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THE MYTH OF 11 MILLION HOLOCAUST VICTIMS

 As of 2006. there have been seeing more references, or a return to references that there were 11 million victims in the Holocaust. As far as this is understand from documents and analysis, this number is fictitious and actually can serve to undermine the teaching of the Holocaust Shoah. It can even be a form of denial that occurs out of the best intentions. "11 million Jews" is the population census that is mentioned in the 16th copy of the Wannsee Protocol, notes taken by Eichmann (January 20, 1942), only about Jews. see: http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/Holocaust/wansee-transcript.html

 The issue seems to be the differentiation between victims based on NSDAP race policy versus civilian deaths during the war. If the latter, the correct number is probably between 30 and 35 million deaths, maybe more. If only racial and biological related categories, it should encompass only the Jews, Roma and Sinti and victims of T-4. This is not to belittle other victims of war and political policies, but the other groups had some choices regarding compliance with Nazi domination or resistance, and some, like Jehovah'S Witnesses, Homosexuals and Gypsies have a history of persecution even in democratic countries, although not the end being in concentration camps and death.

 The historiography about the ultimate fate of the Poles, if a 1000 year Reich would have lasted (rather than 12 years) is leaning toward an extermination policy under the doctrine of resettlement of inferior peoples. see documents on General Plan Ost: http://www.worldfuturefund.org/wffmaster/Reading/GPO/gpo%20sources.htm http://www.dac.neu.edu/holocaust/Hitlers_Plans.htm

 There is also the complication raised by the new and excellent book by Jan Gross, FEAR (2006) that analyzes the post-war attacks on Jews in Poland. His description of attacks by the Poles upon the Jewish returnees is close to a second genocide, committed by the Poles.

 However, the "11 million victims" issue has been brough to attention again in Eli Wiesel's AND THE SEA IS NEVER FULL. On page 129, Wiesel recalls his last meeting with Wiesenthal:

 "We move to a more serious topic: Whom should we remember? He (Wiesenthal) preaches the universality of suffering. More precisely: Since Hitler exterminated not six but eleven million human beings in his death camps-Poles, Ukrainians, Russians, German, and others--my guest considers it our duty not to forget any of them. And here Wiesenthl uses a striking image: Since Jewish blood was mingled with their blood in Auschwitz, all victims should be 'reunited' within the same remembrance.

 "I answer him that I don't know where he obtained the figure of eleven million. To my knowldge, no historian has ever cited such a figure. Indeed, the only place I can remember seeing that figure was in Eichmann's report on the Wannsee Conference, where leaders of the Third Reich decied on the Final Solution. But even there, Eichmann referred to eleven million JEWS, only JEWS--those of Europe and elsewhere--all of whom were targeted. Moreover, did he, Wiesenthal, really believe that there were five million non-Jews brutalized, killed, and burned in camps? If that is what he believes, let him bring proof..whereupon he accuses me of Judeocentrism: "You think only of the Jews....For you they are all saints....As for me, I can prove to you that among thm were the worst kind of scoundrals, worse than non-Jews....' I am stunned by this outburst, and saddened. His face is red, he apologizes. He didn't express himself properly, he didn't mean it. In fact he wanted to say something else, but...So be it. I explain my position to him, the very same I set forth before president Carter and Congress: Not all the victims of the Holocaust were Jews, but all the Jews were victims."

 

Wiesel goes on to describe an orchestrated negative campaign against him by Wiesenthal.

 The heart of the matter is the "11 million victims" issue. From the perspective of CHGS, all organizations that teach the Holocaust who adhere to the 11 million number will eventually have trouble maintaining the integrity of the Holocaust as a subject.

 It is incumbent for local and national/international conferences and meetings can have some roundtables to deal with this apparent fiction of 11 million which has become an accepted "fact" seen in literature and even films, DVDs, put out by reputable organizations. A consistent record by all Holocaust teaching centers make sense, lest deniers seize this issue.