Steven,

Why I don't see the school curriculum idea as negatively as you is because I believe that without some systematic rememberance of history it gets repeated. Currently this seems a more imminent danger for the communist regimes than for the Nazi holocaust but given time it could be a problem.

Not everyone will react to "Schindler's List" or "Life is Beautiful" or "The Diary of Ann Frank" or "Karol" like you do but they should at least have an awareness that it happened.

Jack the Lad,

No-one pressured Germany nor Austria, nor other countries to make Holocaust Denial illegal. Go online and read their transcripts. I presume you can read German.

I can only assume that you obtained your facts about the "Diary of Anne Frank" from the Roy Taylor Ministries website, which has emblazed upon it: "THE PEOPLE OF SATAN, ARE THE JEWS, AND THE BIBLE SAY'S SO." This site also covers such rivetting topics as "THE GENETIC CODE IS THE GENESIS WORD IN THE BOOK OF LIFE," and "GLOBAL WARMING AND THE SIXTH ANGEL." Others can access this site and draw their own conclusions.

I'm sorry that Auschwitz didn't impress you.

Both a son and a daughter visited Auschwitz. My daughter burst into tears when she entered.

My son who spent some years in Germany researching archival primary sources for a thesis, which eventually was published as a book, found the material so appalling he was constantly sickened. He wrote home once that while sitting on a parkbench watching a dried leaf crumble away, he felt such hopelessness for what mankind was capable of, that he wished he could crumble away also.

On his return to Australia, he was asked to research and write another book. He couldn't face the prospect. And yes, the sources he used were all archival bone fide original documents. He not only reads and speaks modern German, but can also read German going back as far as the 16th century.

Incidentally, in case you think he is a wimp. He is not. He has worked on archaeological sites in the grimmest parts of the world. This was an interest of his.

mjpb

I tend to agree with you. The victims of Stalin and Mao should not be forgotten, nor used as a footnote.

As far as the Holocaust is concerned, as stated, before that this occurred in the most civilised country in Europe, and Hitler came to power in a democracy - and not that distant in time. His methods for achieving power and the propoganda machine he used to demonise Jews and others, whilst exhalting Germans as a super-race, in fact the entire blue-print he used, would be a salutary lesson for others.

Let me just say that I'm in complete agreement with the recent posts from Danielle, Bugsy and mjpb.

There are huge lessons for us in the Holocaust - and all the other attempted genocides of the 20th century, up to and including Rwanda - that some among us appear perversely unwilling to learn. I think that Danielle's point about the fact that the Holocaust occurred relatively recently, in a supposedly democratic country central to Western culture, is most salient.

Within the lifetimes of millions of people who are still alive, some of the most unspeakable crimes were committed by a society that was in many ways the apotheosis of modern Western culture. I find it fascinating how easy it seems for our society to forget - indeed, in some pathological cases like Jack the sad (thanks Steven), to pretend it never happened.

Danielle, of course Germany and Austria's governments won't admit to pressure. I see that you never commented on Canada even though I asked you. As you answered '“why such denial is illegal in some countries.”' by 'Look at the countries in which it is illegal', I would have thought that you must know something about Canada that I don't.
As for the Roy Taylor Ministries website, I'd never heard of him or his site till you mentioned it and I googled his site. I couldn't find any mention of Anne Frank, maybe you could point me to whatever part of that website that you read about her diary.
Yor son and daughter were emotional about their Oswiecim/Brezinka visit because they believe in the holohoax. A natural reaction for believers.

CJ, am I the 'sad' or 'the holocaust' denier? Certainly not the 'sad holohoax denier' as I am happy with my beliefs. Better than being a pompous git that believes what he has been spoon-fed and feels obliged to hurl petty insults at those who do not confirm to his narrow little world-view. If that's the product of your post grad education that you love to brag about, you must be quite pathetic.

Jack, if you really want us to take you seriously, stop being coy about your sources. Show us the forensic analysis that revealed Anne Frank's diaries were partially written in biro. Where have you been reading up? Give us the good stuff, not the dodgy websites. We want the original sources and refereed articles.