LETTERS
parti cul a r moment when rev i–
sioni sm surfaced in Fra nce.
The recent evoluti on of the
pro-Fauri sson liberta ria ns is an
es pec iall y illumina tin g example
of the wider implica ti on a nd
spreading eHec ts of rev isioni sm :
it is a case of appropria ti on of a
rev isioni sm to
til
a pa rti cul a r
political need . The ir takin g sides
with Fauri sso n's rev isioni sm
(d .
arti cles by J ean-Gabriel C ohn–
Bendit or C laud Ka rnoouh in
IntoLerable intolerance,
1981) now
goes far beyond any simple
defe nse of freedom of speech .
For thi s group , it is indeed the
rejection
of the exi tence of the gas
chambers tha t has become a
crucia l element fo r the sound–
ne a nd inte rna l consistency of
their idiosyncra ti c politic. The
di sappea ra nce, o r removal by
rev ision , of the gas chambers
from the H olocau t's hi story
reduces
to
a lower common
denomina tor a n ex termina ti on
process unique fo r its time in the
technological perfection a nd
mass systema ti zati on of a troc ity .
For these liberta ri a ns, the H olo–
caust becomes leve led to the
more common institution of the
concentra ti on camp ystem , a nd
can now be more direc tl y com–
pa red to any othe r hi stori cal epi–
sodes where la rge masses we re
subj ected to fo rced labo r a nd
death in a confinement sys tem–
e.g., the Gulag . Ultima tely, to
make their political point , they
479
have ba na lized the perve rsity
and horrors of one regIme
In
orde r to denounce bette r ano the r
- a if there were no room fo r
diHe rent ca tegori es of a trocities
or ev il.
But is it reall y necessary fo r
politicall y committed indi vidua ls
eithe r to reduce all a troc itie to a
common ba nalized denomina–
tor, or to crea te,
a priori,
a hier–
a rchy of political a troc ities a nd a
ranking of hi storical rev isions?
Or should we not simpl y de–
nounce them
all,
in the stronges t
terms,
whenever
and
wherever
we
encounter them?
Erika Apfelbaum
Paris, France
