Holocaust Denial.

[firecoins]

only Nazis and Islamic fascists deny the holocaust.

 

[Axiom_Blade]

only Nazis and Islamic fascists deny the holocaust.

You don't think any of them have simply been fooled?

 

[Kiwiwriter]

No...

You don't think any of them have simply been fooled?

If they were fooled, they were fools in the first place.

 

[uk_dave]

Holocaust denier to be released

An Austrian court has ruled that UK historian David Irving - jailed for denying the Holocaust - should be released on probation.

The court had heard calls for both a reduction and increase in the three-year sentence.

Irving was convicted in February in a case that sparked international debate about the limits of freedom of speech.

In 1989 he spoke in Austria denying the existence of gas chambers at Auschwitz, though he later said he was "mistaken".

Irving on Wednesday welcomed his release and said he was "fit and well".

Intense debate

The BBC's Kerry Skyring in Vienna says the sentence has been converted to one year in jail and two years suspended.

The conditions of the probation are not yet known, including whether Irving will be able to leave Austria.

But his lawyer, Herbert Schaller, said: "He is free, and he can leave, and he will leave."

Both the prosecution and defence had challenged the length of the sentence. The crime carries a prison term of up to 10 years.

The 1992 law targets "whoever denies, grossly plays down, approves or tries to excuse the National Socialist genocide".

Irving, 68, was arrested in November last year on a motorway in southern Austria. He was visiting to give a lecture to a far-right student fraternity.

The conviction had sparked intense debate with supporters saying it was fully justified but opponents arguing it undermined the right of freedom of speech.

At the initial trial, Irving had said it was "ridiculous" he was being tried for expressing an opinion and that he had changed his views on the Holocaust.

(emphasis added)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6196073.stm

I wonder if he'll now start lecturing on the truth of the holocaust?

 

[gumboot]

There's only one thing I really find curious about the Holocaust, and that's the name.

"holocaust" means "burnt offering" in Greek, but more specifically, it was the part of sacrificed bull or similar animal that the priests burnt as an offering to their gods.

While I can see the direct connection from "burnt" and the Jews being incinerated, the overall original meaning of the term "holocaust" in its original context, makes for a rather disturbing comparison.

I am curious if Nick or anyone else has some specific information on the origins of the application of "Holocaust" to the Nazi extermination of the Jews? Also, is there an argument that while the Nazi extermination collectively is a genocide, the term "holocaust" applies specifically to the Jewish element?

-Gumboot

ETA. As an aside, if we're talking numbers for civilian victims of WW2 it is worth noting that a good chunk of those Russian civilians often listed in totals were actually victims of their own Soviet regime, not the war.

ETA 2. I forgot to add something.

Nick thank you immensely for your insight and knowledge sharing here, and welcome. And more importantly, thank you for your efforts in battling Holocaust Denial.

 

[a_unique_person]

It sounds like the best way to deal with these 'gentlemen' is to ignore them. Nothing good can come from debating them.

There's problem of that in this thread. He isn't debating anyone.

 

[Arkan_Wolfshade]

There's only one thing I really find curious about the Holocaust, and that's the name.

"holocaust" means "burnt offering" in Greek, but more specifically, it was the part of sacrificed bull or similar animal that the priests burnt as an offering to their gods.

While I can see the direct connection from "burnt" and the Jews being incinerated, the overall original meaning of the term "holocaust" in its original context, makes for a rather disturbing comparison.

I am curious if Nick or anyone else has some specific information on the origins of the application of "Holocaust" to the Nazi extermination of the Jews? Also, is there an argument that while the Nazi extermination collectively is a genocide, the term "holocaust" applies specifically to the Jewish element?

-Gumboot

ETA. As an aside, if we're talking numbers for civilian victims of WW2 it is worth noting that a good chunk of those Russian civilians often listed in totals were actually victims of their own Soviet regime, not the war.

ETA 2. I forgot to add something.

Nick thank you immensely for your insight and knowledge sharing here, and welcome. And more importantly, thank you for your efforts in battling Holocaust Denial.

fwiw

Etymology and usage of the term

Main article: Names of the Holocaust
The term holocaust originally derived from the Greek word holokauston, meaning a "completely (holos) burnt (kaustos)" sacrificial offering to a god. Since the late 19th century, "holocaust" has primarily been used to refer to disasters or catastrophes. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word was first used to describe Hitler's treatment of the Jews from as early as 1942, though it did not become a standard reference until the 1950s. By the late 1970s, however, the conventional meaning of the word became the Nazi genocide. The term is also used by many in a narrower sense, to refer specifically to the unprecedented destruction of European Jews in particular. Some historians credited Elie Wiesel with giving the term 'Holocaust' its present meaning. The biblical word Shoa (שואה), also spelled Shoah and Sho'ah, meaning "calamity" in Hebrew, became the standard Hebrew term for the Holocaust as early as the early 1940s.[3] Shoa is preferred by many Jews and a growing number of others for a number of reasons, including the potentially theologically offensive nature of the original meaning of the word holocaust.
The word "genocide" was coined during the Holocaust. In 1944, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace published Raphael Lemkin's most important work, entitled Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, in the United States. This book included an extensive legal analysis of German rule in countries occupied by Nazi Germany during the course of World War II, along with the definition of the term genocide.[4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust#Etymology_and_usage_of_the_term