Why deny the Holocaust?

It's such an interesting question. For me, the whole idea of Holocaust denial is just so ridiculous that I don't really have rational ideas about the whole thing. But the very title of this article made me think -- why would it even occur to someone to want to deny the Holocaust?

From an article by Caroline Glick, entitled "Why Deny the Holocaust?" (appeared in the Jerusalem Post)

There is something terribly confusing about Iran's penchant for denying the Holocaust. Given Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's stated desire to see Israel wiped off the map, it would seem more reasonable for Iran to be celebrating the Holocaust than denying it.

Such a good point, isn't it? Why don't they just "celebrate" the death of Jews, rather than say it never happened!? Glick continues:

But Ahmadinejad is slicker than that. He embraces not the Holocaust but the nation that pulled it off. In his August missive to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he referred to the German nation as "a great contributor to progress in science, philosophy, literature, the arts and politics" who have had a "positive influence in international relations and the promotion of peace." These lines of course are open to interpretation. He could be referring to Goethe and Schiller and he could be referring to Heidegger and Goebbels. So why is the guy who is gunning for a new Holocaust belittling the last one?

First of all, by doing so he empowers those Germans and friends of Germany who carried it out. By denying the Holocaust Ahmadinejad turns the Nazis into victims and so provides a space for them to express themselves after a 60-year silence. Indeed, in Germany neo-Nazism is a burgeoning political and social force that proudly parades its links to Iran.

Read the rest of the article.

What do you think?