Kevin: Free Speech and Holocaust Denial

You may have heard people say, ‘If you really believe in free speech then denying the Holocaust shouldn’t be a crime: after all, isn’t the antidote to bad speech more good speech’?

It’s an argument that I’ve seen even people who believe in free speech make.

Well I believe in free speech and I believe that Holocaust denial should be crime. How do I reconcile the two? Because Holocaust denial isn’t about free speech.

Let’s start with a simple premise. No one should be allowed to knowingly, and with intention, say things that they know will cause harm to others. Pretty much the reason we have defamation laws.

But note the keywords here: knowingly and intentionally.

If someone says they don’t believe the Holocaust happened, how do we know that they are knowingly and intentionally trying to cause harm?

Because if anything the Nazis were meticulous and obsessive record keepers. The Holocaust is one of the most documented crimes in human history. There are photographs, films, architectural plans, train schedules, eyewitness reports, survivor testimonies and even the words of Nazi leaders themselves.

Here are some key facts:

• Around six million Jews were systematically murdered between 1941–1945.

• The killings took place through ghettos, mass shootings, forced labor, starvation policies and industrialised extermination camps like Auschwitz, Treblinka and Sobibor.

• The Nazis left behind train manifests, camp blueprints and even invoices for materials such as Zyklon B gas.

• After the war the Nuremberg Trials presented mountains of evidence – much of it from German military records themselves.

• Thousands of survivors and liberators gave testimony under oath – their accounts are consistent and corroborated by physical evidence.

In fact, the Holocaust stands apart from most other events in modern history because of the sheer volume and diversity of evidence. It isn’t a matter of interpretation or rumour – we have official orders, logistical paperwork, physical remnants of camps and consistent eyewitness accounts from all sides: victims, perpetrators and liberators alike. There are very few events in history that are as airtight in their proof.

So if someone says that they’ve studied the Holocaust and there’s no doubt it didn’t happened or has been greatly exaggerated, then they are lying. It’s not merely making a mistake – they are rejecting one of the most thoroughly proven historical events in existence.

And if they actually believe what they are saying, they haven’t actually studied the Holocaust and so they’re still lying.

Or to put it another way, at best, they are choosing to ignore overwhelming evidence – and, at worst, they are deliberately spreading lies for anti-Semitic purposes.

This is why Holocaust denial is not about free speech and should be a crime. Holocaust denial should be treated for what it is: a deliberate falsehood with the sole goal to cause harm and sow hatred. And beyond the lies themselves, Holocaust denial actively fuels present‑day anti-Semitism and extremism.

So the next time you see some neo-Nazi on X ranting on about how the Holocaust never happened, you can rip them a new one.

And tell them I sent you.

Kevin is a Libertarian and pragmatic anarchist. His favourite saying: “There but for the grace of God go I.” This article was first published HERE