Jerry Amernic
asked
James Morcan:
Hi James. I saw your post about Holocaust deniers. I wrote The Last Witness - about the last living survivor of the Holocaust in 2039 - and produced the video with university students who know little about the Holocaust and WWII. Don't you think a bigger problem than Holocaust denial is Holocaust ignorance on the part of the masses? Check out the video ... http://youtu.be/CRC_T07dwZo
James Morcan
Hey Jerry, I appreciate you reaching out to me.
Your video interviewing university students about WW2 was an eye-opener (I added the video to my group Underground Knowledge: https://www.goodreads.com/videos/1000...).
So I think, yes, Holocaust denial is at least partly due to Holocaust ignorance. If young people do not even know the basic facts, then they can be easily mislead by Holocaust deniers who as you know twist things to make it seem AS IF there is a cover-up surrounding the truth...
However, most Holocaust deniers I come across have studied WW2 and the Holocaust a fair bit, some are even amateur historians and read about it daily (albeit skewered versions of history).
So I personally think as big a problem as the ignorance is the hatred where people subconsciously do not want the Holocaust to be true and search obscure versions of history to fit their belief systems. They desperately want to "rewrite history" and no matter how much historical evidence you put in front of these anti-Semites they will never see the truth because they do not want to.
So ignorance should not be underestimated, but also hatred should not be either. And unfortunately not all who hate are dumb people - and obviously the intelligent bigots are the most dangerous as they are successfully converting young people to their anti-Semitic ideologies every single day.
Israel is another a complicating factor as ignorant people often bring up Israel whenever the Holocaust is mentioned...But obviously Israel is a country that came into being AFTER WW2 and is not remotely related to the historicity of the Holocaust - nor is the Middle East conflict.
And if I'm worried about all this as a non-Jew, then that perhaps tells the Jewish community there's a big problem looming unless we sort this out once and for all before the last survivors die out!
If we as a civilization cannot learn from the lessons of the Holocaust, then what can we learn from???
Best,
James
Your video interviewing university students about WW2 was an eye-opener (I added the video to my group Underground Knowledge: https://www.goodreads.com/videos/1000...).
So I think, yes, Holocaust denial is at least partly due to Holocaust ignorance. If young people do not even know the basic facts, then they can be easily mislead by Holocaust deniers who as you know twist things to make it seem AS IF there is a cover-up surrounding the truth...
However, most Holocaust deniers I come across have studied WW2 and the Holocaust a fair bit, some are even amateur historians and read about it daily (albeit skewered versions of history).
So I personally think as big a problem as the ignorance is the hatred where people subconsciously do not want the Holocaust to be true and search obscure versions of history to fit their belief systems. They desperately want to "rewrite history" and no matter how much historical evidence you put in front of these anti-Semites they will never see the truth because they do not want to.
So ignorance should not be underestimated, but also hatred should not be either. And unfortunately not all who hate are dumb people - and obviously the intelligent bigots are the most dangerous as they are successfully converting young people to their anti-Semitic ideologies every single day.
Israel is another a complicating factor as ignorant people often bring up Israel whenever the Holocaust is mentioned...But obviously Israel is a country that came into being AFTER WW2 and is not remotely related to the historicity of the Holocaust - nor is the Middle East conflict.
And if I'm worried about all this as a non-Jew, then that perhaps tells the Jewish community there's a big problem looming unless we sort this out once and for all before the last survivors die out!
If we as a civilization cannot learn from the lessons of the Holocaust, then what can we learn from???
Best,
James
More Answered Questions
John W. IV
asked
James Morcan:
Hey James, I'm enjoying your book. Very well written and researched. I recently spoke with Nick Cook at length about AGT on my podcast, Beyond Little Anton. My book Little Anton is about the origins of AGT and its use during WWII. We had a lot to talk about! I'm about to launch a Giveaway and wanted your followers to have first dibs. Does this sound fun? Stay safe, John Warner IV
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