ThoughtCrime: 04/25/96
French Investigate Garaudy for Holocaust Revisionism
A French magistrate launched a probe into French historian, Roger Garaudy
on allegations that he illegally questioned established beliefs about the
holocaust. Garaudy commented that he had ``done nothing wrong'' in his work,
The Founding Myths of Israeli
Politics. This action is the latest in a string of persecutions
perpetrated against established authors who raise questions about the orthodox
holocaust story.
Garaudy's volume,The Founding Myths is actually a broad
discussion of the myths upon which contemporary Israeli policy is established.
It is the section which deals with "The Holocaust Myth" which has most upset
the French establishment and various special interest groups. Garaudy's
arguments are a well-documented rendering of revisionist arguments over
the past 50 years. He argues that it is an exaggeration to call the Nazi
crimes ``genocide'' or a ``Holocaust.'' His documentation throws the traditional
belief of six million Jewish deaths into doubt.
Garaudy, who politically is associated with the Left, writes in his book,
"There is no more effective indictment against Hitlerism than the establishment
of the historical truth. It is to that truth we wanted to contribute with
this work.
Jacques Verges, Garaudy's lawyer, said that Garaudy had been placed under
investigation by magistrate Herve Stephan. This process can lead to a trial
but is short of a formal indictment. It is illegal in France to question
orthodox beliefs about the holocaust.
Pierre Guillaume, head of the Vielle Taupe publishers which printed Garaudy's
work in December, has also been targeted by various hate groups who fear
honest inquiry into the established beliefs about the holocaust.
Legitimate questions may no longer be asked about the holocaust story
in most of Europe without fear of persecution and imprisonment.
"Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime IS death."
George Orwell
|