Copyright 1998 Times Mirror Company Los Angeles Times March 15, 1998, Sunday, Orange County Edition SECTION: Metro; Part B; Page 12; Editorial Writers Desk LENGTH: 292 words HEADLINE: REVISIONISTS AND THE HOLOCAUST BODY: * Benjamin Hubbard's column attacking "Holocaust denial" unfairly characterizes the Institute for Historical Review and its work. If the revisionist view of the Holocaust were really as "simplistic and naive" as Mr. Hubbard contends, it would not have gained the support of university professors such as Arthur Butz and Robert Faurisson, historians such as David Irving and Harry Elmer Barnes, and even some former concentration camp inmates such as Paul Rassinier. These individuals did not decide publicly to reject the orthodox Holocaust story--thereby risking public censure, and worse--because they are fools, or because their motives are evil, but rather on the basis of a sincere and thoughtful evaluation of the evidence. Revisionist scholars do not "deny" the Holocaust. They acknowledge that many hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed and otherwise perished during the Second World War as direct and indirect result of the brutally anti-Jewish policies of Germany and its allies. At the same time, IHR publications carefully document that numerous specific Holocaust claims have been quietly abandoned over the years as untrue. In January 1995, the prestigious French weekly magazine L'Express acknowledged that the "gas chamber" at Auschwitz that has been shown for decades to tourists in its "original" state is actually a postwar reconstruction. Hubbard's claim that "Holocaust denial/revisionism" is "a form of anti-Semitic hatred of the most vile type" is a malicious smear. Since its founding in 1978, the IHR has steadfastly opposed bigotry of all kinds in its efforts to promote greater public understanding of key chapters of history. MARK WEBER Director Institute for Historical Review Newport Beach In response to Mark Weber's letter in the _Los Angeles Times_, Professor Nancy Fitch sent in the following letter: Copyright 1998 Times Mirror Company Los Angeles Times March 29, 1998, Sunday, Orange County Edition SECTION: Metro; Part B; Page 7; Editorial Writers Desk LENGTH: 368 words HEADLINE: INSTITUTE HAS NO CREDIBILITY BODY: Mark Weber, director of the Institute for Historical Review, asserts in his March 15 letter that Benjamin Hubbard has unfairly characterized the institute and its work in his column March 7. He argues that Hubbard must be wrong or the institute would not have gained the support of university professors. But who are those professors? Arthur Butz teaches computer science and wrote a book called "The Hoax of the Twentieth Century," which clearly denies that there was a Holocaust. No reputable historian accepts his arguments as having any merit. Robert Faurisson, a professor of French literature, another "expert" whose work is rejected by professional historians, denied that gas chambers were used to kill people. H.E. Barnes and David Irving, both historians, are less extreme in their arguments, but both wrote pieces exculpating Hitler. Paul Rassinier, a former socialist and member of the resistance during World War II, was arrested and spent time in Buchenwald and Dora. Supposedly writing as a witness to what went on in the camps, Rassinier refused to acknowledge that he was treated differently from other prisoners and never abandoned his vitriolic anti-Semitism, which predated the outbreak of World War II. Accepting the arguments of individuals with little historical credibility, the IHR repeatedly refuses to acknowledge the countless works by professional historians which have demolished the arguments of its so-called experts. Weber wants readers to believe that because the French magazine L'Express is prestigious that everything printed in it is the truth. But in 1978, the magazine published an interview with one of France's most notorious collaborators and anti-Semites, Louis Darquier de Pellepoix, a Nazi sympathizer and head of Vichy France's Office for Jewish Affairs. In that interview Darquier de Pellepoix claimed that "at Auschwitz only the lice were gassed." In other interviews, he called the Holocaust "a Jewish invention." With all of these examples, it is difficult to accept the conclusion that the IHR has "steadfastly opposed bigotry of all kinds." NANCY FITCH Professor of modern European history Cal State Fullerton Here are two more published responses to Mark Weber's letter in the Los Angeles Times: Copyright 1998 Times Mirror Company Los Angeles Times March 22, 1998, Sunday, Orange County Edition SECTION: Metro; Part B; Page 8; Editorial Writers Desk LENGTH: 321 words HEADLINE: REVISIONISM AND THE HOLOCAUST BODY: Mark Weber of the Institute for Historical Review would have us think that his organization is intellectually respectable (Letters, March 15). Don't believe it. The IHR is the same outfit that in 1979 offered $ 50,000 to anyone who "could prove that the Nazis operated gas chambers to exterminate Jews during World War II." When Mel Mermelstein provided the proof, the courts forced the IHR to pay up and to sign a letter of apology to Mermelstein. About three years ago, I became interested in the organization and requested information. I was sent a leaflet, written by Weber, called "Auschwitz: Myths and Facts." In it, Weber wrote that "America's leading gas chamber expert, Boston engineer Fred A. Leuchter, carefully examined Auschwitz's supposed 'gas chambers' in Poland and concluded that the Auschwitz gassing story is absurd and technically impossible." Sounds impressive. But, as Deborah Lipstadt reveals in her book, "Denying the Holocaust," Fred Leuchter, Weber's "expert," is not an engineer and has no education in engineering. Further, Lipstadt can find no evidence that Leuchter has ever built a gas chamber. That the director of the IHR is willing in this way to play with the facts rightly causes us to doubt the reliability of the IHR. ROY BAUER Trabuco * As an infantry officer, one of the first to open up Dachau, I can assure you that no matter what Weber tries to say, he still denies that what happened at Auschwitz, Dachau and other concentration camps did take place. Just because the French weekly magazine L'Express acknowledged that the "gas chamber" was rebuilt after the war does not mean that the original did not do the job. Behind the guise of "promoting greater public understanding of key chapters of history," Weber's article and statements smack of anti-Semitic hatred. He should dig deeper to educate himself as to the facts. R. BURKE Newport Beach
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