Walking in the Valley A bi-weekly column, featuring one Silicon Valley Christian's (a)musings on life's journey by Barbara Dahlgren

Holocaust Denial Column for the weeks of March 16-31, 2009

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In January Pope Benedict XVI created quite a stir when he lifted the excommunication of four bishops of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), the staunch, Catholic organization founded by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1970. The Society of St. Pius X was formed as a protest against modern reforms resulting from the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II). Archbishop Lefebvre ordained these four men bishops in an unsanctioned ceremony in Switzerland in 1988. Pope John Paul II immediately excommunicated Lefebvre and the four men he consecrated. Lafebvre died in 1991, but the society lives on.

In modern day Christian terms you might say the Society of St. Pius X has an old covenant approach as opposed to a new covenant approach. They did not embrace changes proposed in the Vatican II. It is understandable that the present pope might want to bridge this gap since the Society has 491 priests in 31 countries, 117 brothers, 164 religious sisters, 215 seminarians in six seminaries, 725 Mass centers, 88 schools, and 2 university level institutes.

This olive branch of lifted excommunication might have gone unnoticed if not for one of these bishops whose views are a bit extreme. British born Bishop Richard Williamson has been running a seminary for the Society of St. Pius X in Argentina for the past five years. Williamson believes strongly that women should not attend colleges, wear trousers or shorts, or hold certain jobs such as being a lawyer. He’s promoted conspiracy theories about the Kennedy assassination and the September 11 attacks. However, his greatest controversial issue is his Holocaust denial.

In an interview on Swedish television in November 2008 he stated, “I believe there were no gas chambers…I think that two to three hundred thousand Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps…but none of them by gas chambers.” He believes the evidence is strongly against millions of Jews being “deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler.” In fact it seems Williamson has dismissed the “so-called Holocaust” as “lies, lies, lies.”

Argentina no longer wants him. They have deported him to Britain because of a technicality in his immigration papers. The Argentina government admits the real reason for him being ousted was his offensive views of Anti-Semitism. Argentina has the largest Jewish population in Latin America.

Holocaust denial is nothing new. After World War II French fascist Maurice Bardeche claimed the gas chambers had been used to only disinfect clothing and allies had falsified court records and documents, and even faked photographs. Leftist American historian Harry Barne decided that the Holocaust was propaganda used by Americans to enter World War II. Some claim the Holocaust was a hoax perpetrated by Jews to gain sympathy. Others say The Diary of Anne Frank was fiction.

Does the denial of the Holocaust really matter? It does in certain countries that consider it a crime punishable by a fine or imprisonment. Some who have served prison time for their distorted Holocaust denial are: Horst Mahler, founder of the Radical Red Army Faction, who served prison time in Germany, British writer David Irving in Austria and publisher Ernst Zundel in Ontario, Canada. Their crimes were not so much their private views of denying the Holocaust as it was misrepresenting historians, misquoting witnesses, fabricating evidence, and citing non-existent authorities to support their suppositions.

Scholar Willis Carto founded a so-called think tank called the Institute for Historical Review in 1978. He offered $50,000 to anyone who could prove that Jews had been gassed to death in Auschwitz. Holocaust survivor Mel Mermelstein presented him with so much documentation that the California Superior Court ordered Carto to pay him $50,000 plus $40,000 for personal suffering.

It doesn’t matter if Holocaust deniers are proven wrong time and time again; they still adhere to their unfounded opinions. It really is a case of don’t confuse me with the facts. They want to believe what they want to believe. They continue to spread their seeds of doubt. Unfortunately, Holocaust deniers don’t have a monopoly on this way of thinking. We meet people every day who don’t want to be confused with the facts about various subjects.

What can we learn from seeds of doubt and this kind of self deception? Adam and Eve were doing just fine in the Garden of Eden until Satan the deceiver said, “I know God told you not to eat of this tree or you shall die. But God is not being truthful with you.” Eve began to doubt what God said and believe Satan instead. And the rest, as they say, is history. Seeds of doubt can cause a great deal of destruction.

As time passes soon all the survivors from these concentration camps will be gone. First-hand accounts of what really happened may fade into obscurity. I hope future historians don’t obscure the tragedy of the Holocaust.

Bishop Williamson’s fate in the Catholic Church is still a bit tenuous. For now his excommunication is lifted. However, his Holocaust denials may cause him future trouble with Pope Benedict XVI and the Catholic Church in general. These radicals will always have some sort of following, but hopefully those who believe in history and truth will continue to outnumber them.

Be sure to visit this page often to read the next edition of Walking in the Valley. You can write to the author at bdahlgren@wcgsouthbay.org.