Responses to holocaust denial: A case study at the university of Michigan

Abstract

Three elements of discourse about Holocaust denial after a Holocaust denial advertisement appeared in a campus newspaper are studied using a survey of a convenience sample of students and in-depth qualitative interviews. First, the level of acceptance of the Holocaust denial mes3age was found to be minimal, despite findings that knowledge about the Holocaust among students is also low. Second, many students believed that a Holocaust denier had the right to free speech and to advertise in the campus newspaper. The bases for these statements and their relation to civil liberties discourse were found to be somewhat confused. Since approaches to Holocaust denial that might be interpreted by students as censorship are therefore likely to backfire, strategies and rationales students themselves employ to reject denial are explored third. Students had strong emotional motivations to dismiss Holocaust denial, rooted in both their unwillingness to feel betrayed and in an array of unexpectedly positive associations and identities that the Holocaust evokes.