Holocaust confessors". Holocaust revisionist have used these elements to extensively criticize numerous aspects of the politically correct version of events.
The situation is different regarding Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka, which are much less known and with a much smaller amount of material remains, documentation, and "testimonies"/"confessions". Consequently, Holocaust revisionists have written relatively less on these camps. Relatively less has also been written by revisionists on the Einsatzgruppen, reflecting these Holocaust claims being less known and with limited claimed supporting evidence, mostly claimed documents. However, while relatively less has been written by revisionists on these topics, majority Holocaust revisionists have not seen this as evidence for their views being poorly supported. The politically correct version(s) regarding what occurred at Treblinka has frequently been criticized as particularly problematic and absurd. More generally, another example of criticisms is that many non-Auschwitz killings allegedly involved disposing of million of corpses without using crematoria, by argued absurd methods, and that would leave behind massive amounts of corpse remains that have not been found. See also Holocaust material evidence: Corpses and Aktion 1005.
Supporters of Holocaust revisionism lite may align themselves with politically correct historiography and cite, for example, the 27 March 1942 entry in Goebbels's diary, as argued general evidence for that mass killings in some form occurred. See the article on Joseph Goebbels.
Recent politically correct historiography has sometimes been seen as having certain similarities with Holocaust revisionism lite, downplaying (but not formally abandoning) Auschwitz in favor of shifting the focus further to the east. A comparison may possibly also be made with the Western Holocaust camps, which was earlier abandoned by politically correct sources as mass "extermination camps" (see the article on the Western Holocaust camps), with the focus then being shifted further to the east (and at this time in particular to Auschwitz).
See also
- Holocaust intentionalism and Holocaust functionalism - Some forms of Holocaust revisionism lite are similar to Holocaust functionalism (such as claims involving lower ranking officials starting genocidal killings, despite not being ordered to do so) and may be subject to similar criticisms.
- Soft Holocaust denial
External links
Criticisms
- Semi-Revisionism is Dead
- Talking Frankly” about David Irving, A Critical Analysis of David Irving's Statement on the Holocaust
- David Irving and the “Aktion Reinhardt Camps
- David Irving is not the Embodiment of Holocaust Revisionism
- Response to David Cole Regarding Treblinka
- Mark Weber: Squishy Semi-Revisionist Shirker
