Final Report of the International Commission on the - Minority Rights ...

possible, depending on <strong>the</strong> main argument being used: (1) <strong>the</strong> deicidal argument, according to which <strong>the</strong>
Holocaust was <strong>the</strong> price paid by <strong>the</strong> Jews for having killed Jesus Christ; (2) <strong>the</strong> conspiratorial argument,
according to which Hitler himself was brought to power by <strong>the</strong> Jews; (3) <strong>the</strong> defensive argument,
according to which Jews forced Hitler to resort to legitimate measures <strong>of</strong> self-defense; (4) <strong>the</strong> reactive
argument, according to which <strong>the</strong> disloyalty manifested by Jews toward <strong>the</strong> country in which <strong>the</strong>y lived
triggered a backlash against <strong>the</strong>m; and finally, (5) <strong>the</strong> vindictive argument, which charges <strong>the</strong> Jews with
having planned and implemented <strong>the</strong> Holocaust <strong>the</strong>mselves.
The third conceptual category is selective negationism which is a hybrid <strong>of</strong> outright and deflective
negationism. Its proponents deny <strong>the</strong> Holocaust, but only in <strong>the</strong>ir own country’s specific case. In o<strong>the</strong>r
words, selective negationism acknowledges that <strong>the</strong> Holocaust occurred elsewhere, but denies any
participation <strong>of</strong> one’s compatriots in its perpetration. One is consequently facing in this case a
combination in which selective negationism shares denial with outright negationists ins<strong>of</strong>ar as <strong>the</strong>ir own
nation is involved, and shares particularism with deflective negationism when it comes to members <strong>of</strong>
o<strong>the</strong>r nationalities. If one were to look for a specific Romanian note, one is likely to find it in this
particular form <strong>of</strong> selective negationism. Although not singular in postcommunist East Central Europe,
this note is so predominant in Romania that it becomes remarkable.
Since <strong>the</strong> category <strong>of</strong> comparative trivialization, which is a form <strong>of</strong> Holocaust minimalization, stands
apart from <strong>the</strong> rest, it shall be dealt with in <strong>the</strong> special section dealing with this phenomenon.
Distorting and Concealing <strong>the</strong> Holocaust under Communism
Despite <strong>the</strong> antifascist rhetoric <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>of</strong>ficial propaganda, <strong>the</strong> history <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Holocaust was distorted
or simply ignored by East European communist regimes. There are several explanations for this. First,
communist ideology was structurally incapable <strong>of</strong> analyzing <strong>the</strong> character and evolution <strong>of</strong> fascist
regimes. Almost to <strong>the</strong>ir collapse, communist regimes continued to abide by <strong>the</strong> definition <strong>of</strong> “fascism”
formulated by Georgi Dimitrov in his 1935 report to <strong>the</strong> Komintern. Fascism, according to this definition,
was “<strong>the</strong> open terrorist dictatorship <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> most reactionary, most chauvinistic and most imperialist
elements <strong>of</strong> finance capital.” As historian István Deák observed, “an ideology that regards ethnic and
religious problems as mere cover-ups for class conflict cannot deal adequately with a historical process
that had as its goal <strong>the</strong> extermination <strong>of</strong> all members <strong>of</strong> a particular group, whe<strong>the</strong>r progressive or
reactionary, whe<strong>the</strong>r exploiters or part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> exploited.”
Second, communist “antifascism” did not construe any precise critique <strong>of</strong> fascist ideology and its
regimes, but, as amply demonstrated by François Furet, it was merely a power-strategy employed in <strong>the</strong>
communization <strong>of</strong> Eastern Europe. The purpose <strong>of</strong> Dimitrov’s definition was to place fascism at <strong>the</strong>
opposite pole <strong>of</strong> communism, and <strong>the</strong> imprint left on collective imagination by World War II (at least on
<strong>the</strong> continent’s eastern part) was a simplistic ideological binary <strong>of</strong> communist-fascist confrontation. The
victory <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Soviet Union consecrated this logic, military victory being interpreted as <strong>the</strong> victory <strong>of</strong>
communism over fascism; one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> effects <strong>of</strong> this logic would be that Communists would refuse to
acknowledge anyone else’s right to call <strong>the</strong>mselves ei<strong>the</strong>r an adversary or a victim <strong>of</strong> fascism.
Third, in <strong>the</strong> postwar years it became obvious once more that Communism and fascism had been
conniving. It is well know today that while in <strong>the</strong> Soviet Union antisemitism was <strong>of</strong>ficially outlawed, it
was un<strong>of</strong>ficially encouraged and disseminated by <strong>the</strong> authorities. Those authorities went as far as to
prohibit any mention <strong>of</strong> massacres <strong>of</strong> Russian, Belorussian or Ukrainian Jews on monuments erected in
<strong>the</strong> memory <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> crimes committed by <strong>the</strong> Nazis on Soviet territory. The Black Book, a collection <strong>of</strong>
testimonies on <strong>the</strong> Holocaust compiled by Ilya Ehrenburg and Vassily Grossman with <strong>the</strong> aid <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
Jewish Antifascist Committee, was banned in <strong>the</strong> Soviet Union shortly after it was finalized in 1946 and
(partially) translated into Romanian and English . Indeed, though <strong>the</strong> Soviets liberated <strong>the</strong> Auschwitz