TreidIt: "Historians are not the folks to go to for the facts. Historians report what has happened based on what everybody has said at the time and since.
If you're going to try to get an accurate body count, that's going to be very difficult. Many were incinerated. Many were in mass graves only now being found. It would take a huge amount of archaeoligsts and anthropologists and forensic scientists to underatake such a project. That takes money and governmental approval from all countries involved. Realistically, that's not going to happen."
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Actually, that is not true. While not a professional historian myself, I have read enough of their papers and books to ascertain a bit about their methods.
If the professional, expert historians were allowed to look into this issue, the first place they would start is with census data taken BEFORE Hitler came to power in 1933: determine how many Jews were in Europe PRIOR to the Holocaust.
Next, they would check exit VISAs ( to see how many left Europe), as well as entrance papers in the United States, Canada, Britain, France, etc., etc., to see how many ENTERED those countries from Europe. (These countries keep track of who is entering from where.)
Thus, if the historians were to find that there were (for ease of math, I'll use round numbers) 10 Million Jews in Europe before Hitler came to power. Then, from 1933 to 1945, a total of 4 Million Jews left Europe, and entered the U.S., Canada, Britain, France, etc. -- that would leave 6 Million Jews in Europe, potentially to be slaughtered at Nazi hands. Of course, there would be the survivors with numbers tatooed on their arms: we'd have to subtract those...but you get the idea.
This can all be done by historians: this is right up their alley: the kind of thing they do all the time; piece of cake. Once we see what they find, we'll know if the "6 Million Died" claim is even in the ballpark. If so, the historians steam forward to do what it is they do best: document historical fact to the best extent possible.
But first, we have to let them do the research, and report on it.
Several reports issed by those who took the risk, and lost thier tenured positions, indicated that there were only 2.8 Million Jews in Europe (or at least, in European countries over which Hitler eventually had influence!) before Hitler took office in 1933. SInce some obviously left -- the ones with the money -- this left the historians asking the obvious mathematical question: how do 6 Million die if there were only 2.8 Million to begin with? Obviously, with Hitler publicly spewing rhetoric against the Jews, no Jews would have MOVED TO Hitler-occupied areas during the years 1933-1945: so we can be QUITE sure that the 2.8 Million figure did not INCREASE! And the import data from the U.S., Canada, Britain, France, etc. would tell us exactly how many of the original 2.8 Million made it to safe shores.
But when any history professor -- tenrued or otherwise -- asks this simple mathematical question, they get fired, and branded as racists. Come on! This is a question anyone who can balance a CHECKBOOK would ask! We'd all love to have a bank account with 2.8 Million dollars, and somehow end-up with 6 Million dollars: but that just doesn't happen.
But granted that the 6 Million figure was inaccurate: then exactly how many of the original 2.8 Million died? Even half would be a tragedy: but the historians' job is not to lament, or judge, or worry about emotional impact, etc.: they are charged with one simple duty: document the facts. Pretty simple; failry boring, tedious work; they just want the facts.
Being a lifelong scientist, living and dying by mathematical equations, I for one would like to know the truth of the numbers. And for those who quote the numbers: my Grandmother brought me up to always be truthful; that has stuck with me my whole life. If I quote something as fact, I want to be sure it IS actually a fact. Shouldn't we give all Jews worldwide the benefit of the doubt, and assume they feel likewise: that when they state something is a fact, they want to be telling the truth? If they say 6 Million died (or 6,123,486: whatever the actual number happens to be!), don't you think they would want to rest assured knowing that they are being 100% truthful with the world public?
Since I am ***NOT*** a racist, I ***DO*** give them this benefit of the doubt, and assume that they would want to know that they are speaking the absolute truth when they tell us that 6 Million died. That is why it is upsetting when they seem to want to block any attempt to verify that number.
Now, in all fairness, we all know that governments sometimes do things that are NOT in agreement with the wishes of the people they govern. So perhaps it is only the leaders at the top that have engaged this policy of obfuscation: maybe they have the wrong people at the top. If you know any Jewish people (I don't, so I can't do this myself), ask them personally, one-on-one: if there was a way to verify the exact number of their people who died in WWII, wouldn't they want to know it, so that when they repeat the number, they know they are telling the truth?
My Grandmother also taught me that most people are basically honest at heart. From what I have seen in my life, I believe this. Yes, some cynics point to high crime rates, etc., and say that people are just all basically ortten. I do not believe that for one minute. Yes, SOME may be...and they usually end up in prison eventually. But the rest of us are honest, decent people at heart, who usually go out of our way to HELP other people! While I do not personally know any Jewish people, I have heard enough of them to believe that they are no different from us in this regard: that they are honest, decent people who would go out fo their way to help others, and believe in being 100% honest.
Perhaps if THEY spoke up, they could force their leaders to heed THEIR wishes, rather than steaming ahead with politial agendas that are not in accordance with the peoples' wishes?
Look at the U.S. at present: they are in a war in Iraq that 70% of the country's citizens believe they should NOT be in. Then why are they over there? Because of the politicians at the top who do as they please, regardless of the peoples' opinions. I believe that THIS is exactly what has happened to the Jewish people: they are all honest, hard-working, decent poeple; but their leaders have implemented a long-standing policy of impeding any inquiries into the Holocaust issue. Are they hiding things, even from their own people? Hmmm...would a government ever do that to its people? Gee...what do YOU think? How many bumper stickers have YOU seen that say "I love my country, but I fear my government!"? Why should we believe that the leaders of the Jewish people are any different? The Jewish people -- being basically honest, decent people like you or me -- probably repeat the "6 Million Died" figure because they truly, honestly BELIEVE it to be factual. After all, their leaders have TOLD them that it is true, right? Maybe if the Jewish people are different from us in any way, it is that they are simply more trusting of their leaders.
Let's help them all be honest and accurate: let the historians do their research, and we'll see what we see. The facts have never hurt anyone but the guilty...
