Jean-Claude Pressac

Jean-Claude Pressac (1944 - 23 July 2003) was a French chemist and pharmacist who later became a well-known critic of Holocaust revisionism.

Non-revisionists have sometimes cited books by Pressac as having refuted some technical revisionist arguments regarding Auschwitz. Revisionists argue that this is incorrect and that the writings presented unsubstantiated ramblings and unfounded speculations. This is argued to in effect be admitted also by some non-revisionists who started criticizing the arguments as counterproductive. Thus, one critic wrote that "Far from signifying the defeat of the revisionists, Mr. Pressac’s book ‘The Crematories of Auschwitz: The Technique of Mass Murder’ signifies its paradoxical triumph: The apparent victors (those who affirm the crime in its whole horrible extent) are the defeated, and the apparent losers (the revisionists and with them the deniers) come out on top. Their victory is invisible, but incontestable". In addition, Pressac in his later years became increasingly critical of mainstream historiography, which he described as "rotten" and stated that "The current view of the world of the [National Socialist] camps, though triumphant, is doomed. What of it can be salvaged? Only little." This is argued to have caused him to eventually be shunned by the mainstream and his death in 2003 to be ignored by the media.

Technical arguments made by other prominent revisionists and at the Irving v. Lipstadt trial have often consisted of reusing Pressac's arguments, sometimes without naming the source, and have been extensively criticized by revisionists.

Quotes

Concerning the massacres of Jews, several basic conceptions must be thoroughly revised. The expression 'genocide' is no longer appropriate. Every epochal change leads to a new evaluation of rigid canons of memory which we have heretofore been taught to regard as eternal. However, new documents inevitably surface which increasingly upset official certainties. Thus, today's depiction of the system of concentration camps, while still triumphant, is doomed to collapse. What can be salvaged from it? Very little. The truth is that exaggeration of the extent of the concentration camp system is like squaring the circle - it means declaring that black is white. The truth is that national conscience does not care for sad stories. The life of a zombie is not inspiring, since pain suffered is exploited and converted into jingling coins: Medals, pensions, public office, political influence. Thus it becomes possible to be simultaneously victim and privileged individual, even executioner.

External links

• In Memoriam Jean-Claude Pressac: Jean-Claude Pressac and Revisionism
• Auschwitz: Plain Facts—A Response to Jean-Claude Pressac
• The Real Case for Auschwitz—Robert van Pelt’s Evidence from the Irving Trial Critically Reviewed

Article archives

• Codoh: Pressac, Jean-Claude