# Please explain Holocaust denial **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 24, 2009, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-holocaust-denial/511421 "2009-09-24T21:37:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-holocaust-denial/511421/41 "2009-09-29T06:21:56Z")
> [@doubled](#): > > Here’s the main argument I’ve heard: “Building gas chambers to kill Jews is expensive; whereas using those Jews as slave labor and starving them to death is free. During war time, the Nazis needed slave labor on assembly lines. So even if you agree the Nazis were more evil than Satan and wanted to kill every Jew, why would they go through the extra effort of running gas chambers instead of working them to death as slave labor manufacturing supplies needed for the war? The nazis were evil but not stupid”. Supporters of the theory think once you admit that point, you’ll start to question if anything else was exaggerated. Um, except it doesn’t make any sense: extermination by attrition? May be bottom-line less expensive, speaking in gross as it were, but speaking net? The methods chosen were more efficient. Even if they were more expensive. And there were many cost-cutting measures employed along the way. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-holocaust-denial/511421/42 "2009-09-29T06:24:25Z")
> [@dangermom](#): > > They also tend to do a similar thing to what moon hoaxers, truthers, etc. do, where they consider that if they can put one small piece of evidence into doubt, that will bring the whole edifice of conspiracy tumbling down. Sort of like the whole story is an upside-down pyramid, balancing on one thing. It’s a classic strategy for conspiracy-minded folks in general. > > Like, “the melting point of steel is incredibly high, so the beams couldn’t have melted, and therefore 9/11 was really a secret demolition job planned by the Bush regime!” I call this the “if it doesn’t fit, you must acquit” fallacy. As if simple ignorance as to why OJ’s gloves no longer fit him–hello? bloodsoaked and dried leather might tend to shrink, might it not?–invalidated all of the indisputable DNA evidence against him. ---
**Author:** ![Uncertain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Uncertain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncertain)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-holocaust-denial/511421/43 "2009-09-29T12:47:16Z")
> [@doubled](#): > > Here’s the main argument I’ve heard: “Building gas chambers to kill Jews is expensive; whereas using those Jews as slave labor and starving them to death is free. During war time, the Nazis needed slave labor on assembly lines. So even if you agree the Nazis were more evil than Satan and wanted to kill every Jew, why would they go through the extra effort of running gas chambers instead of working them to death as slave labor manufacturing supplies needed for the war? The nazis were evil but not stupid”. Supporters of the theory think once you admit that point, you’ll start to question if anything else was exaggerated. But the evil bastards did some of each. Often, at least, if you looked like you could work you were sent off to do labor; otherwise you were marked for the chambers. ---
**Author:** ![qazwart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/5fc32e/32.png) [@qazwart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qazwart)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-holocaust-denial/511421/44 "2009-09-29T20:30:00Z")
> [@Cat\_In\_A\_Top\_Hat](#): > > So I [saw an article](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113171156&sc=fb&cc=fp), today, about how the President of Iran says that he doesn’t believe the Holocaust actually happened. I don’t really understand this. I mean, what do people mean when they say that the Holocaust didn’t happen? How do they deny it in the face of all the evidence (testimonial, film, etc) that it happened, happened to so many people, et al? Is it just that Jews weren’t the only ones that were killed, and that political prisoners, etc were also sent to the concentration camps? > > Seriously, I don’t get this. If you guys could help me out, here, I’d appreciate it. > > Thanks, > –CiaTH Holocaust deniers use a two prong attack: 1). The Holocaust never happened. 2). The Jews deserved it anyway. There’s an excellent chapter in Peter Sagal’s _[Book of Vice](http://www.amazon.com/Book-Vice-Very-Naughty-Things/dp/0060843829)_ about lying. He goes through showing how someone could deny that Massachusetts doesn’t exist. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-holocaust-denial/511421/45 "2009-09-29T20:38:37Z")
> [@Uncertain](#): > > But the evil bastards did some of each. Often, at least, if you looked like you could work you were sent off to do labor; otherwise you were marked for the chambers. Just yesterday I happened to be speaking to an Auschwitz survivor. When he arrived, his sister was along with three small children (along with his parents, other siblings etc.) Old time inmates approached the transport and called out “all small children should stay with their grandparents”, knowing that this was the only way that any of such families would survive. His sister didn’t realize the import though, and kept her kids with her - they were all smoke a few hours later (along with the parents and several younger siblings - others died later). ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-holocaust-denial/511421/46 "2009-09-29T21:00:55Z")
> [@qazwart](#): > > There’s an excellent chapter in Peter Sagal’s _[Book of Vice](http://www.amazon.com/Book-Vice-Very-Naughty-Things/dp/0060843829)_ about lying. He goes through showing how someone could deny that Massachusetts doesn’t exist. I’m one such person. If you try telling me that Massachusetts doesn’t exist, I’ll certainly deny it. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-holocaust-denial/511421/47 "2009-09-29T21:33:43Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > Just yesterday I happened to be speaking to an Auschwitz survivor. When he arrived, his sister was along with three small children (along with his parents, other siblings etc.) Old time inmates approached the transport and called out “all small children should stay with their grandparents”, knowing that this was the only way that any of such families would survive. His sister didn’t realize the import though, and kept her kids with her - they were all smoke a few hours later (along with the parents and several younger siblings - others died later). I have never heard that the Nazis gave anyone much of a choice about who stayed with who once in the camps… ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-holocaust-denial/511421/48 "2009-09-29T21:41:34Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > I have never heard that the Nazis gave anyone much of a choice about who stayed with who once in the camps… Once you were processed and assigned a number etc. you didn’t have a choice of where to stay, or much else either FTM. The crucial time when choices made a difference was at the initial “selektztia”. If you came before the Mengele (or whoever was doing it) as a young unattached healthy looking person you were likely to be assigned to the labor camp division. If you came as a mother of small children you would be assigned to the gas chambers with the children. I’ve heard other people say similar things (in print, not in person as in this case). [One guy had his teenage daughter assigned to the labor section, while his wife and younger children were assigned to the gas. But he told his daughter to sneak in with his wife’s group, so as to be able to help with the younger children, and she was gassed along with them. Of course, this guy had no idea at the time that one column was labor and the other gas - but he had to live for the rest of his life with the knowledge that he had caused his daughter’s death.] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-holocaust-denial/511421.md?page=2)