Steven, seem to forget that most of those dictators purged most of their own "intellectuals". Even the lefties. They are not characterised by university educations or "leftie" intellectual support, they are characterised by base populism and a severe suspicion of intellectuals. Mao was a peasant with bad manners, Pol Pot removed an entire educated middle class in his pursuit of an agrarian 'utopia'. Stalin locked his dissenters up, Trotskyites and all. They could hardly have been labelled as "rightie" intellectuals.

And the list goes on...

While a university education is no indicator of whether an argument or conclusion is correct or not, the quality of the evidence used and lines of reasoning often show the difference.

Jack the Lad,

What information did you source? Holocaust archives, indeed nazi WW2 archival material is held mainly in Germany; also Russia has some 16 miles of archival material which they captured when they invaded Germany - some of it only being released in the last few years.

To gain access the these archives, from which to base any argument is extremely difficult. One has to have a referrence from a recognised university or other august body, then there is the need for a security clearance, and other personal documentation. Then there is the need to be able to read German (and indeed other languages) to read this material

The nazi regime kept extremely efficient documentation; indeed a system of book-keeping.

Jews (and other groups murdered) were recorded - names, dates of birth, and origins - and often recorded in numerous places - from slave camps, and death camps, and deparmental offices.

Then there are the quantities of scientific documents - how long people take to die in gas chambers, how the time varied with the outside temperature (some 5 mins longer in winter), quantities of Zylon B gas needed, etc. The nazis first experimented on Russian POWs to determine the results. They also used carbon-monozide in death camps, and vans. But whatever they used, they knew exactly the outcome. They relied upon this information. Nazis were scientific, systematic and methodical in their application of the "Final Solution".

Goering was assigned the Four Year Plan - the estimated time the "Final Solution" would take. In fact, the nazi regime was so efficient in identifying Jews (indeed others) that they had the names of some 200 Jews in Albania targetted for extermination.

In May 1943, Alfred Franke-Gricksh inspected the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, and wrote a report describing the gas chambers and crematoria as an efficient "resettlement action".

cont ...

The extremely efficient Einsatzgruppen, and other death squads, kept very detailed records up till early 1943, but later tended to use euphenisms. Early 1943, Dr. Korherr, Inspector for Statistics, finished the exact statistical report from the Einsatzgruppen that 1,873,539 Jews had received "special treatment" - this report being sent to Hitler himself. Nazi officials whilst carefully recording statistics for large ghettos, often neglected the anihiliation of Jews in smaller ghettos.

I researched 17th century records in England - extremely benign material. Not only did I have to have documentation and a reference from my university, but also a security clearance, photograph and identification, which I had to show whenever I entered the British Museum archives. Other security measures were also in place. The archival staff knew me well. However, I still had to undergo these procedures daily, sometimes up to three times a day. In Record Offices the same strictures applied.

Those researching material in German archives would be even more closely scrutinised, and undergo greater security appraisal before they would be permitted near such material.

I agree with Steven, that you don’t have to be university educated to be capable of evaluating material and arriving at an informed decision; but you certainly have to be allowed - granted permission - to research and access the primary sources.

Danielle,
I sugest that Society's Records Guardians are extremely concerned with the theft and truthfull reproduction of historical records.Hence the need for scrutiny of researchers.

I think this is a good idea .

The purging of old records of incriminating material I sugest, is probably a natural response by members of a group that may have carried out genocidal or racist violent acts against another group .

History needs to be respected and it's records observed by and available to the interested public - not to inflame, but to bring awareness of our strengths and weaknesses.

Danielle

Superb informative posts.

And demonstrating the value of applied reasoning that some of us are gifted with and others have to learn.

Thank you

I can almost guarantee that Jack the Holocaust Denier has never been anywhere near any original or archival material in the course of his 'research'.

And no, you don't need to have a degree in order to assess information and analyse data - but they are certainly major skills that any good student acquires as part of their tertiary studies. Of course, the spoon-fed "practical" courses that really belong in TAFEs don't require such skills.