American Rhetoric: Movie Speech

"Denial" (2016)

Professor Lipstadt Poses Important Questions to Her Students about the Holocaust

Professor Deborah Lipstadt: Holocaust denial rests on four basic assertions.

Number one: that there was never any systematic or organized attempt by the Nazis to kill all of Europe's Jews.

Number two: that the numbers are far fewer than five or six million.

Number three: that there were no gas chambers or specially built extermination facilities.

Number four: that the Holocaust is therefore a myth invented by Jews to get themselves financial compensation and to further the fortunes of the State of Israel.

"War," the deniers say, "is a bloody business. There's nothing special about the Jews. They're not unique in their suffering. They're just everyday casualties of war. What's the fuss?"

Okay, and here's another question: How do we know the Holocaust happened? No, seriously, I'm -- I'm asking. How do we prove it?

Student: Photographic evidence?

Professor Lipstadt: Not one person in this room or outside it has ever seen a photograph of a Jew inside a gas chamber. You know why? Because the Germans made sure that none were ever taken.

So how do we know? How do we know that so many were murdered?

So what's the proof?

Where's the proof?

How strong is it?