The "International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust" was a two-day meeting inTehran,Iran, that began on 11 December 2006. It was hosted by the Iranian government ofMahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose foreign ministerManouchehr Mottaki stated that it had been organized "neither to deny nor provethe Holocaust... [but] to provide an appropriate scientific atmosphere for scholars to offer their opinions in freedom about a historical issue."[1] The meeting took place shortly after Iran'sInternational Holocaust Cartoon Competition, which was sponsored by Tehran's government-owned newspaperHamshahri. Most of the invitees werefar-right activists, several of whom had faced legal charges or imprisonment inWestern countries for their advocacy ofneo-Nazism,Holocaust denial, orIslamic extremism.
Noteworthy non-Iranian participants in the meeting included American politicianDavid Duke, who was theGrand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan from 1974 to 1980; Australian authorFredrick Töben, who founded the Holocaust denial groupAdelaide Institute in 1995 and was later imprisoned in Germany in 1999, the United Kingdom in 2008, and Australia in 2009; and Moroccan ex-military officerAhmed Rami, who participated in the1972 Moroccan coup attempt before claiming asylum in Sweden, where he foundedRadio Islam in 1987 and was later imprisoned in 1990. The meeting was also attended byYisroel Dovid Weiss and five otherHaredi Jews belonging toNeturei Karta, which is aJewish anti-Zionist organization that is primarily active in Europe and North America, as well as byMoshe Aryeh Friedman.
Among the meeting's top subjects of discussion was theState of Israel, particularlyon the part of Ahmadinejad, who remarked that the country would be "wiped out the same way theSoviet Union was" in his opening speech to the attendees.[2] It was widely criticized byHolocaust scholars as "an attempt to cloakantisemitism in scholarly language" and drew condemnation from many countries and organizations, including theUnited Nations, theHoly See, and theEuropean Union.[3][4][5][6] Numerous Jewish organizations also specifically condemned Neturei Karta's participation in the meeting, with theChief Rabbinate of Israel calling for the Jewish attendees to becensured by Jews worldwide. Within Iran, the meeting was criticized by the country's sole Jewish member of parliamentMaurice Motamed, as well as by many student protesters against Ahmadinejad's visiting speech atAmirkabir University of Technology in Tehran. Several of the world's leading academic and non-profit organizations cut all ties with their Iranian counterparts following the meeting, citing its pseudo-scholarly presentation of false information that denied theNazi atrocities that caused theHolocaust death toll.[7]
Counter-conferences were held to focus on a historical analysis of the Holocaust and stories fromHolocaust survivors, including theBali Holocaust Conference, which was organized by Indonesian presidentAbdurrahman Wahid to combat what he called Ahmadinejad's "falsified history" in 2007. Academic and media coverage of the Iranian conference largely highlighted its lack of qualified historians and researchers, as well as its vindication ofNazism and of individuals who were overtly affiliated with similarly racist and antisemitic ideologies and organizations, such as the AmericanKu Klux Klan, the SwedishNational Socialist Front, the FrenchNational Front, and the GermanNational Democratic Party, among others.
According to Iran, the aim of the forum was to "find answers to questions about the Holocaust" posed by Iranian presidentMahmoud Ahmadinejad.[8][9] Since coming to power in 2005, Ahmadinejad had previously engaged in Holocaust denial.[10]
Manouchehr Mottaki, thenforeign minister of the Ahmadinejad government, said the purpose of the conference was not to reject or accept the historical reality of theHolocaust.[11][10] Instead, along with other Iranian officials, he stated that the conference was intended to "create an opportunity for thinkers who cannot express their views freely in Europe about the Holocaust".[12] Its objective was to create "suitable scientific research so that the hidden and unhidden angles of this most important political issue of the 20th century becomes more transparent."[10][13]
According to Mottaki: "If the official version of the Holocaust is thrown into doubt, then the identity and nature of Israel will be thrown into doubt. And if, during this review, it is proved that the Holocaust was a historical reality, then what is the reason for the Palestinians having to pay the cost of the Nazis' crimes?"[14]
According to scholar Jacob Eder, the conference was an example of an effort to reject Holocaust universality as a form of European American imperialism. The conference served not only to question and deny Israel's right to exist[15] and to provide a forum for Holocaust denial but was also an attack on the West and its values more generally.[16]
There were 67 attendees from 30 countries, according to the Iranian foreign ministry.[17] TheAFP described attendees as a host of Western revisionists who doubted that the killing of six million Jews took place.[9]
Attendees included:
Israeli-Arab lawyerKhaled Kasab Mahameed was invited to attend the conference by the Iranian government, who rescinded his permission after it was discovered that he holdsIsraeli citizenship.[27] Iran does not grantvisas to Israelis. According toHa'aretz, Mahameed intended "to tell the conference that the Holocaust did happen and that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's position of Holocaust denial is wrong". He stated:
Everything that happened must be internalized and the facts must not be denied... It is the obligation of all Arabs and all Muslims to understand the significance of the Holocaust. If their goal is to understand their adversary, they must understand the Holocaust... Thenaqba [disaster] the Palestinians experienced in 1948 is small compared to the Holocaust, but the political implications of the Holocaust have made its terrors a burden on the Palestinian people alone... The Holocaust has all the reasons for the creation of the Arab–Israeli conflict, but also has potential to bring peace."[28]
The event opened on December 11, 2006, and was organized and hosted by theIranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs'sInstitute for Political and International Studies (IPIS).[10]
The Iranian presidentMahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying: "The Zionist regime will be wiped out soon the same way theSoviet Union was, and humanity will achieve freedom [and] elections should be held among Jews, Christians and Muslims so the population of Palestine can select their government and destiny for themselves in a democratic manner."[29]
Papers delivered included "A Challenge to the Official Holocaust Story," and "Holocaust, the Achilles Heel of a Primordial Jewish Trojan."[9]
At the conference, Renouf claimed that the "terrible things" that happened to the Jews in World War II were brought upon by Jewish leaders.[23]
David Duke gave a speech in which he said: "In Europe you can freely question, ridicule and denyJesus Christ. The same is true for the prophetMuhammad, and nothing will happen to you. But offer a single question of the smallest part of the Holocaust and you face prison."[14]
During a presentation, Jan Bernhoff, a computer teacher from Sweden, claimed that only 300,000 Jews had been killed as opposed to six million.[30]
Fredrick Töben told the conference: "Minds are being switched off to the Holocaust dogma as it is being sold as a historical fact and yet we are not able to question it. This is mental rape."[31]
Aharon Cohen told the conference: "There is no doubt whatsoever, that during World War II there developed a terrible and catastrophic policy and action ofgenocide perpetrated byNazi Germany against the Jewish people, confirmed by innumerable eyewitness survivors and fully documented again and again...The figure of six million is regularly quoted. One may wish to dispute this actual figure, but the crime was just as dreadful whether the millions of victims numbered six million, five million or four million. The method of murder is also irrelevant, whether it was bygas chamber, firing squads or whatever. The evil was the same. It would be a terrible affront to the memory of those who perished to belittle the guilt of the crime in any way.[25]
Richard Krege maintained diesel exhaust gas chambers to be an "outright lie," and showed a model of theTreblinka extermination camp to illustrate this. He claimed that up to 10,000 people died in the camp, but of disease, instead of planned extermination. He said, "There is no scientific proof to show that this place was an extermination camp. All that exists are the words of some people." Historians believe that at least 800,000 prisoners were murdered in the camp.[9]
On the second and final day of the conference, Ahmadinejad announced that the conference decided to set up a "fact-finding commission" led byMohammad-Ali Ramin to determine whether the Holocaust had happened. The commission would also prepare the next Holocaust conference. According to Ramin, the commission would be located in Tehran, but would eventually move toBerlin.[8][32]
The conference was widely condemned as antisemitic and Holocaust denial.[33]
Iran's sole Jewish member of parliamentMaurice Motamed said: "Holding this conference after having acompetition of cartoons about the Holocaust has put a lot of pressure on Jews all over the world;"[11] and that "The conference has upset Iran's 25,000-strong Jewish community."[18]
Though reformist demonstrations had been rare since Ahmadinejad took office, a few dozen students burnt pictures of him and chanted "death to the dictator" as Ahmadinejad gave a speech atAmirkabir University of Technology in Tehran on 12 December 2006.[31] One student activist said the protest was against the "shameful" Holocaust conference, and added that Ahmadinejad had "brought to our country Nazis and racists from around the world."[31] Ahmadinejad responded by saying: "Everyone should know that Ahmadinejad is prepared to be burnt in the path of true freedom, independence and justice."[31]
However, Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, Secretary-General of the International Congress to Support the Palestinian Intifada, expressed support for the conference, saying that the "Western and Zionist media have always been aggrandizing the dimensions of the reality of Holocaust, mixing a bit of truth with a lot of lies".[34]
United Nations Secretary GeneralBan Ki-moon said "Denying historical facts, especially on such an important subject as the Holocaust, is just not acceptable. Nor is it acceptable to call for the elimination of any State or people. I would like to see this fundamental principle respected both in rhetoric and in practice by all the members of the international community. United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan himself visited Iran and had a series of dialogues with the Iranian leadership and other senior-level people. Wherever and when, and if the situation requires me to do, I am also prepared to engage in dialogue with the Iranian leadership."[35]
European Union -Franco Frattini, EU justice and home affairs commissioner expressed "shock and indignation" over the conference, adding that "antisemitism had no place in Europe."[8]
Belgium - Foreign MinisterKarel De Gucht said he "condemned the revisionistic and negationistic expressions (of Iran) and the repeated questioning of theright to exist for the state of Israel."[37]
Canada - Minister of Foreign AffairsPeter MacKay said that the conference was "an outrage". "It is an insult to Holocaust victims. It is an insult to their descendants. Canada's new government and I am sure many others in this House (of Commons) and around the globe condemn this conference, just as we have previously condemned the Iranian president's comments about the Holocaust as hateful."[38]
France - Prior to the conference, Foreign MinisterPhilippe Douste-Blazy said France would condemn the conference if participants used it for Holocaust denial.[17] After the conference opened, Douste-Blazy stated to French RTL radio, "I reiterate our utter condemnation of this conference and the revisionist ideas it’s given a platform to."[39] He cited this conference as further evidence of Iranian presidentMahmoud Ahmadinejad's "shocking" and "unacceptable" statements, and that this conference violated the 2005 United Nations resolution on Holocaust remembrance, which "rejects any denial of the Holocaust as a historic event, either in full or in part."[39][40]
Germany -ChancellorAngela Merkel, after a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said "I would like to make clear that we reject with all our strength the conference taking place in Iran about the supposed nonexistence of the Holocaust."[29] According to theNew York Times, the "German government summoned the Iranian chargé d’affaires inBerlin to complain."[17]
Israel - Prime MinisterEhud Olmert "denounced the conference before embarking on a two-day trip to Germany"[14] calling the gathering "a sick phenomenon that shows the depths of hatred of thefundamentalist Iranian regime."[11]Tzipi Livni, theIsraeli Foreign Minister, "commented on the Holocaust conference at aKnesset meeting ... and said, 'I didn’t come to this meeting to argue with the evil one from Tehran and his allies. He can’t erase the pain of the survivors.'"[41]
Mexico - The government issued a letter disapproving of the Conference and its results. In a statement on its website, the Foreign Secretary wrote that: "The government of Mexico, through the office of the Foreign Secretary, agrees with the international disapproval of the IranianConference on the Holocaust...and rejects all negation, either partial or total, of the Holocaust as historical fact."(translation)[42]
Poland - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on its website that Poland "expresses its strong disapproval of the conference, which contradicts the idea of the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust established by the UN General Assembly, and celebrated on 27 January...Any attempt at contesting this truth arouses serious concern in Poland, where 6 million people were victims of the Nazi genocide". The Ministry also consigned informational material from the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum to Iranian scholars, seeking to "deepen their knowledge" of the Holocaust.[43]
Sweden -Minister for Foreign AffairsCarl Bildt said: "The Iranian regime's statements about Israel and the questioning of the Holocaust are completely unacceptable, as well as Iran's questioning of the state of Israel's right to exist."[44]
Switzerland - Foreign Ministry spokesman Johann Aeschlimann said that the ministry condemned any querying of the right of Israel to exist, as had once again happened in Tehran, and of the Holocaust. "TheShoah is a historical fact. It is unacceptable to call this into question."[45]
United Kingdom - Prime MinisterTony Blair denounced the conference as "shocking beyond belief."[5] Blair also said that it was "a symbol ofsectarianism and hatred toward people of another religion. I mean, to go and invite the former head of the Ku Klux Klan to a conference in Tehran which disputes the millions of people who died in the Holocaust … what further evidence do you need that this regime is extreme?"[46]
United States - TheState Department described the Iranian event as "yet another disgraceful act on this particular subject by the regime in Tehran.[11] It is just flabbergasting that they continue — that the leadership of that regime continues to deny that six million-plus people were killed in the Holocaust," spokesmanSean McCormack said.[47] TheWhite House called it an "affront to the entire civilised world."[5]
Vatican City - The Vatican described the Holocaust as an "appalling tragedy to which one cannot remain indifferent."[8]Thirty four of the world's leading policy institutes released a statement on 15 December that they would break off all relations with Iran'sInstitute for Political and International Studies. Signatories included the directors of theInternational Institute for Strategic Studies inLondon; theAspen Institute inBerlin; theGerman Marshall Fund inWashington; theGeneva Centre for Security Policy; the Center for International Studies and Research inParis; the United States Studies Centre inSydney,Australia; and the Center for International Relations inWarsaw.[7] The conference was condemned by theCouncil on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).[50]
Ayaan Hirsi Ali called on Western leaders to wake up to the reality of the situation. She stated: "For the majority of Muslims in the world the Holocaust is not a major historical event they deny; they simply do not know because they were never informed. Worse, most of us are groomed to wish for a Holocaust of Jews."[51] She said that she never learned anything about the Holocaust while she was studying inSaudi Arabia andKenya. She called for action from charities: "Western and Christian charities in the third world should take it upon themselves to inform Muslims and non-Muslims alike, in the areas where they are active, about the Holocaust."[51]
A number of Arab journalists in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom criticized the conference, arguing that it included unqualified non-historian speakers, spread the hate and propaganda of an extremist Iranian government, defended the heinous crimes of the Nazis, damaged Iran diplomatically at a time when its foreign relations were difficult, and reflected a lack of human and cultural sensitivity.[52]
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