Over the past 70 years, a new form of antisemitism has emerged: denying or distorting the fact or scope of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II. This includes the number of Jews murdered and the existence of extermination camps and gas chambers. This was one of the reasons that I felt it necessary to write my memoir, Out From the Shadows.

Holocaust deniers claim that there was a swimming pool in Auschwitz, hence it couldn’t have been an extermination camp. Indeed, there was a pool in the extermination camp; a water reservoir in Auschwitz I was converted to a swimming pool which was used for a time by the camp’s staff. The existence of a pool does not refute the evidence that Auschwitz was the largest extermination camp operated by Nazi Germany, where over one million people died. Holocaust deniers will tell you that Auschwitz inmates were taught trades. Townspeople in the surrounding area saw life at Auschwitz as “luxurious,” with the inmates’ attractive redbrick sleeping quarters, complete with bunk beds with mattresses, flush toilets, porcelain-covered stoves for cozy heating, and double-paned casement windows. The paths were tree lined, flowers were planted before every barracks, and the Nazis regularly showed movies to the inmates. Not only that, but Auschwitz had an art museum, a library, regular concerts and sporting events, a theater for music and drama, and a brothel for lonely inmates. It also had two fine post offices because the Geneva Convention rules, strictly followed by the Germans, ensured the sending and receiving of mail by all prisoners. The kindly SS guards even provided special pre-printed cards and form letters. And their health care system was world class – after all, for the Nazis, the health of the labor force was a prime concern.

Where does all this nonsense come from? Some of it is spread but stupid gullible people who are incapable of analytical thinking. I believe much of it is produced by antisemites. Why would they spread such lies? Holocaust denial is one of several conspiracy theories directed at Jews. It is a radical form of antisemitism that denies Jews the ability to be considered victims and suggests that the Holocaust is part of a worldwide conspiracy. The revisionists claim Jews around the world knowingly fabricated evidence of their own genocide in order to extract reparations from Germany, gain world sympathy and facilitate the alleged theft of Palestinian land for the creation of Israel.

Jews react differently to antisemitism depending on their connection to the Jewish community. Although some Jews are angered and frightened by these events, others don’t feel concerned at all. Some are in families with non-Jews and may no longer identify as being Jewish. History has shown that racists don’t care how closely you connect with the community. They will define who is Jewish.