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Ever since the end of World War II, when the sheer enormity of the Nazi crime against the Jews became apparent, there have been repeated attempts to deny that the Holocaust really happened. The existence of gas chambers was questioned and the testimony of survivors was thrown into doubt; the more witnesses spoke out, the more they were intimidated and attacked by a denialism that sought to present itself as a search for historical truth.
The accusation of trickery and deception - so central to the centuries-old anti-Jewish hatred - continues to thrive in the present. Today, denialism takes a new and more insidious form: Jews are accused of exploiting the 'cult of the Holocaust' to justify the state of Israel and to take the reins of political power. Holocaust denial has merged with conspiracy theories, alleging the existence of a Jewish-controlled New World Order. Concisely and authoritatively, acclaimed philosopher Donatella Di Cesare reconstructs the evolution of denialism and sheds new light on one of the most troubling phenomena of our time.
List of contents
Preface
The New Denialism
If Auschwitz Is Nothing
1. Annihilation and Denialism
2. The Desecrators of Ashes
3. In Hitler's Shadow
4. "Night and Fog". Erasure in Language
5. In the Shallows of Denial
6. A Matter of Opinion?
7. Technical Expertise and Gas. On the Idolatry of the Real
8. The Face of the Asphyxiated. On the "Sonderkommando"
9. Even the Dead Will not be Safe"". Memory and Remembrance
10. The Future of a Negation
11. The Singularity of the Extermination
12. Saying Auschwitz
Antisemitism in the Twenty-First Century
Bibliography
Notes
About the author
Donatella Di Cesare is Professor of Theoretical Philosophy at the Sapienza University of Rome.
Report
"Of all the "big lies" that are circulating in our increasingly credulous times, none is larger or more insidious than denial of the Holocaust. Undeterred by attempts to silence her, the distinguished Italian political philosopher Donatella Di Cesare uncovers its sources, traces its global dissemination, and warns against the expanding role it plays in fuelling antisemitic violence and undermining democracy."
Martin Jay, University of California
"With analytical precision and rhetorical brilliance, Donatella Di Cesare simultaneously constructs "denialism" as an extraordinarily potent ideological-cum-political category and utterly destroys its moral and empirical validity. This intellectual tour de force provides a welcome antidote to the dark conspiracies that are polarizing our time."
Jeffrey Alexander, Yale University
