Denial of the Holocaust Should Be Illegal

The Holocaust is one of best-documented events in history, however, nearly 20 percent of Americans still question if the Holocaust ever happened (Darnell). Holocaust denial is defined as the belief or assertion that the Holocaust did not happen or was greatly exaggerated (Google). The Holocaust was a deliberate plan of termination of groups including Jews, Communists, homosexual people, mentally handicapped and non-Aryans. In the Holocaust, Nazis killed six million Jews and six million non-Jewish people. Many Holocaust deniers claim the victims were never intentionally killed, and died coincidently from typhus, starvation or bombings. Deniers also believe the gas chambers were never used to kill large groups of people. According to biblebilievers.org, a website wrote by the editor of the Institute for Historical Review, the doors and windows in the chambers were not “hermetically sealed”. Without this closure, the gas would have escaped the chambers and killed everyone in the area, including Nazis. Holocaust deniers also believe the facts of the Holocaust were extremely exaggerated. A primary resource of the Holocaust, The Diary of Anne Frank, is considered forged due to the fact that portions of the journal were written in ballpoint pen, which was not used at the time the diary was written (“Hoax”).

Different regions and religions of the world react to Holocaust Denial in numerous ways. The Middle East is growing a group of Holocaust deniers very rapidly. The fear of Holocaust denial uprisings has caused Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Israel, and Switzerland to make Holocaust denial illegal (Responding). Nearer to the U.S., in Canada, jail time can be given to a person who supports genocide. The law reads, “Eve...

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...n be controlled if their ideas become out of control. Young people being influenced should not change our rights. Holocaust denial shouldn’t be banned; the State needs to take responsibility to reveal the true facts about the Holocaust to young people. Textbooks should continue to include facts and no opinions. However, having information from other countries’ point of views would allow a greater understanding of what truly happened during the Holocaust.

The Holocaust is one of the larges crimes against humanity ever witnessed. Deliberately terminating several groups of people has been denied for several years. Holocaust denial is the belief that the Holocaust did not happen or was greatly exaggerated. Denial of the Holocaust is illegal in several counties, but not the United States. Holocaust denial should remain legal in the U.S. to preserve the first amendment.