Arthur Butz: Scholarly Holocaust Denier?

Arthur Butz is distinguished from all the previous deniers by his scholarly background- he graduated from MIT and received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. His book, The Hoax of the 20th Centurey, showed an understanding of scholarly debate and academic structure. His book was also different in that he confronted issues untouched by previous deniers. He even admitted that as many as a million Jews may have been murdered by the Nazis. However, over time in his book Butz resorts to rhetoric that matches previous deniers, as he claims that the story of Jewish extermination was propaganda and that the stories of survivors were just “tall tales.”
Butz’s book sympathized with the Germans and the Austrians, and it also describes the Jews as one of “the most powerful groups on earth” with the ability to manipulate governments and control the media. His description goes on say that because of the nature of the Jews, any anti-Semitism by the Nazis was justified. Butz attempted to defend his stance by saying no other scholars would take up the denier position because the topic is so well established.
Since Butz’s book was published, he has been associated with extremist and neo-Nazi groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, which distributed his book. Despite the seemingly scholarly and academic nature of his book, it is full of conspiracy theory and anti-Semitism not unlike the pamphlets that preceded him.
Among groups he blames for the “hoax” are the Zionists, Communists, and even the U.S. government’s War Refugee Board and Office of Strategic Services. The key, according to Butz, is the forgery of many documents by the Allied governments. According to him, hundreds of trained people were sent to Euorpe immediately after the war to create documents of the concentration camps and massacres. They even went so far as to create false speech recordings of Nazi leaders. Butz even interprets Hitler’s very words “the destruction of Jewry” not to mean the killing of Jews, but the “destruction of Jewish influence and power.”
There were several other key pieces that needed to be addressed by Butz, especially Hitler’s last will. In it he said the Jews were “the race that is the real guilty party in this murderous struggle”. Butz ineffectively tried to claim that although it is signed by Hitler, the document had been tampered with.
To convince readers, he had to find ways to show that the Holocaust was a hoax, which included proving that testimony is inferior to documents. He then could prove that documents were potentially tampered with, and were thus considered forgery. He even gets creative by claiming that anyone who claimed to have witnessed killing or Hitler’s talk of exterminating Jews were tortured to admit it. He also posed that man of the confessions were due to the fact that they did not comprehend the questions they were being asked.
Butz did not use any independent sources of evidence in his book to support his conclusions. This is a deviation from scholarly research that looks to hard data for support. He offers countless explanations for what happened to the Jews who had “died” such as that they remarried and thus became part of the “hoax” in their new life. Despite the many problems and holes in his work, sadly it continues to be cited by may groups including the KKK and neo-Nazis.

http://100777.com/node/1542
On this web page, Arthur Butz himself attempts to explain his position and the "evidence" that supports his claims. In particular, notice that he cites Timothy Ryback's infamous study of the Auschwitz gas chambers, where he claimed no poisonous gasses had been ever used at the site. This "study" was discredited due to Ryback's inexperience in the field of science.

http://media.www.dailynorthwestern.com/media/storage/paper853/news/2006/02/07/Campus/Butzs.Denial.Of.Holocaust.Irritates.Nu-1920811.shtml
This interesting web page is an article from the Northwestern campus paper. Despite how students may feel regarding Butz's stance on the Holocaust, as long as he abstains from discussing his stance in the classroom, the University allows him to remain.

http://www.amazon.com/Hoax-Twentieth-Century-Extermination-Holocaust/dp/0967985692
Here (if you really wanted to) you can order Butz's book. Take a look at the comments and see what people are saying about his work, especially regarding his right to free speech. A good question to ask is: If he is deliberately swaying evidence and bending the truth, should that speech be protected as well?

http://www.revisionists.com/revisionists/butz.html
This page gives a brief overview of Butz's life, as well as his journal publications. Notice the line where it states his "Repercussions."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6_Myh2sDhk
Video of Butz on the O'Reilly Factor. Clearly Holocaust deinal is located in the sphere of deviance- the message is that Butz should not be allowed to debate the topic at all. Best line of the video: "Somewhere in Hell, Hitler was smiling".