What made you first question the holocaust?

[StuDewan]

my father was a journalist and we had lots and lots of books at home... I started reading when I was 5 before I went to elementary school I had read everything that was on the bookshelves... and that included the Quram, the Talmud, the Mahabaratha and the Bible...

there was one particular book, printed on black pages, with some scary pictures on it... I remember my dad saying it was a gift from the polish consul (my father was well related in the diplomatic circles and diplomats were a common sight at our home)...
I can't remember the book's title but it was something like "we'll never forget" and, obviously, it was printed by the communists... it showed pics from the concentration camps... (communists were the enemy then, my brother and I used to call the fence between our house and the neighbour's "the shame wall", in a reference to the Berlin wall, which we saw at the Life magazines we read)

I never had any doubts that the concentration camps were real and that terrible things happened to the jews... at the time I could not understand why people would be killed just because of their religion...

I remember my mom telling us (me, my older brother and my old sister) about the concentration camps... how the jews were tricked to go the baths and instead of water gas came out of the faucets killing them all... my sister had to read the Anne Frank Diary for school and I read it too...

also we had some russian and ukranian neighbours, escapees from the communists, who repeated the same stories... it was "common knowledge"...

until I got older jews were just people of a different religion... when I was 10 I left elementary school to what was called "middle school" (5th to 8th grade)... after some tough tests I was admitted at the best school in town, a public school where there was 1500 boys, of all classes, from the poorest to the richest...

the demographics for an average class of 40 kids were: most catholic from polish, italian, portuguese or spanish families, one or two black kids, one or two protestants (the germans), maybe one muslim and one japanese, and three or four jews... (I still live in a city with a large percentage of jews, about 10%)...

so it was pretty common (before the politically correct craze) to call my fellow students "pole", "german", "italian ", "negro", "jap" or "turk" (anyone from middle east was automatically a "turk" even if they came from syrian or lebanese families)... only one nickname was not allowed: "jew"... if you called one of them a "jew" it was considered offensive... it took a few months for this 10 year old kid to understand that, why they didn't mix with the rest of us, but at end of the first year I finally understood that "jew" wasn't someone of the judaic religion but a person of the "jewish people"... yet the nazis were still evil and the jews were victims, no doubts about that...

after middle school, just before university, at a history class the teacher was talking about the holocaust and the "6 million" when one student raised his hand and said "there's doubts if this number is real" to what the teacher answered "the numbers don't matter, it's still a crime even if the nazis killed only one innocent child"... brain washing at its best... but yet I still hadn't any doubts.. I've seen the pics, I've heard stories from people who were there, there was no room for doubts...

a couple of years later I went to Germany for the first time... my best friend was the son of a german who was 17 when he had to fight the eastern front, and his dad hated the war... thru my friend I had the chance to know german families at their homes and then I heard many stories about the war... so for the first time in my life the germans were not "nazis" but ordinary people, very unlikely to the ones portrayed at the movies... I decided not to visit the concentration camps, I thought they were not a fair representation of the war or the german people...

when the TV series "Holocaust" was shown everybody had the same opinion: ridiculous, a gross exageration... slowly I started to understand the power of propaganda... one late night I was watching a movie at the TV, The Rose Garden, about a nazi who used to hang children with his own hands... it was disgusting until I saw the disclaimer at the end of the film saying it was fiction and had no relation to facts... I was pissed... why would they show something so disgusting, giving the spectators the impression it was based on facts when it wasn't?... soon I learned about the "holocaust industry" and the power of Hollywood...

many years later I found CODOH and I spent many hours reading the threads... it was the last straw, I became a revisionist, and as they say, "never again" will I be fooled...

[EtienneSC]

I'm from the UK and new to this site and this seems an appropriate subject to post on. I spent many years trying to understand the motives for the 'holocaust' and, whilst I made some progress - and am perhaps even a worse person as a result - I never could quite make sense of it. Part of my curiosity was from Daniel Goldhagen's book, which has the merit at least of raising the question of motives, but principally I'm interested in the reception of German thought in the rest of Europe, to which the 'holocaust' and national socialism are stumbling blocks,as was Prussianism before them. The holocaust is also the subject of a lot of academic research since the 1980s as a kind of not-very-hidden subtext. Somehow it never occured to me to question the facts themselves. My opinions at the time were radical egalitarian - they are no longer so, though I believe in proportion, if not equality as such.

Well, to cut a long story short, out of desperation for a new approach I googled 'holocaust denial' and soon enough found 'One Third of the Holocaust' and 'Last days of the Big Lie', which I think are a jump forward in presentation from Zundel and David Irving. By the holocaust, I mean Auschwitz, the Action Reinhardt camps and the scale of the Einzatzgruppen shootings, not the prior persecution. The videos didn't convince me, but they certainly made me question, and so I checked out Arthur Butz's book and some of Carlo Mattogno's. Paget's British book on the Manstein trial was an eye opener too. Then I looked at Martin Gilbert's Holocaust (1985) to get the other side and was really shocked at the low level of evidence cited for the claimed facts - and this from a biographer of Churchill, who is certainly capable of much better. I've written enough history myself to figure that one newpaper article to support 60,000 deaths isn't the best you can do for 20th century history.

So I find myself coming to the conclusion that, with many fewer dead bodies than supposed, no murder weapon and - and here I know from long experience - no adequate motive - this is no normal murder investigation. Holocaust studies now seems to me something like psychoanalysis, critical theory or post-modernism rather than a serious empirical study. I have only met one post-grad involved in it and he seemed to know the score and treat it as a branch of literary studies. I look again at the eye-witnesses and just think to myself, 'no, I don't believe you'.

I don't believe there are certainties in history and in terms of the balance of evidence, I'm still open minded rather than anyone's poodle, but if you ask for my honest opinion, I don't believe it any more. Thus far, I have found that this allows me to make sense of things that are otherwise unexplicable, such as the massive support for national socialism, the apparently honest affection of Hitler's secretaries for him, the incredible passivity of the alleged victims, the contrast between human nature in WW2 narratives and what we know in ordinary experience, even ordinary wars, and much else besides.

[realitycheck]

For me it was many years ago, when I was at school. As a Mathematics student, I became aware even then how, on seeing a few zeroes at the end of a number, most people lose all comprehension as to the relative sizes of numbers. Terms such as "Tens of thousands" and "Millions" were and still are used by the media to confuse rather than properly inform. Whenever "large" numbers are presented, I naturally look at them in a mathematical way, rather than with the hysteria that the presenter intended. When the H numbers were first presented to me in the early 1960s, I naturally thought about the logistics that would be involved and instantly realised that it just didn't add up.

[Inquisitor]

Greetings to the Forum - another new member here. My story of doubt and discovery is probably pretty similar to that of many others'. As an American of German background, it just never seemed believable to me that my kinsman could have engaged in this orgy of mass-murder, torture, abuse and sadism known at "The Holocaust." I distinctly recall watching the infamous "Holocaust" miniseries as a youth, and honestly I don't remember thinking a whole lot about it other than thinking the german uniforms were really "cool" and that the whole tale was really dark and unpleasant. But I still had doubts even then.

In High School, I remember being shown the standard films of cadaverous bodies being bulldozed into mass graves, watching the Ann Frank film and the like - but honestly, though I cannot say I was a non-believer in any conscious way, it all just a surreal quality about it that made it seem more like some kind of horror-film that an actual historical event - fortuitous irony, I must say.

As a young adult, I began to become interested in politics, world events, and history. As the years progressed and I read more and more, it became increasingly clear to me that so much of what I thought I knew, or called history, was of dubious or questionable nature at best. Then came the internet...and the door to wisdom and true enlightenment were flung open wide!

I don't honestly recall where I fist stumbled upon legitimate "holocaust" Revisionism, but when I did it immediately piqued my interest. From the mid-90's onward I steadily sought out more information on the topic, but truthfully, it was just a passing interest at that time - I was absorbed in career and all that activity and really didn't pursue it whole-heartedly. Then I beagn to read about imprisonment of Revsionists, draconian speech-codes, the criminalization of any questions of the mighty "holocaust" and the like - my interest was renewed, and this time seriously so. The idea that people were being literally imprisoned for Thought Crimes was horrifying to me! That was truly the 'scales fell from my eyes' moment. My skepticism of the whole "holocaust" narrative was now in over drive, as there was - at least to me - no logical, rational reason to outlaw historical research, questions, observations...unless there was REALLY something to hide here!

From that point on, I scoured the net and a little at a time began to amass a small library of Revisionist literature. With each successive step I took, I found the orthodox tale less and less believable - to say the very least! Leuchter, Butz, Faurisson, Rudolf, Mattogno, Graf, I read all I could get my hands on(and continue to do so). I also investigate the works of the ortodox "scholars" for balance, etc. as well. I have ZERO doubt that this story we have been virtually spoon-fed of "genocide" or mass-murder of Jews in gas-chambers, of the entire "Final-Solution" just cannot, does not stand up to historical investigation and, in most cases, even the slightest scrutiny!

That's the long and short of it - it is a journey toward the truth - and toward helping in any way or form to get people to realize they have been duped - they have been sold a tale so wicked, so evil, so...well, unsupported by fact, that everyone deserves to be, nay, MUST be told! I am in no way motivated by "hate" or anything so simplistic and pedestrian - and I can see no one here is either!

[SevenUp]

This has been an interesting thread, with each poster explaining how he/she came to question the holohoax. However, the expected shills have now derailed the thread with idiotic 'debate' about the particulars of the hoax. I suggest that those posts, along with this one, and any future posts not responding to the topic of the thread be deleted.

[realitycheck]

This has been an interesting thread, with each poster explaining how he/she came to question the holohoax. However, the expected shills have now derailed the thread with idiotic 'debate' about the particulars of the hoax. I suggest that those posts, along with this one, and any future posts not responding to the topic of the thread be deleted.

Although "new" to the forum, I'll second that.

[Moderator]

SevenUp, you said:

This has been an interesting thread, with each poster explaining how he/she came to question the holohoax. However, the expected shills have now derailed the thread with idiotic 'debate' about the particulars of the hoax. I suggest that those posts, along with this one, and any future posts not responding to the topic of the thread be deleted.

and realitycheck, you said:

Although "new" to the forum, I'll second that.

Your points are quite valid. I have deleted the off topic posts and the responses to them which were necessarily off topic as well. It's helpful when we receive suggestions which assist in keeping this forum on track. Thanks.
Moderator

[rerevisionist]

My background was in maths, physics, and chemistry, but, under the influence of reading Bertrand Russell, I branched out into history and sociology; and economics, and art. The first 'revisionist' book I read was the proceedings of Bertrand Russell's War Crimes Tribunal on Vietnam, which made me realise how widespread officially lying was. Primed to look for such things, I looked into issues such as religions (Christian mostly - it was years before I realised that Judaism and Islam are tribal cults, not optional add-ons like Christianity). There's plenty of scope in science for big lies, too - I found some science alternative types, one of whom, Harold Hillman, I got to know well though his work is still virtually unknown.

I have to say I don't think I had any sceptical beliefs about the 'Holocaust'. though it irritated me that it was used in effect to justify mass murder in Vietnam, Indoneisa, Biafra... The very first doubt I recall seeing was in a Mensa magazine (in Britain), in 1997 I think, where the editor (who oddly was not a member) published the email address of the Zundelsite, as far as I remember in a neutral way, and with no comment. I downloaded a lot of material, both pro and con - these days it would have downloaded much faster, and be storable more easily. I burrowed through it and could see the way the arguments leaned. Another significant pubication was 'Did Six Million Really DIe', which I still consider one of the best overview pieces - quite short, but covering all the mythological elements. I contacted David Irving, who was very helpful and interesting, and also Gerald Fleming, who didn't reply! And so on. Internet was pretty much essential, as far as I'm concerned at least. Finding sceptical books is enormously more difficult, though I found to my surprise that Arthur Butz's book was in my local library's storage system.

I wonder if there's some way to identify suspect theories in a rational way. There are plenty more out there. Although I get exasperated with credulous people, I remind myself that I was one of them too.

[diaz52]

The David Cole video is what really made me question the Holohoax for the first time in my life. I'd have misgivings about it previously, and something about it just didn't seem right. But I was still a believer in the hoax until I saw Cole's video. That really is a well presented, excellent video.

[vincentferrer]

I first heard these words in the year 2000: " The holocaust is a Jewish financial scam".

The person who spoke them to me is a friend who holds a Ph.D ( with honors ) in philosophy from a respected university. He was and still is a Roman Catholic priest
who held a high ranking position in the Catholic church.

I had never heard anything like that before and had no idea how to respond. Therefore I just let it pass and we talked about other things.

3 years later, in 2003, I heard virtually the same comments from a different Catholic priest. He too was a trusted friend. This time, I decided to do some homework to prove him wrong. Long story short, after 3 weeks of doing research, I found out these priests were right. It was a hoax.

There was no evidence to support a planned gassing program to murder Jews, and anyone who tried to investigate via " official " channels, would be denounced as an anti-Semite, racist or Nazi. I ran into several brick walls and was vicioulsy insulted simply for asking questions.

nce that time I have continued to read, do research, talk to other educated Revisionists and engage the centers of influence in my circle of friends, relatives and fellow parishioners near and far, in the Catholic Church to spread this truth.

I have found about half of those I talk to had doubts about it, but never knew any of the details to understand the big picture, or how many vested interests were behind the effort to sell the hoax worldwide, despite a mouintain of evidence that debunks 95% of the allegations against Hitler and the German people.

[ClaudiaRothenbach]

When I watched the soap opera "holoco$t" with the embarrassing Maryl Streep in 1979 (or so) I was wondering. They showed that thousands of Jews met on a central place in a town and were guarded outside on the fields to a ditch. Always 20 of them lined up in front of the ditched and were shot deat with a machine gun. They could observe the scene a long time before they go at the ditch, they saw the dead bodies in the ditch but noone (not one single Jew) tried to escape. I asked myself: What would I have done? Try to run away?

I think that a lot young persons would have done that. What could they lose? Their lives?
Imagine only 1 percent of the Jews would have tried to run away. Say 50 persons. These guys would have caused a chaos and made the mass murder impossible (there were only twenty or so guards).

The Einsatzgruppen-Mass Murder of >2M Jews is absolutely unrealistic.
At that stage I had my first doubts.

[Clem]

For me it was first learning of the 3 million reduction of the death toll at Auschwitz but no concomitant reduction to the sacred 6 million figure. Then I saw this:

According to orthodox historians, during WW II the Germans allegedly set up six so-called “extermination centers” in Poland (Auschwitz, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor and Treblinka) where millions of people allegedly perished in so-called “homicidal gas chambers.” The following historical facts exemplify what happens when each individual camp is looked at as a “holocaust within the holocaust” and is investigated by forensic experts. To begin your own investigation of the truth, first watch the fraudulent, cognitive illusion of the alleged Majdanek “holocaust” collapse before your very eyes.

* * * * *

The Majdanek death toll - a microcosm of the alleged “jewish holocaust of WW II”

1944 - 1.7 million

Source: First Majdanek Show Trial. Anklageschrift gegen Hermann Vogel und andere, 26. Oktober 1944, Archivum Panstwowego Muzeum na Majdanku, sygn. XX-1, p. 100.

1946 - 1.5 million

Source: Nuremberg Show Trial. IMT VII, p. 590.

1975 - 1.38 million

Source: Lucy Dawidowicz, The war against the jews - 1933-1945, Pelican Books, 1975, p. 191.

1991 - 360 thousand

Source: Rosh and Jäckel, Der Tod ist ein Meister aus Deutschland, Hoffmann und Campe, 1991, p. 217.

1992 - 235 thousand

Source: Czeslaw Rajca, 'Problem liczby ofiar w obozie na Majdanku', in: Zeszyty Majdanka XIV, 1992, p. 127.

2005 - 78 thousand

Source: Tomasz Kranz, Research Director of the Majdanek State Museum, Gazeta Wyborcza, 12 / 23 / 2005.

THE TRUTH - 42,200

Source: The most up-to-date, comprehensive and authoritative research of this “holocaust within the holocaust” by Jürgen Graf and Carlo Mattogno. (See: Concentration Camp Majdanek - A Historical and Technical Study.)

* * * * *

It is a historical fact that over - 97.5% - of the fraudulently alleged Majdanek holocaust “proven” in the first Majdanek show trial didn’t happen; and not one person has ever been proven to have died via poison gas in a homicidal gas chamber at the camp - NOT ONE!

* * * * *

If everything that you’ve just learned about the fraudulent Majdanek “holocaust” is true - and it is - then what do you think you will discover when you investigate the other 5 so-called “extermination centers?”

I did investigate the other camps and discovered they were even bigger hoaxes than Majdanek. I also discovered:

It is a historical fact that not one of the fraudulently alleged “mass graves” of Belzec, Chelmno, Sobibor
and Treblinka has ever been proven to contain so much as - 1 / 1,000 of 1 % - of the alleged buried bodies.

[White Wolf]

To me it was the constant banging of the Holocaust drum anytime anyone critized the jews.

That and the fact that I could never figure out the "jewish math". Their numbers never added up. No matter how many times the numbers at Auschwitz were lowered the "magical number" still stayed at 6 million.

They would come out with statements about how many died in 4 or 5 camps and they would be so close to 6 million you had to wonder if anyone at all died in any of the other camps.

6,000,000 - 2,500,000 = 6,000,000 no matter how you slice it...

[fountainhead]

Just wanted to share something amusing with you guys. I was at my family home over the weekend and decided to rifle through some old newspaper clippings tucked away in a basket in my room. Among them were some letters to the editor I had written years ago. I found one on freedom of speech in which I defended the Danish Mohammed cartoon and David Irving's holocaust denial. The funny thing is this was from 2006, long before I had even investigated holocaust Revisionism and when I still thought Revisionists were a bunch of crackpots. Any of you ever look back at things you wrote about the holocaust before you became Revisionists?

[mdmguyon]

For me it was first learning of the 3 million reduction of the death toll at Auschwitz but no concomitant reduction to the sacred 6 million figure.

What person said that 4 million died at Auschwitz and 6 million died overall?