Memory and Denial After the Holocaust

Genocide has been discussed as a process, and denials may be made throughout the process. Bystanders may deny the events that are happening around them rather than confront the events. This may provide a psychological cushion for the bystanders to remain detached from the wrongdoing and avoid implication in the wrongs. Perpetrators may deny that the events are taking place to maintain their public reputation or to take advantage of the element of surprise in their attacks on victims. These acts of denial happening during the genocide have an identifiable utility for perpetrators. Denial of mass murder during the Holocaust could shield the perpetrators from outside intervention, and denial immediately after the killing stops could provide sufficient cover for some perpetrators to evade capture. The phenomenon that has come to be identified as Holocaust denial may have arisen weeks or months after the events in question as an attack on the historicity of the Holocaust. It is this phenomenon of denial after the fact that shall be the focus of attention here. Denial conceals intentions and invites doubt. Deniers of the Holocaust make use of a faulty reasoning process for a thinly veiled agenda that aligns with the perpetrator’s original intentions.