Deborah Lipstadt on the perils of ignoring the history of the Holocaust.

There is a particularly important reason why acts of genocide must never be allowed to be forgotten. We know for a fat that Hitler thought he could get away with his programme of mass murder because he thought the perpetrators of similar events in recent history had got away with it. After making clear to his commanders shortly before the invasion of Poland that they were to kill men, women and children without mercy, he asked them rhetorically in a speech at Obersalzberg,

"Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"

It is precisely for that reason that we must remember the Armenian Genocide, the Holocaust, and all the other genocides which have been inflicted on humankind over the centuries.

Deborah Lipstad, the historian of the holocaust who successfully defended herself when sued by Holocaust denier David Irving, has written a good article on this subject,

"The perils of ignoring Holocaust history."

Among other things this article explains why the comments by former Labour mayor of London Ken Livingston was wrong when he made the comments for which he has been suspended for a year from holding office in the Labour party.

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