genocide denial

According to Taner Akçam, "the practice of 'denialism' in regard to mass atrocities is usually thought of as a simple denial of the facts, but this is not true. Rather, it is in that nebulous territory between facts and truth where such denialism germinates."{{cite book |last1=Akçam |first1=Taner |author-link=Taner Akçam |title-link=Killing Orders |title=Killing Orders: Talat Pasha's Telegrams and the Armenian Genocide |date=2018 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-69787-1 |pages=1–2 |language=en}}

David Tolbert, president of the International Center for Transitional Justice, states:

{{blockquote|Denial is the final fortress of those who commit genocide and other mass crimes. Perpetrators hide the truth to avoid accountability and protect the political and economic advantages they sought to gain by mass killings and theft of the victims' property, and to cement the new reality by manufacturing an alternative history. Recent studies have established that such denial not only damages the victims and their destroyed communities, it promises a future based on lies, sowing the seeds of future conflict, repression and suffering.{{cite news |last1=Tolbert |first1=David |author1-link=David Tolbert |title=The Armenian Genocide: 100 Years of Denial |url=https://www.ictj.org/news/armenian-genocide-100-years-denial |access-date=17 December 2020 |work=International Center for Transitional Justice |date=24 April 2015 |language=en |archive-date=1 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201051001/https://www.ictj.org/news/armenian-genocide-100-years-denial |url-status=live}}}}

Some of the main reasons for denying genocide are to evade moral or even criminal responsibility and to protect the perpetrators' reputation.{{Cite book |last=Hitchcock |first=Robert K. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1374189062 |title=Denial of genocides in the twenty-first century |date=2023 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-1-4962-3554-1 |editor-last=Der Matossian |editor-first=Bedross |location=[Lincoln] |pages=33 |chapter=Denial of Genocide of Indigenous People in the United States |oclc=1374189062 |quote=Some of the main reasons for denying genocide are to avoid responsibility and potential prosecution, and to save reputations.}}{{cite book |last1=Bilali |first1=Rezarta |last2=Iqbal |first2=Yeshim |last3=Freel |first3=Samuel |chapter=Understanding and Counteracting Genocide Denial |editor-first=Leonard S. |editor-last=Newman |title=Confronting Humanity at its Worst: Social Psychological Perspectives on Genocide |location=New York |publisher=Oxford Academic |date=21 November 2019 |page=285 |doi=10.1093/oso/9780190685942.003.0011 |isbn=978-0-19-068594-2 |quote=Groups that commit atrocities are judged negatively, ostracized, and singled out. Members of perpetrator groups are therefore motivated to protect the in-group's positive identity and social image by denying or justifying in-group atrocities}}

Gregory Stanton outlines the tactics of genocide denial including: questioning the statistics, denial of intent, definitional debates, and blaming the victims.{{Cite web |last=Stanton |first=Gregory H. |author-link=Gregory Stanton |year=2005 |title=12 Ways to Deny Genocide |url=http://genocidewatch.net/genocide-2/12-ways-to-deny-genocide/ |access-date=28 October 2023 |website=Genocide Watch |language=en-US}} Genocide scholar Israel Charny outlines five psychological characteristics of denials of genocide.{{Cite book |last=Charny |first=Israel W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8Q30HcvCVuIC |title=Encyclopedia of Genocide |volume=1 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-87436-928-1 |pages=160 |language=en}}

Genocide scholar Adam Jones proposed a framework for genocide denial that consists of several strategies, including minimizing fatalities, blaming fatalities on unrelated "natural" causes, denying intent to destroy a group, and claiming self-defense in preemptive or disproportionate attacks:{{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Adam |author-link=Adam Jones (Canadian scholar) |title=Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-93797-2 |pages=791–793 |chapter=Memory, Forgetting, and Denial}}

• "Hardly anybody died" When the genocides lie far in the past, denial is easier.
• "It wasn't intentional" Disease and famine-causing conditions such as forced labor, concentration camps and slavery (even though they may be manufactured by the perpetrator) may be blamed for casualties.
• "There weren't that many people to begin with" Minimizing the casualties of the victims, while the criminals destroy or hide the evidence.
• "It was self defense" The killing of civilians, especially able bodied males is rationalized in preemptive attack, as they are accused of plotting against the perpetrators. The perpetrator may exterminate witnesses and relatives of the victims.
• "There was no central direction" Perpetrators can use militias, paramilitaries, mercenaries, or death squads to avoid being seen as directly participating.
• "It wasn't or isn't 'genocide,' because ..." They may enter definitional or rhetorical argumentation.
• "We would never do that" Self-image cannot be questioned: the perpetrator sees itself as benevolent by definition. Evidence doesn't matter.
• "We are the real victims" They deflect attention to their own casualties/losses, without historical context.

• In his 1984 book The Other Side: The Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas argued that only "a few hundred thousand" Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, the Jews brought the Holocaust upon themselves because of their behavior, and Zionists had collaborated with the Nazis in an attempt to send more Jews to Israel. In a 2006 interview, without retracting these specific claims, he stated: "The Holocaust was a terrible, unforgivable crime against the Jewish nation, a crime against humanity that cannot be accepted by humankind."{{cite news |url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/u-s-told-us-to-ignore-israeli-map-reservations-1.8840 |title=U.S. told us to ignore Israeli map reservations |author=Akiva Eldar |newspaper=Haaretz |date=28 May 2003 |access-date=23 March 2014 |archive-date=20 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120164725/http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/u-s-told-us-to-ignore-israeli-map-reservations-1.8840 |url-status=live}}
• In February 2006 David Irving was imprisoned in Austria for Holocaust denial; he served 13 months in prison before being released on probation.{{cite news |author=Staff |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4733820.stm |title=Holocaust denier Irving is jailed |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190805031758/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4733820.stm |archive-date=5 August 2019 |work=BBC News |date=20 February 2006}}{{cite news |first=Veronika |last=Oleksyn |agency=Associated Press |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/20/AR2006122000219.html |title=Holocaust Denier Freed, Gets Probation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181125162715/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/20/AR2006122000219.html |archive-date=25 November 2018 |date=20 December 2006}}
• David Campbell has written of the now defunct British magazine Living Marxism that "LM's intentions are clear from the way they have sought to publicize accounts of contemporary atrocities which suggest they were certainly not genocidal (as in the case of Rwanda), and perhaps did not even occur (as in the case of the murder of nearly 8,000 at Srebrenica)."{{cite web |first=David |last=Campbell |author-link=David Campbell (academic) |url=http://www.virtual-security.net/attrocity/atroindex.htm |title=ITN vs Living Marxism |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040408183256/http://www.virtual-security.net/attrocity/atroindex.htm |archive-date=8 April 2004}}, [http://www.virtual-security.net/attrocity/atrocity2.htm Part 2] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080416030737/http://www.virtual-security.net/attrocity/atrocity2.htm |date=16 April 2008}}. Footnote [49] cites Linda Ryan "[http://archive.serbianunity.net/politics/war_crimes/srebrenica/linda.html What's in a 'mass grave'?, Living Marxism, Issue 88, March 1996] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724061152/http://archive.serbianunity.net/politics/war_crimes/srebrenica/linda.html |date=24 July 2011}}" (The link he provides in the footnote does not exist any more so the link is a substitute). Accessed 20 April 2008{{cite news |last=McGreal |first=Chris |url=https://www.theguardian.com/comment/story/0,3604,181819,00.html |title=Genocide? What genocide? |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170207113616/https://www.theguardian.com/comment/story/0,3604,181819,00.html |archive-date=7 February 2017 |access-date=25 October 2009 |work=The Guardian |location=London |date=20 March 2000 |url-status=live}} Chris McGreal writing in The Guardian on 20 March 2000 stated that Fiona Fox writing under a pseudonym had contributed an article to Living Marxism which was part of a campaign by Living Marxism that denied that the event which occurred in Rwanda was a genocide.
• Scott Jaschik has stated that Justin McCarthy, is one of two scholars "most active on promoting the view that no Armenian genocide took place".{{cite news |first=Scott |last=Jaschik |title=Genocide Deniers |url=http://hnn.us/articles/43861.html |date=22 October 2007 |access-date=20 April 2008 |archive-date=22 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071022102413/http://hnn.us/articles/43861.html |url-status=live}} He was one of four scholars who participated in a controversial debate hosted by PBS about the genocide.{{cite news |title=A PBS Documentary Makes Its Case for the Armenian Genocide, With or Without a Debate |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/17/arts/television/17stan.html?ex=1302926400&en=42703f4960edef66&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss |date=17 April 2006 |access-date=2 September 2006 |first=Alessandra |last=Stanley |archive-date=28 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160228032855/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/17/arts/television/17stan.html?ex=1302926400&en=42703f4960edef66&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss |url-status=live}}
• Darko Trifunovic is the author of the Report about Case Srebrenica,{{cite web |url=http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&BBID=15401773&v3=1 |title=Brief Record |publisher=US Library of Congress |access-date=22 April 2009 |archive-date=11 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511235031/https://catalog.loc.gov/legacy.html |url-status=live}} which was commissioned by the government of the Republika Srpska.{{cite web |first=Gordana |last=Katana |url=http://www.iwpr.net/index.php?apc_state=hen&s=o&o=p=tri&l=EN&s=f&o=164405 |title=REGIONAL REPORT: Bosnian Serbs Play Down Srebrenica |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511234952/https://iwpr.net/?apc_state=hen&s=o&o=p=tri&l=EN&s=f&o=164405 |archive-date=11 May 2021 |website=Institute for War & Peace Reporting |access-date=25 October 2009}} The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) reviewed the report and concluded that it "represented one of the worst examples of revisionism, in relation to the mass executions of Bosniaks committed in Srebrenica in July 1995".{{cite web |url=http://www.icty.org/case/deronjic/4#tjug |title=Judgement against Miroslav Deronjic |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100326020700/http://www.icty.org/case/deronjic/4#tjug |archive-date=26 March 2010 |website=ICTY}} After the report was published on 3 September 2002, it provoked outrage and condemnation by a wide variety of Balkans and international figures, individuals, and organizations.{{cite web |title=RFE/RL Newsline, 02-09-03: Bosnian Serbs Deny Srebrenica Massacre... |url=http://www.hri.org/news/balkans/rferl/2002/02-09-03.rferl.html#70 |author=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |date=3 September 2005 |access-date=3 July 2009 |archive-date=5 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605084659/http://www.hri.org/news/balkans/rferl/2002/02-09-03.rferl.html#70 |url-status=live}}
• Patrick Karuretwa stated in the Harvard Law Record that in 2007 the Canadian politician Robin Philpot "attracted intense media attention for repeatedly denying the 1994 genocide of the Tutsis"{{cite web |url=http://www.hlrecord.org/opinion/release-of-rwanda-s-mastermind-of-death-promotes-genocide-denial-1.951557 |title=Release of Rwanda's mastermind of death promotes genocide denial |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100206044153/http://www.hlrecord.org/opinion/release-of-rwanda-s-mastermind-of-death-promotes-genocide-denial-1.951557 |archive-date=6 February 2010 |website=Harvard Law Record |date=4 December 2009}}
• On 21 April 2016 a full-page ad appeared in The Wall Street Journal and Chicago Tribune that directed readers to Fact Check Armenia, a genocide denial website sponsored by the Turkish lobby in the US. When confronted about the ad a Wall Street Journal spokesperson stated, "We accept a wide range of advertisements, including those with provocative viewpoints. While we review ad copy for issues of taste, the varied and divergent views expressed belong to the advertisers."{{cite news |url=http://www.newsweek.com/full-page-wsj-ad-denying-armenian-genocide-spurs-anger-450971 |title=Full-Page WSJ Ad Denying Armenian Genocide Spurs Anger |date=21 April 2016 |newspaper=Newsweek |access-date=21 April 2016 |archive-date=21 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160421235119/http://www.newsweek.com/full-page-wsj-ad-denying-armenian-genocide-spurs-anger-450971 |url-status=live}}
• American philosopher Steven T. Katz has argued that the Holocaust is the only genocide that has occurred in history.{{Cite journal |last=Katz |first=Steven T. |author-link=Steven T. Katz |date=1981 |title=The "Unique" Intentionality of the Holocaust |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1396059 |url-status=live |journal=Modern Judaism |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=161–183 |doi=10.1093/mj/1.2.161 |issn=0276-1114 |jstor=1396059 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230429035521/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1396059 |archive-date=29 April 2023 |access-date=29 April 2023|url-access=subscription }}{{cite book |last=Novick |first=Peter |title=The Holocaust in American Life |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |year=2000 |pages=196–197 |author-link=Peter Novick}}

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{{See also|Denial of genocides of Indigenous peoples}}

The Australian government has been criticized for engaging in genocide denial and historic revisionism, concerning the treatment of Indigenous people.{{Cite web |last=Ried |first=James |date=30 March 2016 |title='Invaded' not settled: UNSW rewrites history |url=https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/state/nsw/2016/03/30/invaded-settled-unsw-rewrite-australian-history/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330095450/https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/state/nsw/2016/03/30/invaded-settled-unsw-rewrite-australian-history/ |archive-date=30 March 2023 |access-date=2 August 2024 |website=The New Daily}} Prominent Australian politicians have refused to acknowledge the genocide.{{Cite news |last=Frost |first=Natasha |date=26 July 2023 |title=Colonization Was the 'Luckiest Thing' to Happen to Australia, Ex-Leader Says |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/26/world/australia/colonization-australia-britain.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230730234404/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/26/world/australia/colonization-australia-britain.html |archive-date=30 July 2023 |access-date=3 August 2024 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}{{cite book |last=Powell |first=Christopher |title=Barbaric Civilization: A Critical Sociology of Genocide |date=15 June 2011 |page=222 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780773585560/html |access-date=3 August 2024 |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |language=en |doi=10.1515/9780773585560 |isbn=978-0-7735-8556-0}}

{{excerpt |Canadian genocide of Indigenous peoples#Denialism}}

{{See also|Denial of the genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia}}

{{Empty section|date=February 2025}}

{{See also|Nanjing Massacre denial}}

In Japan, interpretation of the Nanjing Massacre is reflected upon the notions of "pride, honor and shame". Takashi Yoshida describes the Japanese debate over the Nanjing Massacre as "crystalliz[ing] a much larger conflict over what should constitute the ideal perception of the nation: Japan, as a nation, acknowledges its past and apologizes for its wartime wrongdoings; or ... stands firm against foreign pressures and teaches Japanese youth about the benevolent and courageous martyrs who fought a just war to save Asia from Western aggression."{{Cite book |last=Yoshida |first=Takashi |url=https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Making_of_the_Rape_of_Nanking.html?id=TH08DwAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description |title=The Making of the "Rape of Nanking": History and Memory in Japan, China, and the United States |date=2006-03-23 |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |isbn=978-0-19-518096-1 |pages=129 |language=en}} In some nationalist circles in Japan, speaking of a large-scale massacre at Nanjing is regarded as {{" '}}Japan bashing' (in the case of foreigners) or 'self-flagellation' (in the case of Japanese)".{{cite journal |journal=Electronic Journal of Contemporary Japanese Studies |date=4 April 2002 |title=The Nanjing Incident – Recent Research and Trends |first=David |last=Askew |access-date=24 March 2009 |url=http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/articles/Askew.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405031715/http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/articles/Askew.html |archive-date=5 April 2018 |url-status=dead}} This means that most Japanese youth are oblivious of the massacre because this dark history is not taught in Japanese schools, and the continued worship of Japanese war criminals enshrined in the Yasukuni Shrine by mainstream politicians in Japan.

The government of Pakistan continues to deny that any Bangladeshi genocide took place during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. They typically accuse Pakistani reporters (such as Anthony Mascarenhas), who reported on the genocide, of being "enemy agents"."His article was – from Pakistan's point of view – a huge betrayal and he was accused of being an enemy agent. It still denies its forces were behind such atrocities as those described by Mascarenhas, and blames Indian propaganda."{{cite news |title=Bangladesh war: The article that changed history |first=Mark |last=Dummett |author-link=Mark Dummett |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16207201 |newspaper=BBC Asia |date=16 December 2011 |access-date=27 December 2011 |archive-date=28 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201228012639/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-16207201 |url-status=live}} According to Donald W. Beachler, professor of political science at Ithaca College:{{cite web |url=http://www.instituteforthestudyofgenocide.org/events/2005iagsconference/abstracts/IAGS%202005.proposal.doc |title=Genocide Denial; The Case of Bangladesh |last=Beachler |first=Donald W. |website=Institute for the Study of Genocide |access-date=28 November 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426074152/http://www.instituteforthestudyofgenocide.org/events/2005iagsconference/abstracts/IAGS%202005.proposal.doc |archive-date=26 April 2012}}

{{blockquote|The government of Pakistan explicitly denied that there was genocide. By their refusal to characterise the mass-killings as genocide or to condemn and restrain the Pakistani government, the US and Chinese governments implied that they did not consider it so.}}

Similarly, in the wake of the 2013 Shahbag protests against war criminals who were complicit in the genocide, English journalist Philip Hensher wrote:{{cite news |title=The war Bangladesh can never forget |first=Philip |last=Hensher |author-link=Philip Hensher |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/the-war-bangladesh-can-never-forget-8501636.html# |newspaper=The Independent |date=19 February 2013 |access-date=26 February 2013 |archive-date=28 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201228012649/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/war-bangladesh-can-never-forget-8501636.html |url-status=live}}

{{blockquote|The genocide is still too little known about in the West. It is, moreover, the subject of shocking degrees of denial among partisan polemicists and manipulative historians.}}

{{See also|Holodomor denial}}Russia denies the Circassian genocide, instead describing the events as a mass migration (Russian: Черкесское мухаджирство, lit. 'Circassian migrationism').{{Cite web |date=May 2011 |title=Georgia Recognizes Russian 'Genocide' Of Ethnic Circassians |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/georgia_recognizes_russian_genocide_of_ethnic_circassians/24181560.html |access-date=15 January 2021 |website=Radio Free Europe}}{{Cite web |title=Georgia Recognizes Circassian Genocide |url=https://eurasianet.org/georgia-recognizes-circassian-genocide |access-date=15 January 2021 |website=Eurasianet}}{{Cite journal |last1=Bodio |first1=Tadeusz |last2=Sieradzan |first2=Przemysław J. |date=15 December 2012 |title=Źródła nacjonalizmu czerkieskiego i jego konsekwencje polityczne |trans-title=Sources of Circassian nationalism and its political consequences |url=https://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/ssp/article/view/10748 |journal=Środkowoeuropejskie Studia Polityczne |language=pl |issue=4 |pages=47–74 |doi=10.14746/ssp.2012.4.03 |issn=1731-7517 |doi-access=free}} In 2009, the Presidential Commission of the Russian Federation to Counter Attempts to Falsify History to the Detriment of Russia’s Interests denied the genocide alongside other crimes.{{Cite book |last=Richmond |first=Walter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LHlwZwpA70cC |title=The Circassian Genocide |date=2013-04-09 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-6069-4 |pages=2, 169 |language=en}}

{{Further|Srebrenica massacre|Bosnian genocide denial}}

According to Sonja Biserko, president of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, and Edina Becirevic, the faculty of criminology and security studies of the University of Sarajevo:

{{blockquote|Denial of the Srebrenica genocide takes many forms [in Serbia]. The methods range from the brutal to the deceitful. Denial is present most strongly in political discourse, in the media, in the sphere of law, and in the educational system.{{cite web |url=http://www.bosnia.org.uk/news/news_body.cfm?newsid=2638 |title=Denial of genocide – on the possibility of normalising relations in the region |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303231517/http://www.bosnia.org.uk/news/news_body.cfm?newsid=2638 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |first1=Sonja |last1=Biserko |first2=Edina |last2=Becirevic}}}}

{{Main|Armenian genocide denial}}

The government of the Republic of Turkey has long denied that the Armenian genocide was a genocide.{{cite news |first=Evelyn |last=Leopold |date=9 April 2007 |title=UN genocide exhibit delayed after Turkey objects |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN0934951820070410 |access-date=1 July 2017 |archive-date=9 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309002844/https://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN0934951820070410 |url-status=live}} According to Akçam, "Turkish denialism [of the genocide] is perhaps the most successful example of how the well-organised, deliberate, and systematic spreading of falsehoods can play an important role in the field of public debate" and that "fact-based truths have been discredited and relegated to the status of mere opinion". Turkey acknowledges that many Armenians residing in the Ottoman Empire were killed in conflicts with Ottoman forces during World War I, but disputes the statistics and claims that the killings were systematic and amounted to genocide. Measures recognising the Armenian genocide have languished in the US Congress for decades, and US presidents have refrained from labelling it such due to worries about relations with Turkey and intensive lobbying by Ankara.{{Cite news |date=20 April 2021 |title=Turkey says any U.S. recognition of Armenian 'genocide' would further harm ties |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/turkey-says-us-recognising-armenian-genocide-will-further-harm-ties-2021-04-20/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231002064805/https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/turkey-says-us-recognising-armenian-genocide-will-further-harm-ties-2021-04-20/ |archive-date=2 October 2023 |access-date=19 September 2023 |work=Reuters |language=en}}

{{See also|Denial of atrocities against Indigenous peoples}}

The government of the United States has been accused of denial of the genocide of its Indigenous peoples{{Cite journal |last1=Chavez Cameron |first1=Susan |last2=Phan |first2=Loan T. |date=July 13, 2018 |title=Ten stages of American Indian genocide |url=https://journal.sipsych.org/index.php/IJP/article/view/876 |journal=Revista Interamericana de Psicología/Interamerican Journal of Psychology |volume=52 |issue=1 |language=en-US |doi=10.30849/rip/ijp.v52i1.876 |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024}} by academics such as Benjamin Madley,{{cite book |last=Madley |first=Benjamin |title=An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe, 1846-1873 |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-0300181364 |location=New Haven |pages=12}} David Stannard{{Cite book |last=Stannard |first=David E. |author-link=David Stannard |title=American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World |date=1994 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-508557-0 |location=Oxford, New York |page=221}} and Noam Chomsky.{{Cite web |last=Chomsky |first=Noam |author-link=Noam Chomsky |date=1 September 2010 |title=Genocide Denial with a Vengeance: Old and New Imperial Norms |url=https://monthlyreview.org/2010/09/01/genocide-denial-with-a-vengeance-old-and-new-imperial-norms/ |access-date=30 March 2023 |website=Monthly Review |page=16 |quote=Settler colonialism, commonly the most vicious form of imperial conquest, provides striking illustrations. The English colonists in North America had no doubts about what they were doing. Revolutionary War hero General Henry Knox, the first Secretary of War in the newly liberated American colonies, described "the utter extirpation of all the Indians in most populous parts of the Union" by means "more destructive to the Indian natives than the conduct of the conquerors of Mexico and Peru", which would have been no small achievement. In his later years, President John Quincy Adams recognized the fate of "that hapless race of native Americans, which we are exterminating with such merciless and perfidious cruelty, [to be] among the heinous sins of this nation, for which I believe God will one day bring [it] to judgement". |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250208105802/https://monthlyreview.org/2010/09/01/genocide-denial-with-a-vengeance-old-and-new-imperial-norms/ |archive-date=8 February 2025}}

The Trump and Biden administrations, US media outlets and the US political class at large have been accused of denying the Gaza genocide.{{Cite web |last=Zunes |first=Stephen |date=2025-02-14 |title=By Rejecting Evidence of Genocide in Gaza, the US Is Following a Familiar Pattern |url=https://newlinesmag.com/essays/by-rejecting-evidence-of-genocide-in-gaza-the-us-is-following-a-familiar-pattern/ |access-date=2025-04-30 |website=New Lines Magazine |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=The Return of Genocide Denial |url=https://jacobin.com/2025/01/genocide-denial-israel-us-gaza |access-date=2025-04-30 |website=jacobin.com |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Opinion {{!}} The Genocide Denial of the 'Pro-Israel, Pro-Peace' Crowd {{!}} Common Dreams |url=https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/the-genocide-denial-of-the-pro-israel-pro-peace-crowd |access-date=2025-04-30 |website=www.commondreams.org |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Genocide Denial in Holocaust Studies: Gaza 80 Years After Auschwitz Liberation |url=https://www.democracynow.org/2025/1/28/raz_segal |access-date=2025-04-30 |website=Democracy Now! |language=en}}

The European Commission proposed a European Union–wide anti-racism law in 2001, which included an offence of genocide denial, but European Union states failed to agree on the balance between prohibiting racism and freedom of expression. After six years of debating, a watered down compromise was reached in 2007 which gave EU states freedom to implement the legislation as they saw fit.{{cite news |first=Ethan |last=McNern |url=http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/world/Swastika-ban-left-out-of.3342365.jp |title=Swastika ban left out of EU's racism law |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805064029/http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/world/Swastika-ban-left-out-of.3342365.jp |archive-date=5 August 2011 |work=The Scotsman |date=30 January 2007}}{{Cite web |date=2007-02-02 |title=EU plans far-reaching 'genocide denial' law |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1541411/EU-plans-far-reaching-genocide-denial-law.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200310144102/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/?xml=%2Fnews%2F2007%2F02%2F02%2Fweu02.xml |archive-date=10 March 2020 |access-date=2025-05-18 |website=The Telegraph |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=EU to agree watered-down anti-racism law-diplomats |url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKL1816833320070418 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20070707000320/http://uk.reuters.com:80/article/topNews/idUKL1816833320070418 |archive-date=2007-07-07 |access-date=2025-05-18 |website=uk.reuters.com}}

In 2022, the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect issued a policy paper associating genocide denial with hate speech, specifically when directed to specific identifiable groups. The report gives policy recommendations for states and UN officials in the matter of denial.{{Cite web |date=June 2022 |title=Combating Holocaust and Genocide Denial: Protecting Survivors, Preserving Memory, and Promoting Prevention |url=https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/publications-and-resources/22-00041_OSAPG_PolicyPaper_Feb2023_final[4].pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329153703/http://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/publications-and-resources/22-00041_OSAPG_PolicyPaper_Feb2023_final%5b4%5d.pdf |archive-date=29 March 2023 |access-date=April 26, 2023 |website=un.org}}

{{tone|date=February 2020}}

Genocide denial has an impact on both victim and perpetrator groups. Denial of a genocide affects relations between the victim and perpetrator groups or their respective countries, prevents personal victims of the genocide from seeking closure, and adversely affects political decisions on both sides. It can cause fear in the victims to express their cultural identity, retaliation from both parties, and hamper the democratic development of societies.

Effects on personal victims of the genocide

While confrontation of the committed atrocities can be a tough process in which the victim feels humiliated again by reliving the traumatic past,{{cite book |last= Margalit |first= Avishai |title= The Ethics of Memory |url=https://archive.org/details/ethicsofmemory00avis |url-access=registration |year=2002 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=0-674-00941-X |pages=61–64}} it still has a benign therapeutic effect, helping both victim and perpetrator groups to come to terms with the past.{{cite book |last=Amstutz |first=Mark R. |title=The Healing of Nations: The Promise and Limits of Political Forgiveness |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=gTFnh2GuD8EC |year=2005 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=0-7425-3580-0 |access-date=2 October 2020 |archive-date=11 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511235020/https://books.google.com/books?id=gTFnh2GuD8EC |url-status=live |pages=24}} From a therapeutic point of view, letting the victim confront the past atrocity and its related painful memories is one way to reach a closure and to understand that the harm has occurred in the past.{{cite book |last=Colvin |first=Christopher J. |chapter=The Healing of Nations: The Promise and Limits of Political Forgiveness |editor1-first=Katherine |editor1-last=Hodgkin |editor2-first=Susannah |editor-last2=Radstone |title=Contested pasts: The politics of memory |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J0VkXJT_zXoC |year=2003 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-28647-6 |access-date=2 October 2020 |archive-date=11 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511235016/https://books.google.com/books?id=J0VkXJT_zXoC |url-status=live |page=156}} This also helps the memories to enter the shared narrative of the society, thereby becoming a common ground on which the society can make future decisions on, in political and cultural matters.{{sfn|Avedian|2018|p=45}}

Denying recognition, in contrast, has a negative effect, further victimising the victim which will feel not only wronged by the perpetrator but also by being denied recognition of the occurred wrongdoing. Denial also has a pivotal role in shaping the norms of a society since the omission of any committed errors, and thereby the lack of condemnation and punishment of the committed wrongs, risks normalising similar actions, increasing the society's tolerance for future occurrences of similar errors.{{sfn|Avedian|2018|p=110}}

According to sociologist Daniel Feierstein, the genocide perpetrator implements a process of transforming the identity of any survivors and erasing the memory of the existence of the victim group.Feierstein, Daniel, (Hinton, Alexander Laban, editor) (2014). Hidden Genocides: Power, Knowledge, Memory. Chapter 5: Beyond the Binary Model: National Security Doctrine in Argentina as a Way of Rethinking Genocide as a Social Practice. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 9780813561646. JSTOR j.ctt5hjdfm. pp 79.

Societal effects of genocide denial

Bhargava notes that "[m]ost calls to forget disguise the attempt to prevent victims from publicly remembering in the fear that 'there is a dragon living on the patio and we better not provoke it.'"{{cite book |last=Bhargava |first=Rajeev |chapter=Restoring Decency to Barbaric Societies |editor1-first=Robert I. |editor1-last=Rotberg |editor2-first=Dennis F. |editor2-last=Thompson |title=Truth v. Justice: The Morality of Truth Commissions |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y2h0bqpNh2UC |year= 2000 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=0-691-05071-6 |access-date=2 October 2020 |archive-date=11 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511234952/https://books.google.com/books?id=Y2h0bqpNh2UC |url-status=live |page=52}} In other words, while societally "forgetting" an atrocity can on the surface be beneficial to the harmony of society, it further victimizes the target group for fear of future, similar action, and is directly detrimental to the sociocultural development of the victim group.

On the other hand, there are cases where "forgetting" atrocities is the most politically expedient or stable option. This is found in some states which have recently come out of minority rule, where the perpetrator group still controls most strategic resources and institutions, such as South Africa.{{cite book |last1=Gutman |first1=Amy |last2=Thompson |first2=Dennis F. |chapter=The Moral Foundations of Truth Commissions |editor1-first=Robert I. |editor1-last=Rotberg |editor2-first=Dennis F. |editor2-last=Thompson |title=Truth v. Justice: The Morality of Truth Commissions |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y2h0bqpNh2UC |year=2000 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=0-691-05071-6 |access-date=2 October 2020 |archive-date=11 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511234953/https://books.google.com/books?id=Y2h0bqpNh2UC |url-status=live |page=39}} This was, among others, one of the main reasons for granting amnesty in exchange for confessing to committed errors during the transitional period in South Africa. However, the society at large and the victims in particular will perceive this kind of trade-offs as "morally suspect,"{{cite book |last1=Rotberg |first1=Robert I. |chapter=Truth Commissions and the Provision of Truth, Justice, and Reconciliations |editor1-first=Robert I. |editor1-last=Rotberg |editor2-first=Dennis F. |editor2-last=Thompson |title=Truth v. Justice: The Morality of Truth Commissions |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y2h0bqpNh2UC |year=2000 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=0-691-05071-6 |access-date=2 October 2020 |archive-date=11 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511234954/https://books.google.com/books?id=Y2h0bqpNh2UC |url-status=live |page=8}} and may question its sustainability. Thus, a common refrain in regard to the Final Report (1998) by South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission was "We've heard the truth. There is even talk about reconciliation. But where's the justice?"{{cite book |last=Bevernage |first=Berber |title=History, Memory, and State-Sponsored Violence: Time and Justice |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o6TJnja5XToC |year=2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-88340-5 |access-date=2 October 2020 |archive-date=11 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511235043/https://books.google.com/books?id=o6TJnja5XToC |url-status=live |pages=47–48}}

Effects on democratic development

The denial has thereby a direct negative impact on the development of a society, often by undermining its laws and the issue of justice, but also the level of democracy itself.{{sfn|Avedian|2018|pp=33–38}} If democracy is meant to be built on the rule of law and justice, upheld and safeguarded by state institutions, then surely the omission of legal consequences and justice would potentially undermine the democracy.{{cite book |last1=Jelin |first1=Elizabeth |last2=Kaufman |first2=Susana G. |chapter=Layers of Memories: Twenty Years After in Argentina |editor1-first=David E. |editor1-last=Lorey |editor2-first=William H. |editor2-last=Beezley |title=Genocide, Collective Violence, and Popular Memory: The Politics of Remembrance in the Twentieth Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MKPBEx5DbiMC |year=2000 |publisher=SR Books |isbn=0-8420-2982-6 |access-date=2 October 2020 |archive-date=11 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511235040/https://books.google.com/books?id=MKPBEx5DbiMC |url-status=live |page=36}} What is more dangerous from a historical point of view is that such a default would imply the subsequent loss of the meaning of these events to future generations, a loss which is resembled to "losing a moral compass."{{cite book |last1=De Brito |first1=Alexandra Barahona |last2=Enriquez |first2=Carmen Gonzalez |last3=Aguilar |first3=Paloma |chapter=Introduction |editor1-last=De Brito |editor1-first=Alexandra Barahona |editor2-last=Enriquez |editor2-first=Carmen Gonzalez |editor3-last=Aguilar |editor3-first=Paloma |title=Genocide, Collective Violence, and Popular Memory: The Politics of Remembrance in the Twentieth Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2BByTH0r588C |year=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-924090-6 |access-date=2 October 2020 |archive-date=11 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511234956/https://books.google.com/books?id=2BByTH0r588C |url-status=live |page=25}} The society becomes susceptible to similar wrongdoings in the absence of proper handling of preceding occasions.{{cite book |last1=Adler |first1=Nanci |chapter=Conclusion |editor1-last=De Brito |editor1-first=Alexandra Barahona |editor2-last=Enriquez |editor2-first=Carmen Gonzalez |editor3-last=Aguilar |editor3-first=Paloma |title=Genocide, Collective Violence, and Popular Memory: The Politics of Remembrance in the Twentieth Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2BByTH0r588C |year=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-924090-6 |access-date=2 October 2020 |archive-date=11 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511234956/https://books.google.com/books?id=2BByTH0r588C |url-status=live |page=311}} Nonetheless, denial, especially immediately after the committed wrongdoings, is rather the rule than the exception and naturally almost exclusively done by the perpetrator to escape responsibility.

Implicit denial of genocide

While some societies or governments openly deny genocide, in some other cases, e.g. in the case of the "Comfort women" and the role of the Japanese State, the denial is more implicit. This was evident in how an overwhelmingly majority of the surviving victims refused to accept a monetary compensation since the Japanese government still refused to admit its own responsibility (the monetary compensation was paid through a private fund rather than by the state, a decision perceived by the victims about state's refusal to assume any direct responsibility).{{cite book |last=Minow |first=Martha |title=Between Vengeance and Forgiveness: Facing History After Genocide and Mass Violence |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8MRQCwAAQBAJ |year=1998 |publisher=Beacon Press, cop. |isbn=0-8070-4506-3 |access-date=2 October 2020 |archive-date=11 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511234957/https://books.google.com/books?id=8MRQCwAAQBAJ |url-status=live |page=105}} This can have the same effects on societies as outright denial. For example, atrocity denial and self-victimisation in Japanese historical textbooks has caused much diplomatic tension between Japan and neighbouring victim states, such as Korea and China, and bolstered domestic conservative or nationalist forces.{{cite journal |last1=Schneider |first1=Claudia |title=The Japanese History Textbook Controversy in East Asian Perspective |journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science |date=May 2008 |volume=617 |pages=107–122 |doi=10.1177/0002716208314359 |jstor=25098016 |s2cid=145570034 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/25098016 |access-date=20 April 2023|url-access=subscription }}

Turkey and Armenian genocide denial

{{Undue weight section|date=April 2023}}

The Turkish state's Armenian genocide denial has had far-reaching effects on the Turkish society throughout its history in regard to both ethnic minorities, especially the Kurds, but political opposition in general.{{sfn|Avedian|2018|p=48}} The denial also affects Turks, in that there is a lack of recognition of Turks and Ottoman officials who attempted to stop the genocide. This lack of recognition of the various actors at play in Turkey could{{Weasel inline|date=April 2023}} result in a rather homogeneous perception of the nation in question, thus making Armenians (but also third parties) project the perpetrating role onto the entire Turkish society and nation, causing further racial strife and aggravating the prospects of future reconciliation.{{sfn|Avedian|2018|p=24}} For example, Armenian terrorist groups (e.g. ASALA and JCAG) committed terrorist acts during 1970's and 1980's as a direct result of the Turkish state denial of the genocide.{{sfn|Avedian|2018|p=110}}

Denial may be reduced by works of history, preservation of archives, documentation of records, investigation panels, search for missing persons, commemorations, official state apologies, development of truth commissions, educational programs, monuments, and museums. According to Johnathan Sisson, the society has the right to know the truth about historical events and facts, and the circumstances that led to massive or systematic human rights violations. He says that the state has the obligation to secure records and other evidence to prevent revisionist arguments.{{cite journal |last1=Sisson |first1=Jonathan |date=2010 |title=A conceptual framework for dealing with the past |url=https://www.eda.admin.ch/dam/eda/mehrsprachig/documents/publications/Politorbis/politorbis-50_EN.pdf |journal=Politorbis |volume=50 |issue=3 |pages=11–15 |quote=In order to re-establish fundamental trust and accountability in society, there is a need to acknowledge publicly the abuses that have taken place. (p. 11) It is based on the inalienable right on the part of society at large to know the truth about past events and the circumstances that led to the perpetration of massive or systematic human rights violations, in order to prevent their recurrence in the future. In addition, it involves an obligation on the part of the State to undertake measures, such as securing archives and other evidence, to preserve collective memory from extinction and so to guard against the development of revisionist arguments. (p. 12) These involve symbolic acts, such as an annual homage to the victims, the establishment of monuments and museums, or the recognition by the State of its responsibility in the form of a public apology, that discharge the duty of remembrance and help to restore victims' dignity. Additional measures in this regard foresee the inclusion of an accurate account of the violations that occurred in public educational materials at all levels. (p. 13) Right to know: Truth commissions, Investigation panels, Documentation, Archives, History books & Missing persons.(pp15)}} Genocide scholar Gregory Stanton suggests that prosecution can be a deterrent.{{harvnb|Stanton|2020}}: "The best response to denial is punishment by an international tribunal or national courts. There the evidence can be heard, and the perpetrators punished.... When possible, local proceedings should provide forums for hearings of the evidence against perpetrators who were not the main leaders and planners of a genocide, with opportunities for restitution and reconciliation. The Rwandan gaçaça trials are one example. Justice should be accompanied by education in schools and the media about the facts of a genocide, the suffering it caused its victims, the motivations of its perpetrators, and the need for restoration of the rights of its victims."

• Outline of genocide studies
• Damnatio memoriae
• DARVO – Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim & Offender

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book |last=Avedian |first=Vahagn |title=Knowledge and Acknowledgement in the Politics of Memory of the Armenian Genocide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tv7iuQEACAAJ |year=2018 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-13-831885-4 |access-date=2 October 2020 |archive-date=11 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200911210129/https://books.google.com/books?id=Tv7iuQEACAAJ |url-status=live}}
• {{cite journal |last=Dhamoon |first=Rita Kaur |date=2016 |title=Re-presenting Genocide: The Canadian Museum of Human Rights and Settler Colonial Power |journal=The Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics |volume=1 |number=1 |pages=5–30 |doi=10.1017/rep.2015.4}}
• {{cite journal |last1=MacDonald |first1=David B. |author1-link=David Bruce MacDonald |last2=Hudson |first2=Graham |date=2012 |title=The Genocide Question and Indian Residential Schools in Canada |journal=Canadian Journal of Political Science |volume=45 |number=2 |pages=427–449 |doi=10.1017/s000842391200039x}}
• {{cite book |last1=Moses |first1=A. Dirk |author1-link=A. Dirk Moses |chapter=Empire, Colony, Genocide: Keywords and the Philosophy of History |pages=3–54 |editor1-last=Moses |editor1-first=A. Dirk |editor1-link=A. Dirk Moses |title=Empire, Colony, Genocide: Conquest, Occupation, and Subaltern Resistance in World History |publisher=Berghahn Books |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-84545-452-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RBgoNN4MG-YC |ref={{harvid|Moses|2008a}}}}
• {{cite web |last=Stanton |first=Gregory |author-link=Gregory Stanton |date=2020 |title=10 Stages of Genocide |url=http://genocidewatch.net/genocide-2/8-stages-of-genocide/ |access-date=21 November 2020 |archive-date=21 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201121180313/http://genocidewatch.net/genocide-2/8-stages-of-genocide/ |website=Genocide Watch |language=en-US |url-status=live}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Woolford |first1=Andrew |last2=Benvenuto |first2=Jeff |title=Canada and colonial genocide |journal=Journal of Genocide Research |date=October 2, 2015 |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=373–390 |doi=10.1080/14623528.2015.1096580 |issn=1462-3528 |doi-access=free}}

{{refend}}

{{Main|Bibliography of genocide studies}}

{{Library resources box}}

• {{cite journal |last=Bartrop |first=Paul R. |author-link=Paul Bartrop |title=Genocide and the Defeat of Memory |journal=Genocide Studies International |volume=14 |number=1 |date=Spring 2020 |pages=9–22 |doi=10.3138/gsi.2021.12.13.03}}
• {{cite journal |last=Charny |first=Israel W. |author-link=Israel Charny |date=2003 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14623520305645 |title=A classification of denials of the Holocaust and other genocides |journal=Journal of Genocide Research |volume=5 |number=1 |page=11 |doi=10.1080/14623520305645|url-access=subscription }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Fassin |first1=Didier |author1-link=Didier Fassin |title=The Rhetoric of Denial: Contribution to an Archive of the Debate about Mass Violence in Gaza |journal=Journal of Genocide Research |date=5 February 2024 |pages=1–7 |doi=10.1080/14623528.2024.2308941 |s2cid=}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Pech |first1=Laurent |title=The Law of Holocaust Denial in Europe: Towards a (qualified) EU-wide Criminal Prohibition |journal=The Jean Monnet Working Papers |issue=10/09 |url=http://centers.law.nyu.edu/jeanmonnet/papers/09/091001.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100407080251/http://centers.law.nyu.edu/jeanmonnet/papers/09/091001.html |archive-date=7 April 2010}}

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{{Historical revisionism}}

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Category:Denialism

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