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Historical negationism

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Historical revisionism is often a legitimate effort in which historians seek to broaden the awareness of certain historical events by re-examining conventional wisdom. The concept of Political historical revisionism, whowever, takes on a much more partisan tone. The politically-motivated historical revisionist seeks to rewrite history by downgrading or simply ignoring essential facts, as in Holocaust denial. However, Holocaust denial is only one form revisionist history can take.

Politically motivated historical revisionism

Although different, the term does encompass the general meaning of Historical revisionism as defined above, and is illustrated in the Washington Post article "History In The Remaking: Reagan's Story Doesn't End Here." [1] It also has a more specific meaning when it is used as a label to describe the views of qualified self-taught historians who publish articles that deliberately misrepresent and manipulate historical evidence. An example of this secondary usage is reported in another Washington Post article, "Conservatives Celebrate Winning One for the Gipper" [2]:

People for the American Way saw it in a different light [...] Our primary concern is continued right-wing intimidation against the expressions of opposing points of view, whether attacks on dissent, intimidation of scientific researchers, or a demand for historical revisionism -- or historical cleansing -- regarding Ronald Reagan. (emphesis added).

This second common usage has occurred because some authors who publish articles that deliberately misrepresent and manipulate historical evidence (such as David Irving, a proponent of Holocaust denial), have called themselves "historical revisionists", and this label has been used by others as a pejortive to describe them when criticising their work [3]. For example, some people have published popular histories that challenge the generally accepted view of the period. They do this by denying the Holocaust or downplaying its scale and other Nazi war crimes while emphasising the suffering of the Axis populations at the hands of the Allies and stating or implying that the Allies committed war crimes as well.

Techniques used by politically motivated revisionists

Further information: Examination of Holocaust denial

Accuracy and revision are central to historical scholarship. As in any scientific work, historians' papers are submitted to peer review. Instead of this peer review, revisionists rewrite history to support their own goals, using any number of techniques and logical fallacies to obtain their results. Because of this, they are considered by the historian community to have an anti-scientific behaviour. Among their rhetorical techniques are:

  1. Conspiracy theories
  2. The selective use of facts.
  3. The denial or derision of known facts.
  4. Argument from ignorance (hence the historian community's emphasis on the importance of historical memory and historical studies)
  5. The assumption of unproven facts.
  6. The fabrication of facts
  7. The obfuscation of facts.
  8. Claims of "counter-genocide", leading to a confusion between victims and executioners (for example, the Bombing of Dresden in World War II has been said by Holocaust deniers to be a "counter-genocide", thus transforming the German people into victims and henceforth exempt them from any kind of moral responsibility; the term has also been used concerning the Rwandan genocide)
  9. Appeal to consequences
  10. Irrelevant conclusions
  11. Burden of proof (logical fallacy) (due to the complex nature of what can be considered a historical "proof" - which differs from a logical proof - revisionists sometime ask historians to prove such or such event which has been reasonably proved by historic standards, hence accepted as a fact by the historian community)
  12. Appeal to fear
  13. Appeal to spite
  14. Association fallacy
  15. Hasty generalization
  16. The use of attractive or neutral euphemisms to disguise unpleasant facts concerning their own positions.
  17. The use of unpleasant euphemisms to describe opposing facts.
  18. Two wrongs make a right (fallacy)
  19. Wishful thinking
  20. Constant attack against those disputing their views (Ad hominem) (close to slander and libel)
  21. Meaningless statement

Examples

February 23, 2005 French law on the "positive value" of colonialism

On February 23, 2005 a law was passed in France which stated that "history textbooks acknowledge and recognize in particular the positive role of the French presence abroad, especially in North Africa" - the law also recognized the "hardships and sacrifices endured by the repatriated" (implicitly refering to the pied-noirs) as well as by the harkis. [4] This law has been criticized by many historians and university teachers (who refuse to recognize that the French Parliament's has a right to influence the way history is written), left-wing parties and ex-French colonies, such as Algeria who have refused, in retaliation, to sign any "friendly treaty" with France, or Martinican "Négritude" author Aimé Césaire, who refused to receive UMP leader Nicolas Sarkozy, a probable contender for the 2007 presidential election. Supporters of this controversial law have been designed as a resurgence of the "colonial lobby", term in use in the late 19th century in France to label those people (deputies, scientifics, businessmen...) who supported French colonialism. The public uproar surrounding this law has pushed French president Jacques Chirac to oppose it, despite the majoriy of his party, the "Union for a Popular Movement" (UMP), voting for it. Against this revisionism, Chirac has stated:

"In a Republic, there is no official history. It is not to the law to write history. Writing history is the business of historians." [5].

President Jacques Chirac passed a decree charging the president of the Assembly, Jean-Louis Debré (UMP), of modifying the controversial law. Chirac ordered Prime minister Dominique de Villepin to seize the Constitutional Council, which would permit the abrogation of the controversial law [6].

As French historian Benjamin Stora has pointed out, colonialism is a major "memory" stake, that is influencing the way various communities and the nation itself represent themselves. Official state history always has a hard time accepting the existence of the past crimes and errors. Indeed, the Algerian war of independence (1954-1962), previously qualified as a "public order operation", was only recognized as a "war" by the French National Assembly in 1999 [7]. In the same sense, philosopher Paul Ricoeur (1981) has underlined the needs for a "decolonization of memory", because mentalities themselves have been colonized during the "Age of imperialism".

Holocaust revisionism/denial

Main articles: Holocaust denial and Examination of Holocaust denial


Because of the adoption of the term by Holocaust-deniers, historical revisionism has become stigmatized, and revisionist a suspect description of a historical work dealing with the Holocaust. In Europe, "historical revisionism" more often than not refers to denial of the crimes commited by the Nazi state between 1933 and 1945 (the Holocaust, but also the Roma genocide (Porajmos), the murder of gay people and the assassination and sterilization of disabled people). Holocaust-deniers have attached themselves to the issue of the Heimatvertriebenen, and have in the view of their opposition attempted to use the sympathy for the plight of those Germans who suffered to blame the Jews for the suffering of the Heimatvertriebenen, or to retroactively minimise the suffering of the Holocaust. Negationism is a synonym of Holocaust denial, which is outlawed as Hate speech in most European countries.

When David Irving, a self-taught historian, lost his British libel case againt Deborah Lipstadt and her publisher Penguin Books (for identifing him as a Holocaust denier, falsifier, and bigot)[8], the trial judge Justice Charles Gray concluded that:

"Irving has for his own ideological reasons persistently and deliberately misrepresented and manipulated historical evidence; that for the same reasons he has portrayed Hitler in an unwarrantedly favourable light, principally in relation to his attitude towards and responsibility for the treatment of the Jews; that he is an active Holocaust denier; that he is anti-semitic and racist and that he associates with right wing extremists who promote neo-Nazism."

Germany has passed a law which makes the Historical denial of The Holocaust an offence[9].

Japanese war crimes

See also Japanese imperialism

Historical attempts by Japan at downgrading the various war crimes committed by Japanese imperialism are seen by some as examples of revisionist history. [citation needed] The successive visits of Prime minister Junichiro Koizumi to the Yasukuni Shrine, where war criminals are buried, have each time lighted a political storm in Asia.

Furthermore, the history textbook controversy centres on how a junior-high history textbook called the "Atarashii Rekishi Kyokasho" or "New History Textbook" downplays or "whitewashes" the nature of Japan's military aggression in the First Sino-Japanese War, in Japan's annexation of Korea in 1910, and in World War II. The textbook was created by the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform, a conservative Japanese organization, which, as its name implies, aims to revise Japanese history to suit its rightist ends. It glosses over wartime atrocities, de-emphasizes the subject of the Chinese and Korean comfort women.

Japan's official policy is that publishers have the right to freedom of speech, however, the central government does have the right to stop it from being published. To be exact, the majority of textbooks in circulation are not the ones being contested, but a small minority of the history texts put out by conservative organizations.

On the contrary, Hibakushas and various historians have often criticized the attempts of downgrading the importance of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as an example of revisionist history. [citation needed]

Rwanda

Main article: Rwandan Genocide

The context of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide continues to be an important matter of historical debate, whereas France's exact influence has yet to be cleared off, in particular concerning Opération Turquoise. Some, such as François-Xavier Verschave, former president of French NGO Survie, have accused the French army of protecting the Hutus, while a 2005 controversial book from French journalist Pierre Péan, who cleared France of any responsibility in the massacres, accused the Tutsis of "counter-genocide", leading to accusations of revisionism against Péan (claims of "counter-genocide" are classic arguments of revisionists, also used in the case of the Bombing of Dresden in World War II by Holocaust deniers). Suspicions against French and United Nations (UN) policies in Rwanda between 1990 and 1994 led to the creation of a French Parliamentary Commission which published its report on December 15, 1998 [10].

Turkey and the Armenian genocide

Turkey has drafted laws like Article 301 that state "A person who explicitly insults being a Turk, the Republic or Turkish Grand National Assembly, shall be imposed to a penalty of imprisonment". This law has been used, for example, to bring charges against writer Orhan Pamuk for stating that "Thirty thousand Kurds and a million Armenians were killed in these lands and nobody but me dares to talk about it"[11].

By passing laws which impose penalties on those who state that the deaths of millions of Armenians was a genocide, the Turkish Government has been accused by the European Union (EU) of state revisionism. This historical debate has become an issue in the negotiations between the EU and Turkey over Turkish entry into the EU.

Soviet and Russian history

File:The Commissar Vanishes 1.jpg
Nikolai Yezhov, the young man strolling with Stalin to his left, was shot in 1940.
File:The Commissar Vanishes 2.jpg
Communist Party censors edited the photo.

During the rule of dictator Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union, a variety of revisionist tactics were employed to ignore unpleasant events of the past. Soviet school books would constantly be revised to remove photographs and articles that dealt with politicians who had fallen out of favor with the regime. History was frequently re-written, with past events modified so they always portrayed Stalin's government favourably.

Russian actual textbooks on the 20th Century

The textbook History of Russia and the World in the 20th Century, written by Nikita Zagladin, in 2004 replaced Igor Dolutsky's National History: 20th Century. Zagladin's text was implemented under the guidance and encouragement of Vladimir Putin who wanted a textbook that was more "patriotic". Critics of the new book cite a lack of detail in addressing historical events such as the Siege of Leningrad, Gulag labor camps, Soviet attack on Finland and the First and Second Chechen Wars as serious factual innaccuracies. The Holocaust is not mentioned and the rule of Joseph Stalin is glorified. However, the newer book compares favourably to outright russophobic books of the nineties.[12]

The revisionist school of communist studies

According to John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, writing in their book In Denial: Historians, Communism & Espionage, many academic studies in the field of Soviet and Communist studies, especially in the area of History of the Soviet Union and regarding the history of the Communist Party USA by the so-called "Revisionist School" have generally taken a benign view of the Party while minimizing Soviet atrocities and the totalitarian nature of the movement[13]. Haynes and Klehr attribute the alleged biased stance of these historians, many of whom entered academia during the Vietnam War era, to anti-American and anti-capitalist sentiments[14].

Outdated terminology or ideas

Some history materials, especially those targeted to children or young adults, exclude or restate words and ideas that were widely used in a past era. This form of revisionism might avoid using terminology now considered offensive, or exclude political positions now considered unacceptable. Motivations vary widely, but might include avoiding controversy or hurt feelings, or producing a large distance between older and modern ideas. For example, in some American schools the speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. are not presented in their entirety, as King frequently used racial terms such as negro, which was widely accepted when he used it, but in modern United States usage is generally considered outdated or offensive.

Slander or Promotion

Revisionist history is also used to promote or slander persons, or promote or discredit an idea — for example, bringing evidence that Abraham Lincoln was homosexual, or that Winston Churchill was a Communist sympathizer; of course in these cases the goal would not be to downplay or ignore a figure or event, but rather to highlight or reveal a supposedly revised aspect of history, or one that was simply unknown or thought to be of little importance. Sometimes some historical figures are censored or hidden, such as James Wolfe in some Canadian history textbooks. Other times more famillar white/anglo males are de-emphasized in favor of women or non-white males, in an attempt to redress a perceived bias. Though this practice may be more politically correct, it also risks the loss of important figures.

Historical revionism in literature

In George Orwell's 1984, the government of the main character's country, nominally led by the enigmatic Big Brother, is constantly revising history to be in harmony with the current political situation. For instance, if the country is at war with another, then the official position is that they have always been at war with that country. If the situation changes, the civilians are brainwashed accordingly. In this novel, historical revisionism is one of the main policies of the propaganda arm ("The Ministry of Truth") of Oceania's government.

See also

Bibliography

  • John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, In Denial : Historians, Communism, and Espionage, Encounter Books, September, 2003, hardcover, 312 pages, ISBN 1893554724
  • "Lying About Hitler: History, Holocaust, and the David Irving Trial" , by Richard J. Evans, 2001, ISBN 0465021530. The author is a Professor of Modern History, at University of Cambridge and he was a major expert witness at the Irving v. Lipstadt trial, and this book presents both his view of the trial, and much of his expert witness report, including his research on the Dresden death count.

Footnotes

  1. ^ History In the Remaking Reagan's Story Doesn't End Here by Lewis L. Gould in the Washington Post, June 13, 2004, Page B01.
  2. ^ Conservatives Celebrate Winning One for the Gipper by Lisa de Moraes in the Washington Post, November 6, 2003, Page C07
  3. ^ "Lying About Hitler", Evans, see Bibliography. Page 145.
  4. ^ LOI n° 2005-158 du 23 février 2005 portant reconnaissance de la Nation et contribution nationale en faveur des Français rapatriés
  5. ^ "History should not be written by law" says Jacques Chirac (Ce n'est pas à la loi d'écrire l'histoire), quoted by RFI, December 11, 2005: [15]
  6. ^ "Chirac revient sur le 'rôle positif' de la colonisation". January 26, 2006. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |org= ignored (help)
  7. ^ "Colonialism: A Dangerous War of Memories Begin (by Benjamin Stora)". December 6, 2005 - transl. January 17, 2006 on www.humaniteinenglish.com. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |org= ignored (help); "At war with France's past (by Claude Liauzu) (English edition)". June 2005. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |org= ignored (help)
  8. ^ "Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory" by Deborah E. Lipstadt. ISBN 0452272742
  9. ^ Philip Johnston Britons face extradition for 'thought crime' on net in Daily Telegraph 18 February 2003
  10. ^ Sarah Rainsford Author's trial set to test Turkey BBC 14 December 2005.
  11. ^ Critics fear history book overlooks crimes by Maria Danilova of the Associated Press in the Daily Herald August 17, 2004. Page A2
  12. ^ "In Denial", Haynes and Klehr, see Bibliography. Pages 14-19.
  13. ^ "In Denial", Haynes and Klehr, see Bibliography. Pages 47-53.
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