Why do revisionists not find the eyewitness testimony credible?
Eyewitness testimony, even when it is not politically motivated, is the lowest quality of evidence. Memory is a very malleable thing even under normal circumstances. In the highly charged atmosphere of the ideological conflict that destroyed a major part of Europe, the testimony of people who have good reason to hold a grudge should be highly suspect and examined carefully. When inspected critically, many of the cornerstone testimonies regarding the Holocaust contain many factual errors and absurdities. Another important point to consider is the circumstances under which the testimonies–particularly those of the Nazis-were obtained. Torture was used in some cases to obtain “confessions.” In others, threats were made against the lives and health of members of the “war criminal’s” family. Under the conditions that prevailed at the end of the war, the Allied governments could obtain any sort of testimony they wanted to get. And they did.
Eyewitness testimony, even when it is not politically motivated, is the lowest quality of evidence. Memory is a very malleable thing even under normal circumstances. In the highly charged atmosphere of the ideological conflict that destroyed a major part of Europe, the testimony of people who have good reason to hold a grudge should be highly suspect and examined carefully. When inspected critically, many of the cornerstone testimonies regarding the Holocaust contain many factual errors and absurdities. Another important point to consider is the circumstances under which the testimonies–particularly those of the Nazis-were obtained. Torture was used in some cases to obtain “confessions.” In others, threats were made against the lives and health of members of the “war criminal’s” family. Under the conditions that prevailed at the end of the war, the Allied governments could obtain any sort of testimony they wanted to get. And they did.
Eyewitness testimony, even when it is not politically motivated, is the lowest quality of evidence. Memory is a very malleable thing even under normal circumstances. In the highly charged atmosphere of the ideological conflict that destroyed a major part of Europe, the testimony of people who have good reason to hold a grudge should be highly suspect and examined carefully. When inspected critically, many of the cornerstone testimonies regarding the Holocaust contain many factual errors and absurdities. Another important point to consider is the circumstances under which the testimonies–particularly those of the Nazis-were obtained. Torture was used in some cases to obtain “confessions.” In others, threats were made against the lives and health of members of the “war criminal’s” family. Under the conditions that prevailed at the end of the war, the Allied governments could obtain any sort of testimony they wanted to get. And they did.
The simple answer is that it interferes with their attempt to deny the Holocaust. But to be fair, it should be pointed out that it is not the eyewitness testimony alone that bothers “revisionists”, but rather the fact that the testimony from German perpetrators, Jewish survivors and neutral observers converges in the same result: the attempted annihilation of the Jews. It is this convergence of evidence, along with the documentary, scientific and photographic evidence, that is the most damning to the “revisionist” position.
Eyewitness testimony, even when it is not politically motivated, is the lowest quality of evidence. Memory is a very malleable thing even under normal circumstances. In the highly charged atmosphere of the ideological conflict that destroyed a major part of Europe, the testimony of people who have good reason to hold a grudge should be highly suspect and examined carefully. When inspected critically, many of the cornerstone testimonies regarding the Holocaust contain many factual errors and absurdities. Another important point to consider is the circumstances under which the testimonies–particularly those of the Nazis-were obtained. Torture was used in some cases to obtain “confessions.” In others, threats were made against the lives and health of members of the “war criminal’s” family. Under the conditions that prevailed at the end of the war, the Allied governments could obtain any sort of testimony they wanted to get. And they did.
