Event: Defeating Distortion Holocaust Denial and Distortion in an Era of Antisemitic Tidal

Conference on 14 May 2025, 12:00–18:00

German Resistance Memorial Center (Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand)
Stauffenbergstraße 13, 10785 Berlin

In recent years and throughout Europe, actors across the political spectrum, including elected politicians, exploited the memory of the Holocaust—the genocide committed by the Nazis against the European and North-African Jews—for political gain. While Holocaust denial is a criminal offence in most EU states, distortion often appears in ways that evade prosecution. Manifestations of Holocaust denial and distortion vary according to societal and political contexts: Some imagery appears online and offline across Europe—such as yellow stars labelled ‚unvaccinated‘ during the COVID-19 pandemic or equations of the actions of the Israeli government to those of the Nazis. Other forms are unique to specific countries.

Holocaust denial and distortion are always deeply intertwined in the national political landscape and remembrance culture. To fully grasp how the Holocaust is remembered, studied, understood and weaponized, it is essential to consider the broader societal context. This includes historical narratives on various forms of perpetratorship as well as the legacy of state socialism and how these are discussed in European migration societies. Controversial debates on Holocaust commemoration are frequently projected onto Holocaust memorial sites and museums, creating tension with their objective to foster critical historical consciousness. The erosion of Holocaust commemoration increasingly leads to antisemitic incidents and public defamation of those sites, incited by actors from across the political spectrum.

For Jews and their communities, the denial and trivialisation of the Holocaust scorns the memory of the most traumatic event in Jewish history. For practitioners in the field of research, monitoring, education and policy-making on antisemitism, Holocaust denial and distortion are a constantly evolving challenge in identifying new narratives and developing strategies to counter these.

This conference will bring together experts from different fields to analyse current trends, discuss their impact, and explore strategies for countering misinformation and historical falsification. Key questions include:

  • How do Holocaust denial and distortion vary across European countries in terms of imagery and function? How are those influenced by various forms of perpetratorship and the legacy of state socialism?
  • What drives Holocaust denial and distortion, and how does it affect Jewish communities, Holocaust survivors and their descendants?
  • How do Holocaust denial and distortion spread online transnationally, how is it linked to offline forms and what strategies can counter it?
  • What role do institutions of remembrance, such as memorials, play as a contested field of historical politics 80 years after the liberation of Auschwitz?

The conference “Defeating Distortion“ is public and aimed at civic educators, researchers, public service workers, politicians, diplomats and the media.

Conference Details

This conference is the closing event of the project Standardised Recording of Holocaust Distortion in Five European Countries according to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) non-legally binding working definition of Holocaust denial and distortion. Since June 2024 the project has been raising awareness for Holocaust denial and distortion on social media as a part of the campaign #FACTSMATTER Defend Truth, Defeat Distortion.

Admission is free of charge and is subject to registration at https://gstoo.de/defeatingdistortion until 13th May 2025

The event will be held in English.

Organisers

The conference is organised by the Bundesverband RIAS e. V., part of the European Network on Monitoring Antisemitism (ENMA). ENMA aims to provide internationally comparable data on antisemitic incidents.

Funding & Campaign

The conference is funded as part of the project Standardised Recording of Holocaust Distortion in Five European Countries. Since June 2024 the project has been raising awareness for Holocaust denial and distortion on social media as part of the campaign #FACTSMATTER Defend Truth, Defeat Distortion.

Schedule

11:00-12:00 Arrival and Registration

12:00-12:05 Opening Remarks
Benjamin Steinitz (Executive Director of the Bundesverband RIAS, Germany)

12:05-12:10 Welcome Message from the Funding Partner
Rüdiger Mahlo (Representative of the Jewish Claims Conference in Europe)

12:10-12:15 Opening Address 
Michaela Küchler (Secretary General, International
Holocaust Remembrance Alliance)

12:15-12:30 Project publication: Introduction of the developed guideline to record Holocaust denial and distortion
Leeor Fink (Bundesverband RIAS, Germany)

12:30-13:45 Panel Discussion: Holocaust Distortion in Europe
Katharina von Schnurbein (European Commission Coordinator on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life)
Benjamin Steinitz (Bundesverband RIAS, Germany)
Benjamin Nägele (Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Vienna, Austria)
Anna Makowka (Jewish Association Czulent, Poland)
Adam Solovej (AKVAH, Denmark)

13:45-14:45 Lunch Break
Starting at 14:15: Guided tour: Silent Heroes Memorial Center, Karoline Georg (Head of the Silent Heroes Memorial Center, Germany)

14:45-16:00 Panel Discussion: Memorials in between the politics ofremembrance and current antisemitic incidents
Tanja Kinzel (Bundesverband RIAS, Germany)
Gadi Luzatto (Centro Documentazione Ebraica Contemporanea, Italy)
Krinka Vidakovic (Staro Samiste Site, Serbia)

16:00-16:30 Coffee Break

16:30-16:35
Video Statement: Robert J. Williams (CEO USC Shoah Foundation and Member of the ENMA Advisory Expert Board, USA)

16:35-17:50 Panel Discussion: Holocaust Distortion in the Digital Age
Dora Streibl (Bundesverband RIAS, Germany)
Nathalie Rücker (Institute for Strategic Dialogue, Germany)
Piotr Kwapisiewicz (Jewish Association Czulent, Poland)
Marija Ljubinkovović (World Jewish Congress, Technology and Human Rights Institute, Serbia)

17:50-18:00 Closing Remarks
Kim Robin Stoller (Institute for Education and Research on Antisemitism and Member of ENMA Advisory Expert Board, Germany)

Event organisers reserve the right to exercise their domiciliary rights and to refuse entry to,
or exclude from the event, persons who belong to right-wing extremist or Islamist parties or organisations, those associated with the right-wing extremist, Islamist or anti-Israeli scene, or who have previously made racist, nationalist, antisemitic or other inhumane statements.

Funding

The project Standardised Recording of Holocaust Distortion in Five European Countries and the campaign #FACTSMATTER. Defend Truth, Defeat Distortion is funded:

– With Assistance from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany
– Sponsored by the Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future”
– Supported by the German Federal Ministry of Finance

 

Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.