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Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

Abstract

Holocaust deniers have an investment in taking a defensive stance. Theodor Adorno noted that to haggle about how many millions of innocent people were murdered in the Holocaust is degrading. Haggling about numbers is central to holocaust denial. Deborah Lipstadt's investigation of the nuances and varieties of deniers' claims across cultures makes it evident that, whatever their political or ideological objectives, deniers undertake their haggling in response to what they perceive to be an aggressive manipulation of history. Deniers charge that the manipulators are the Jews, who have inflated the number of Jewish deaths during World War II to garner sympathy for their diverse agendas, all of which can be traced to their bid to consolidate their world power. In the words of one denier, "The Jews have been able to dupe the world by relying on their mythic powers and conspiratorial abilities. As they have so often done in the past, world Jewry has once again employed its inordinate powers to harness the world's financial resources, media and political interests for their own purposes." Deniers also develop conclusions about the rationale behind the manipulation of statistics. In reference to the figure of six million Jewish victims, for example, one denier offers the following explanation: "Six is the holy number of Judaism, so we can safely assume that the alleged number of Holocaust victims is a Jewish religious myth derived either from the Thora [sic] or the Talmud." Through a form of mythical thinking masquerading as rational investigation, this denier claims to reveal the myth behind the 'myth' of the Holocaust. Professing insight into his opponent's rationale is another way of creating the impression that there is an opponent in the first place and of thereby exposing the victims as the true victimizers.

Disciplines

Comparative and Foreign Law | Dispute Resolution and Arbitration | Law | Law and Society | Torts

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