In the strict sense, the negation of the existence of the Shoah; in the broad sense, the negation of other genocides and other crimes against humanity.
Regarding the Shoah, deniers claim that the Jews invented it in order to make Westerners feel guilty about creating the State of Israel and expanding their influence on the world.
When and how did the term "negationism" appear?
In the 1970s and 1980s, negationist speeches gained audience, especially in certain academic circles (the Faurisson case started in 1978) and political circles (the "detail" case of Jean-Marie Le Pen, 1987). Relayed in the press, these speeches become audible.
In the late 1980s, the historian Henry Rousso proposed the term "negationism" to replace that of "revisionism", which he considered insufficient and misguided by personalities like Robert Faurisson in order to give a scientific appearance to their speeches.
And today, what about it?
In France, the amendment of the 1881 press law, nicknamed the "Gayssot Act", provides since 1990 that "Those who contest [...] the existence of one or more crimes against humanity as defined by article 6 of the statute of the International Military Tribunal annexed to the London Agreement of 8 August 1945 [...] shall be punished by one year in prison and a fine of €45,000."
In 2007, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution condemning the denial of the Holocaust.
Since 2017, the object of the offense is no longer limited to the crimes of Nazi Germany: it has been extended to other genocides and crimes against humanity.
Negationism is not...
A reinterpretation of historical facts, as some Holocaust deniers would have us believe. As Henry Rousso points out, Holocaust denial is a "system of thought, an ideology and not a scientific or even simply critical approach."
To go further:
