Arthur R. Butz – The Hoax Of The Twentieth Century

Supplement 1: The International Holocaust Controversy
reported in his letter, was “Fabrication of a Hoax.” Clearly he had seen the New
York Times story about the book, which reported an incorrect title, and he had not
seen the book itself. 500
That was an extreme case, but it is still true that scholars who should know
better have made a lot of noises while saying almost nothing of substance. In all
of the professorial criticism of my book at Northwestern, the only point of historical
weight that was raised against it, and that reached me, was that the published
population statistics are in conflict with my claims. That fact is mentioned and
discussed in the first chapter of my book (p. 187).
The History Department at Northwestern supposedly undertook to sponsor a
series of lectures entitled “Dimensions of the Holocaust,” but then the Chairman
of the Department gave the show away in his introductory remarks by thanking
the Hillel Foundation for rounding up the speakers for the affair. The University
shortly later published the lectures in a booklet that is presumably still available.
There was another instructive development at Northwestern. There was published
in the student newspaper a full page advertisement, sponsored by the Hillel
Foundation and bearing a statement of “condemnation” signed by about half of
the faculty. 501 There is no need to reproduce the text here. The statement mentioned
“the murder of over eleven million people, among them six million Jews,
by Nazi Germany,” and I think the most interesting feature of this is not the six
million Jews but the five million or more others, who seem to have been added to
the propaganda both rather recently and rather arbitrarily, although it is said that
so-called “Nazi-hunter” Simon Wiesenthal has used the figure for some time. 502
There is apparently some specific propaganda point served by the five million
Gentiles. Wiesenthal claims that “one of the biggest mistakes made on the side of
the Jews” has been to emphasize only the six million Jews and not the others, with
the result that Jews “lost many friends.” I must confess that I do not see the point
at all, but apparently it has been decided to toss the five million Gentiles into the
propaganda on at least selected occasions.
To return to the statement of condemnation that was signed by so many faculty
members at Northwestern, there is clearly something graver involved here than
mere conformity to a doctrine or established myth, for it is a certainty that the vast
majority of the signers had never heard of the five million goyim until they were
confronted with the statement to sign. Their subscription was therefore not based
on mere unquestioning acceptance of a familiar historical claim. It was based on
considerations even more baleful to an academic environment. I will not explore
the point further here, but it is easy to get the dismal impression that many would
have signed almost anything related to the controversy, provided the Hillel Foundation
wished it signed.
It is dismaying to report such behavior on the part of those to whom society
has entrusted the custody of its affairs of the intellect. However, there are at least
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501
502
New York Times, February 4, 1977, p. A22.
Daily Northwestern, March 30, 1977, p. 5.
Chicago Daily News, November 12-13, 1977; Los Angeles Times, May 6, 1979, part 9, p. 4; Los
Angeles Times Calendar, May 13, 1979, p. 2; New York Times, May 28, 1979, p. D7.
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