We're getting farther and farther away from the Holocaust in historical memory

[bluestateguy]

All the living survivors will be passed in about 20 years (any few that are left at that point will be too small in number or infirm to have much influence). 30 years from now they will all surely be gone.

That worries me because when that generation has passed it will only be easier for white nationalists, anti-semites and alt righters to influence ever more young people that the Holocaust somehow didn't happen, or that Hitler wasn't so bad or that Nazi ideology should be considered reasonable. The farther removed a society is from historical memory, the greater chance there is that those historical evils could be repeated. And gullible people could be seduced into those lines of thinking.

Family oral histories, documentaries and books can only go so far. Many other well-functioning democratic countries have laws that criminalize Holocaust denial. At some point in the United States that's something we are going to have to look into. I don't believe that time is now, but someday we may need to have an adult conversation about a Holocaust denial law.

[still_one]

1. Much of this has been documented in videos and manuscript. More importantly, their decedents will

not let this fade into obscurity.

The Holocaust's museums and the camps themselves stand as permanent reminders

[Warpy]

2. I remember how it felt to see that first tattooed forearm in Boston

I'd read Shirer's books when they came out. I knew what had happened, at least in my head.

That number peeking out from under a sleeve on an old woman's arm made me know it in my gut, also.

There are so few survivors left that most people will never feel it in their guts. It will be just another dry historical fact, like the Battle of Hastings or the sacking of Rome.

[COLGATE4]

3. I'm sadly in agreement with you. All the museums in the world and

all the dry works on the Third Reich and its horrors will never have the effect that seeing a tatooed arm on a (now) fragile old person has. As we lose the last of those who went through this unspeakable horror I fear that the Holocaust will become another "Oh, yeah, I remember hearing something about that" topic to younger generations.

[REP]

6. The tattoos I saw weren't on frail arms

They were on the arms of my classmates' parents. At the time of my birth, WWII was as fresh in people's memories as the Oklahoma City Bombing or 9/11; now it seems so distant. Until talk of rounding up certain peoples is heard again and Jewish symbols are used to smear politicians.

[Calculating]

4. Not constitutional in any dimension

Such a law would be in direct violation of the first amendment. I don't see how any amount of legal maneuvering would avoid such a conflict. In the US people have the right to say whatever idiotic stuff they want, so long as they're not making threats or directly inciting violence. I could go down the street with a sign saying the Earth is flat, the moon landing was faked, and Kennedy was really killed by aliens because he was gonna reveal them. People would also have the right to think I was a complete nut.

[Joe the Revelator]

5. The Jewish People are still around.

As long as we are here, and it would seem you can't really get rid of us, the truth of the Holocaust will live on.

[Behind the Aegis]

7. The lack of education is the problem.

More and more schools barely touch on the subject of the Holocaust, whereas in the past there was more historical references, now most are to score political points. The ADL did a survey and it was shocking at how little the younger generation knows in regards to the Holocaust. We will see influxes of Holocaust denial, but most will be forms of minimization, creep over from the right into the left. Even with all of the historical documentation, there are those who are actually educated (so don't think it is just mouth-breathers) spreading lies, distorting the truth, and perpetuating anti-Holocaust myths.

As disgusting as I think Holocaust denial is (or linking to those sites, or allowing those sites because the information "looks correct&quot , I don't think a general US ban would be wise (or legal). While we may not want that trash here, at least most of us, the information should remain available and legal.

I am more honestly worried about it happening again, more so than people denying the one that happened.