rlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Rich Rosen) (07/26/85)
Some good news for a change: I just heard last night that the Liberty Lobby, a neo-fascist organization that purportedly put up a large sum of money to anyone who could prove the existence of the Holocaust (hoping that no one would come forward to stand up to such a boorish claim, thus "proving" their point that it never happened), got its just desserts. A judge ordered Liberty Lobby to pay a Holocaust survivor $90,000 as a fulfillment of their "outstanding challenge", and apparently they were forced by the judge to publicly accept and acknowledge the fact that the Holocaust did occur. They hoped that we would all find the claim so disgusting that we would all ignore it. Personally I'm glad someone chose not to. No, it probably won't shut them up. (Could someone elaborate on the sketchy details I acquired?) -- "Because love grows where my Rosemary goes and nobody knows but me." Rich Rosen pyuxd!rlr
nathanm@hp-pcd.UUCP (nathanm) (07/31/85)
> > A judge ordered Liberty Lobby to pay a Holocaust survivor $90,000 as a > fulfillment of their "outstanding challenge", and apparently they were > forced by the judge to publicly accept and acknowledge the fact that the > Holocaust did occur. > . > . > . > (Could someone elaborate on the sketchy details I acquired?) > -- > Rich Rosen pyuxd!rlr Not the Liberty Lobby, actually, but the Institute for Historical Review (IHR). IHR is based in Los Angeles and spends its days trying to discredit the Holocaust in general and the work of the Wiesenthal Center (also in Los Angeles) in particular. Based on some of the junk I've read from IHR supporters, the IHR is not actually trying to disprove the Holocaust, but merely the widely-held contention that gas chambers were used as part of the Final Solution. (Hey, I'm not making this up, just telling you what I've read!) The IHR offer was, I suspect, to pay $50,000 to anyone who could prove the "gas chamber thesis". Survivor Mel Mermelstein took up the challenge. The IHR said it didn't believe him, and Mermelstein sued for something like $17M. The settlement was $90K, maybe with some punitive stuff added on. The settlement also included an order for IHR to publicly apologize to Mermelstein, whom it (and its supporters) slandered badly during the messy affair. ---------- Nathan Meyers hplabs!hp-pcd!nathanm