Nizkor Project
Encyclopedia
The Nizkor Project is an ongoing Internet
-based project run by B'nai Brith Canada
which is dedicated to countering Holocaust denial
. It was founded by Ken McVay
as a central Web-based archive for the large numbers of documents made publicly available by the users of the newsgroup alt.revisionism and gifted to B'nai Brith Canada in 2010.
The site also archives numerous postings made to the newsgroup since the early 1990s. It does not archive every single posting ever made to the newsgroup; rather, the maintainers of the web site have selected various messages for display that are seen as presenting factual information about the Holocaust
; or, in the case of some posters, about the authors of the messages themselves.
In addition to providing an extensive archive of documents regarding the Holocaust, including the transcripts of the 1st Nuremberg Tribunal, the Nizkor Project also seeks to expose the activities of Holocaust deniers themselves. Based on the postings to the newsgroup over the years, it has compiled extensive writings from self-proclaimed revisionists, including David Irving
, Ernst Zündel
, Michael A. Hoffman II
, and others. Several regular pro-revisionist posters to the newsgroups have earned reputations as persistent Internet-based kook
s, and a number of their writings are also stored at the Nizkor Project.
Among the various pieces of information stored at Nizkor is a sound recording of an answering machine
message allegedly made by white supremacist Tom Metzger
, encouraging various individuals to "take action" against "Nikzor [sic] on the Internet."
and other Zionist
sources, though McVay consistently denies these charges. He states that the Nizkor Project is funded strictly through donations from the general public, as well as his own personal finances.
In the late 1990s, the Simon Wiesenthal Center
criticized the Nizkor Project for increasing the visibility of hate groups and Holocaust deniers, even as it sought to debunk them. This debate between free speech advocates such as McVay and those who favored hate crime laws continued throughout the late 1990s, but has mostly been resolved. In 1996, McVay spoke out against Internet hate crime laws in Canada in front of a committee of the Canadian Parliament, stating that it is better to address the false claims of Holocaust deniers, rather than to censor them.
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
-based project run by B'nai Brith Canada
B'nai Brith Canada
B'nai Brith Canada is the Canadian section of B'nai Brith . It was founded in 1875 and is the country's oldest Jewish service organization.-Members:...
which is dedicated to countering Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...
. It was founded by Ken McVay
Ken McVay
Kenneth "Ken" McVay, OBC , a Canadian-American dual citizen, is an Internet activist against Holocaust denial. He is the founder of the Nizkor Project, one of the first websites against Holocaust denial....
as a central Web-based archive for the large numbers of documents made publicly available by the users of the newsgroup alt.revisionism and gifted to B'nai Brith Canada in 2010.
The site also archives numerous postings made to the newsgroup since the early 1990s. It does not archive every single posting ever made to the newsgroup; rather, the maintainers of the web site have selected various messages for display that are seen as presenting factual information about the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
; or, in the case of some posters, about the authors of the messages themselves.
In addition to providing an extensive archive of documents regarding the Holocaust, including the transcripts of the 1st Nuremberg Tribunal, the Nizkor Project also seeks to expose the activities of Holocaust deniers themselves. Based on the postings to the newsgroup over the years, it has compiled extensive writings from self-proclaimed revisionists, including David Irving
David Irving
David John Cawdell Irving is an English writer,best known for his denial of the Holocaust, who specialises in the military and political history of World War II, with a focus on Nazi Germany...
, Ernst Zündel
Ernst Zündel
Ernst Christof Friedrich Zündel is a German Holocaust denier and pamphleteer who was jailed several times in Canada for publishing literature which "is likely to incite hatred against an identifiable group" and for being a threat to national security, in the United States for overstaying his visa,...
, Michael A. Hoffman II
Michael A. Hoffman II
Michael Anthony Hoffman II, , is an American journalist, conspiracy theorist and Holocaust denier who describes himself as a "heretical writer." Hoffman is the managing editor of the newsletter Revisionist History....
, and others. Several regular pro-revisionist posters to the newsgroups have earned reputations as persistent Internet-based kook
Kook
Kook is a Yiddish surname meaning "look". Kook or KOOK may refer to:People:* Abraham Isaac Kook , Chief Rabbi in the British Mandate of Palestine, considered to be Israel's first Chief Rabbi...
s, and a number of their writings are also stored at the Nizkor Project.
Among the various pieces of information stored at Nizkor is a sound recording of an answering machine
Answering machine
The answering machine or message machine, also known as the telephone answering machine in the UK and some Commonwealth countries) and previously known as an ansaphone, ansafone, or telephone answering device is a device for answering telephones and recording callers' messages.Unlike voicemail,...
message allegedly made by white supremacist Tom Metzger
Tom Metzger
Thomas Metzger is an American white nationalist who founded White Aryan Resistance . His far-right activist groups, including WAR, have been monitored by the Southern Poverty Law Center, an American organization that tracks hate groups...
, encouraging various individuals to "take action" against "Nikzor [sic] on the Internet."
Criticisms
Holocaust denial Web sites and spokespersons have made repeated accusations against McVay, challenging his neutrality and attacking him personally. The Nizkor web site has been accused by self-proclaimed "Holocaust revisionists" and Neo-Nazi Web sites as being funded by IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and other Zionist
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
sources, though McVay consistently denies these charges. He states that the Nizkor Project is funded strictly through donations from the general public, as well as his own personal finances.
In the late 1990s, the Simon Wiesenthal Center
Simon Wiesenthal Center
The Simon Wiesenthal Center , with headquarters in Los Angeles, California, was established in 1977 and named for Simon Wiesenthal, the Nazi hunter. According to its mission statement, it is "an international Jewish human rights organization dedicated to repairing the world one step at a time...
criticized the Nizkor Project for increasing the visibility of hate groups and Holocaust deniers, even as it sought to debunk them. This debate between free speech advocates such as McVay and those who favored hate crime laws continued throughout the late 1990s, but has mostly been resolved. In 1996, McVay spoke out against Internet hate crime laws in Canada in front of a committee of the Canadian Parliament, stating that it is better to address the false claims of Holocaust deniers, rather than to censor them.