Have you ever known a holocaust denier? How did you feel about them?

by Esse quam videri 47 Replies latest jw experiences

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  Esse quam videri

  I sometimes did work for a lovely old couple who at times needed repairs done around their home. My wife and myself spent time with them, having tea and crackers from time to time. One day the husband and myself got into a conversation and he clearly showed himself to be a holocaust denier. It was upsetting to hear this from the mouth of someone I liked. I quickly changed the way I thought about him and as time went on I couldn't stand the thought of being in his presence. I did some research on his last name and it was the same as a family owning a major German industrial corporation involved in all kinds of war manufacturing during the Nazi era. Maybe just a coincidence, maybe he was a relative, maybe a former SS. Who knows? But the thoughts do run through your mind.

  If you know or knew a holocaust denier, how did you feel about them?
  
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  Still Totally ADD

  Those of the John Birch Society believe there was no Holocaust. There movement is growing in numbers in the south east of the US. Still Totally ADD
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  Saename

  Never knew anybody of that sort. But who knows? Maybe there was someone in my presence at some time who was a Holocaust denier but just never spoke about it?
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  TD

  Not personally, but there was one here on JWN years ago.

  In Germany, denying the Holocaust is a crime that in the worst case, could get you five years in prison.
  
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  Nevuela

  Find a Holocaust survivor and introduce him. I've always wanted to see a denier in that kind of situation.
  
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  Landy

  I did some research on his last name and it was the same as a family owning a major German industrial corporation involved in all kinds of war manufacturing during the Nazi era.

  
  

  It wasn't Farben by any chance was it? IG Farber was a major user of Jewish slave labour from Auswitch during the war.

  IG Farben then went on to become BASF, Bayer and Agfa amongst other companies.
  
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  PhilJonesIII

  There is so much misinformation about WWII. A lot of British people will claim that WWII was won virtually single- handed by the British. Certainly when I was at school very little was said of the US or Russian contribution OR that after the end of things in Europe, the war continued apace against Japan.

  Little is made either of the the, if not god-like then certainly rock-star status that Hitler enjoyed. Germany was well en-route to reestablishing itself as a European nation that could stand proud again. Cant confirm his contribution but it was under his watch that much was achieved in terms of industry, infrastructure and employment. Hitler could do no wrong so when news of the 'solution' arrived, it was denied by many. 'No way would their beloved leader ( for beloved he was ) do such a thing.....Why there are even films showing us that they have re-housed the Jews etc in to their own communes/communities..'
  

  There had been hints of the death camps before the end of the war but it was not until the allies came across them was the full horror exposed. ( Case in point : Some actually believe that WWII was all about liberating the Jews from the death camps. )
  

  Certainly not all deniers will fall in to that category but if JWs still believe the Armageddon bull***p after all these years....keeping the dream alive.....so why not older Germans that once believed in the dream that Hitler sold them?
  
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  prologos

  The person that exposed me to wt literature was a Holocaust Denier, a rabid nazi ( a demented former SS member who had a heavy metal brain disorder from his occupation). an avid witness that could not shake the hate from his traumatised back ground ( not all war crimes were committed by the Nazis ). The plight of the Jewish people is so well documented, filmed. not just in the extermination camps, but the CO gas and bullet shoa. The US Air force even filmed the crematoria, and open pits in Auschwitz/ Birkenau, as they bombed the nearby, Inmates- build IG Farben/ Buna factories.

  My father, who was a technician using Concentration Camp slave labor, was shown through the camp and its skeletal victims, and beaten (perhaps somebody knew is technical part of the inmate exploitation). I remember in 1938-39 the jewish neighbours wearing the yellow star, and that they all had dis-appeared ftom the neighbourhood when we returned after the war. Holocaust deniers are nuts as the person in the opening above, or vicious bigots.
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  blondie

  I was born a few years after WW2 not far from Dachau. Neighbors did not deny it happened. Hey, there are people who still believe the earth is flat.
  
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  Saename

  Someone here wanted to see a Holocaust denier confront an actual survival. I found on YouTube an excerpt from a play Denial in which you can see just that. Now, it is just a fictional play based on the Holocaust, so this did not actually happen, but I thought that some people may still enjoy it:

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWCfxbIEyds