Robert Faurisson

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Robert Faurisson (born January 25, 1929 in Shepperton, Surrey) is a French Holocaust denier, who was formerly a professor of literature at the University of Lyon II. Faurisson generated much controversy with a number of articles, published in the Journal of Historical Review and elsewhere, as well as various letters he has sent to French newspapers (especially Le Monde), which deny various aspects of the Holocaust, including the existence of homicidal gas chambers in Nazi concentration camps, the reality of the systematic killing of European Jews using gas during World War II, the authenticity of The Diary of Anne Frank, and the veracity of Elie Wiesel's accounts of his wartime suffering.[1]

Faurisson was fined for defamation by a French court in 1983, for the maliciousness of his revisionist writings, which were found to violate hate speech laws.[1] Shortly after the passing of the Gayssot Law in 1990, Faurisson was convicted of Holocaust denial.[2] A defense of Faurisson's freedom of speech by Noam Chomsky, who penned an introduction to one of Faurisson's revisionist works, sparked further international controversy.[2]

Contents

[edit] Theories

[edit] Holocaust denial

Faurisson's activism as a Holocaust denier first surfaced in 1974, when he contacted Yad Vashem with a lengthy letter detailing a variety of arguments which he believed demonstrated that there had been no genocide of Jews during World War II.[2] These assertions were based on his own interpretation of archival records and his skepticism about the assertions and testimony of various historical figures, including Nazi officials such as Rudolf Hoss.[2]

He became involved with the Institute for Historical Review during the 1970s, lecturing and publishing prolifically.[2] He twice testified in defense of Canadian-German Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel, and his testimony has been associated with laying the groundwork for the "Leuchter Report", a Holocaust-denial publication which has been influential.[2] Faurisson's activism garnered him several dedicated critics, including French historian Pierre Vidal-Naquet.[2]

Faurisson counts among his acquaintances and friends a number of Holocaust deniers, including the Ernst Zündel, Ditlieb Felderer and Ahmed Rami.[3] Christopher Hitchens has described Faurisson's goal as "the rehabilitation, in pseudoscholarly form, of the Third Reich".[4]

[edit] Anne Frank's diary

In 1978, Faurisson authored a French-language text entitled "The Diary of Anne Frank--Is It Authentic?".[5] It appeared in Dutch-language translation in 1985, with the modified title, "The Diary of Anne Frank--A Forgery".[5] The text questioned various elements of the Diary of Anne Frank, including the use of a vacuum cleaner by the family while it was in hiding. Faurisson continued,

“ Vacuum cleaners at that time were exceptionally noisy. I must ask: 'Is this credible?' My question is not just a formality. It is not rhetorical. Its purpose is not to astonish. My question is simply a question. An answer will have to be found.[5] ”

Faurisson interviewed Otto Frank in researching the article, though much of what Faurisson asserted Frank had said was later contradicted by Frank himself.[5] Faurisson's writing on the subject first came into the spotlight amidst a court case between Otto Frank and Heinz Roth, a publishing-house owner who was responsible for the circulation of various neo-Nazi writings, including several publications impugning the authenticity of Anne Frank's diary; Faurisson's writing on the subject was entered into the court record as an expert opinion in defense of Roth.[5] (The 1978 finding of the court was that Roth must refrain from publishing any more pamphlets claiming that the diary was a fraud.)[5]

[edit] Controversies

See also: Faurisson Affair

In the early to mid 1980s, the American intellectual Noam Chomsky drew much criticism for defending Faurisson's right to publish his claims on the grounds of freedom of speech, signing a petition in which Faurisson was described as "a respected professor", and saying in an essay that, based on incomplete reading, he had seen "no evidence to support [the] conclusion" that Faurisson was antisemitic.

In September 1989, Faurisson was beaten severely by unknown assailants who called themselves "The Sons of the Memory of the Jews".[1]

In 1991, Faurisson was removed from his university chair on the basis of his views under the Gayssot Act, a French statute passed in 1990 that prohibited Holocaust denial. He challenged the statute as a violation of international law at the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Human Rights Committee. The Human Rights Committee upheld the Gayssot Act as necessary to counter possible antisemitism. Further trials followed, among them one in connection with a publication on the website of the "Association des anciens amateurs de récits de guerre et d'Holocauste" (AAARGH) in 1998, of which he was absolved due to lack of evidence of his authorship.

Faurisson was charged again in a trial on July 11, 2006. He was accused of denying the Holocaust in an interview with the Iranian television station "Sahar 1" in February 2005. On October 3, 2006 he was given a three-month probationary sentence and fined €7,500 for this offence.[6][7] In December 2006 Faurisson gave a speech at the International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust, which was sponsored by the government of Iran. He repeated his theories about gas chambers and said that for the past 32 years he has been waiting for someone to show him just one of those chambers.

Since late 2008, Faurisson has become close to the far right comedian and political activist Dieudonné M'bala M'bala, appearing with him publicly on stage and in video, and celebrating his 80th birthday in his theater.[8][9][10][11][12] Antisemitic utterances made during the stage appearance ultimately earned M'Bala M'Bala another court conviction in a long series.[13]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c Charny, Israel W. Encyclopedia of Genocide. 1999, page 182
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Levy, Richard S. Antisemitism. 2005, page 225
  3. ^ Faurisson, un falsificateur by Gilles Karmasyn, PHDN (French)
  4. ^ The Chorus and Cassandra, by Christopher Hitchens, Grand Street Magazine, Autumn 1985
  5. ^ a b c d e f Frank, Anne and Hardy, H. J. J. and Barnouw, David and van der Stroom, Gerrold. The Diary of Anne Frank: The Revised Critical Edition. 2003, page 93-6
  6. ^ "Négationnisme. Robert Faurisson condamné à trois mois avec sursis." L'Humanité, October 4, 2006
  7. ^ "Robert Faurisson condamné pour révisionnisme"[dead link] Associated Press French Worldstream, October 3, 2006,
  8. ^ http://www.lepoint.fr/actualites-societe/2008-12-31/regardez-dieudonne-faurisson-ouverture-d-une-enquete-preliminaire/920/0/302921
  9. ^ http://www.rue89.com/2009/01/11/dieudonne-faurisson-le-pen-decryptage-du-trio-infernal
  10. ^ http://www.lejdd.fr/cmc/societe/200901/dieudonne-s-enfonce-un-peu-plus_176189.html
  11. ^ http://france-israel.hautetfort.com/archive/2009/02/25/les-etranges-amities-de-dieudonne-le-monde.html
  12. ^ http://www.agoravox.tv/article.php3?id_article=22335
  13. ^ Amende de 10.000€ pour Dieudonné, Le Figaro, 27 October 2009

[edit] References

  • Frank, A.; Hardy, H. J. J.; Barnouw, D.; Stroom, G. v. d. (1989). The diary of Anne Frank: The critical, edition. London: Viking. ISBN 9780670820481. 
  • Levy, Richard (2005). Antisemitism: a Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781851094394. 

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Faurisson"