#think abt if its denying/downplaying antisemitism

[autistic-katara]

seeing ur beloved mutual reblogging some questionable shit (probably unintentionally) but not having the energy to argue or explain why </3

[the-sunflower-spaceman]

i do think it’s time we talk abt how there’s multiple kinds of holocaust denial.

disclaimer: I am not Romani or Sinti, so I will not be addressing the topic of the Pharimos. if I had to guess, since a similar proportion of Romani were killed (anywhere from 25 to 50% of the population in europe at the time) they’ll have similar feelings but I don’t want to speak for them.

there’s, of course, the kind you’re all familiar with—“the holocaust never happened,” etc etc. this isn’t actually the main kind of holocaust denial. most holocaust deniers recognize the holocaust did happen, but are still prone to downplaying its horrors.

the first main type of this is “Jewish people accounted for all 11 million victims.” this is relevant because jk-r is getting called out for retweeting one of these. the person she retweeted is Jewish, but it’s most often spouted by (non Romani) goyim, because this is, most generally speaking, how the Holocaust is taught. all victims of the holocaust deserve recognition. it’s truly foul to deny otherwise.

the second main is the polar opposite of the first—“other groups were targeted in the holocaust, so jews weren’t the main target of it.” this is many people’s response to the thing with jk-r I mentioned above, but it is in itself a form of holocaust denial that should be called out (and my primary reason for making this post)

it’s typically used to downplay Jewish people’s generational trauma. it is also wrong. hitler’s main targets were always Jews. he talks in mein kampf about his idea of Jewish Bolshevism, ie the idea that Jews were the natural enemy of the aryan people and were trying to take over the world. over half of the victims of the Holocaust were Jews (6.5mil out of 11mil).

the Nazis targeted “social outcasts” too, sure, but there is an entire different set of laws (the Nuremberg Laws) that labeled Jewish people specifically as a subhuman race and declared anyone with Jewish blood (and three years later, Romani and Sinti blood) to be a racial enemy of the state. even laws like the Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring (which is what was used to sterilize and later genocide disabled people, mentally ill people, addicts, and “social outcasts” like queer people and people who were nonwhite—particularly those who were mixed race—but not Jews or Romani) were motivated by the desire to create a perfect white race separate from the Jews.

denying that a genocide committed by someone who believed Jews were trying to take over the world in which over half of the victims were Jewish (on a continent where they made up maybe 5% of the population) was primarily targeted towards Jews, denying that it was primarily motivated by antisemitism? it’s holocaust denial and it’s meant to make Jewish people feel guilty for talking about the generational trauma that the Holocaust has left and downplay the true violence of antisemitism.

(goyim can interact but if you’re goyische and gadje i don’t want you to comment)