Assassins of memory : essays on the denial of the Holocaust

Bibliographic Information

Assassins of memory : essays on the denial of the Holocaust

Pierre Vidal-Naquet ; translated and with a foreword by Jeffrey Mehlman

(European perspectives)

Columbia University Press, c1992

  • : pbk

Other Title

Assassins de la mémoire

Uniform Title

Assassins de la mémoire

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Note

Originally published: Les assassins de la mémoire : "Un Eichmann de papier"et autres essais sur le révisionnisme. La Découverte, c1987

Includes index

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

ISBN 9780231074582

Description

-- Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi, Columbia University
Volume

: pbk ISBN 9780231074599

Description

"Assassins of Memory" is a passionate and painstaking look at one of the more curious realities of recent French cultural life: the prominence accorded to the phenomenon of "revisionism". An attempt on the part of a tiny group of fanatics, often masquerading as scholars and researchers, to deny the existence of the gas chambers and horrors of Hitler's genocidal policies, revisionism is quietly gaining adherents. The movement has been most visible in France in the past decade, particularly because of the trial of Klaus Barbie and the writings of Robert Faurisson. Revisionists are more prevalent and are gaining followers in other countries, including the United States, where the "Journal of Historical Review" is devoted to revisionist thought and where a current presidential candidate has expressed what could be described as revisionist ideas. "Assassins of Memory" exposes revisionism for the deeply perverse enterprise it is, laying bare the mechanisms of lies and manipulations on which it is sustained. More than this, it asks searching questions about the underlying causes of revisionism and its influences and diffusion in France and elsewhere. The book is particularly illuminating on the role the American linguist Noam Chomsky has played as writer of a preface to one of the movement's more influential tracts. Underlying Vidal-Naquet's argument is the question: is it acceptable for people to spread evil ideas, or should they be suppressed?

by "Nielsen BookData"

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