Denying History: Who Says the
Holocaust Never Happened and Why
Do They Say It? by Alex Grobman
I Knew Nothing About Holocaust Denialism Until I Read This
Denying History is a courageous and accessible study of a looking-glass
world where black is white, up is down, and the normal rules of reason
no longer apply. Authors Michael Shermer and Alex Grobman have
immersed themselves in the conferences, literature, and Web culture of
Holocaust deniers; they have engaged the pseudo-historians in debate;
and they have visited the concentration camps in Europe to investigate
the truth of what happened there. Denying History presents Shermer and
Grobmans findings. The book refutes, in detail, the Holocaust deniers
claims, and it demonstrates conclusively that the Holocaust did happen.It
also explores the fundamental historical issue in all debates over the
truth of the Holocaust: the question of how we know that any past event
happened. Thus, Denying History is a doubly useful book; it sets the
record straight on one of historys most terrible events, and it instructs

readers in the scientific, logical, and historiographical principles that can
help us make wise judgments about history on our own. --Michael
Joseph Gross
Personal Review: Denying History: Who Says the Holocaust
Never Happened and Why Do They Say It? by Alex Grobman
"Denying History" is best seen as a case study of historiography; the
authors' take on the issue of defining the difference between history,
revision, and denial. Shermer and Grobman argue that there is a very real
difference between revisionism and denial, and that, despite arguments to
the contrary, Holocaust deniers' are engaged in exactly that - denial.
The book gets into many of the relevant issues of historiography; bias,
what are facts, the interpretation of facts, etc. and applies it to Holocaust
denial. First the authors' discuss the issue of historiography in their
introduction, "Who Speaks for the Past," and in Chapter 2, "The Noble
Dream: How We Know Anything Happened in History." The next two
chapters address who the deniers are, and why they say the Holocaust
never happened - this gets into motivation and bias. Chapter 5 then
addresses, "the flaws, fallacies and failings in the Denier's Arguments."
The next three chapters are spent addressing denier arguments and
"facts" and demonstrating how and why their "facts" do not fit into a rational
historiography-based argument. Essentially Shermer and Grobman argue
that the volume of data and the variety of sources overwhelmingly
demonstrate the Holocaust was real; the sources all converge on a single
conclusion. And the authors' are not just talking about the number of eye
witness accounts, but also legal proceedings, archaeology, scientific and
forensic evidence, and a variety of other historical documents from a wide
variety of allied and even Nazi sources. As they point out, the deniers'
discrediting of one eye witness account, or several, does not negate the
volume of other eye witness accounts nor does it negate other types of
evidence. Nor does their attempt at making an equivalency argument (the
idea that what was done was no worse than what others did) negate the
evidence.
The authors' finish off the book with, "The Rape of History: Denial,
Revision, and the Search for a True and Meaningful Past." This chapter
has a brief review of other examples of denial, such as the Japanese and
the rape of Nanking, and examples of legitimate revision, such as Martin
Bernal's "Black Athena" among others. Essentially the authors' conclude
that, "The difference between denial and revision is not in the extremity of
the claim..., but in the purposeful distortion of the past for personal
reasons...." (p. 241), and, "If there is no method of discriminating between
true and false interpretations of the past, between history and pseudo-
history, between revisionism and denial, then there is no point in even
having a discipline of history." (p. 244)

Of particular interest are Shermer's and Grobman's ten tests for denial (pp.
248-250):
1. How reliable is the source of the claim?
2. Has this source made other claims that were clearly exaggerated?
3. Has another source verified the claim?
4. How does the claim fit with what we know about the world and how it
works?
5. Has anyone, including and especially the claimant, gone out of the
way to disprove the claim, or has only confirmatory evidence been sought?
6. In the absence of clearly defined proof, does the preponderance of
evidence converge on the claimant's conclusion or a different one?
7. Is the claimant employing the accepted rules of reason and tools of
research or only ones that lead to the desired conclusion?
8. Has the claimant provided a different explanation for the observed
phenomena rather than just denying the existing explanation?
9. If the claimant has proffered a new explanation, does it account for
as many phenomena as the old explanation does?
10. Do the claimant's personal beliefs and biases drive the conclusions
or vice versa?
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