Fabrication d'un antisémite

A biography of the founder of Holocaust "negationism", Paul Rassinier (1906-1967). In different periods of his life he was a pacifist, communist, socialist, and anarchist. During the Second World War, Rassinier was deported to concentration camps in Germany as a member of the resistance. After the war he returned to his hometown Belfort (Alsace) in a bid to become mayor of the town, but a Jewish communist won the election. Rassinier left Belfort in 1947, settled near Paris, and then began his negationist activities. Concludes that the antisemitic atmosphere and the pressure of the times in which he lived were not enough to make Rassinier an antisemite. His lack of success in the political sphere engendered in him strong resentment, which had an impact on his negationist ideology. Analyzes his postwar writings (including description of his experiences in the concentration camp Dora) and states that Rassinier did not describe realities but created them. His negationist ideas claimed that reality was fiction (e.g. that the Holocaust did not take place) and fiction was reality (e.g. the "Jewish conspiracy" needed the existence of a Holocaust for its own goals, the creation of the State of Israel). Includes bibliographical references (pages 763-767) and index. 792 pages ; 21 cm.