Editing Holocaust denial (section)

===Maurice Bardèche===
The first person to openly write after the end of World War II that he doubted the reality of the Holocaust was French art critic [[Maurice Bardèche]] in his 1948 book {{lang|fr|Nuremberg ou la Terre promise}} ("Nuremberg or the Promised Land").<ref name=":2">{{harvnb|Igounet|2000|p=31}}: "{{lang|fr|Pour la première fois, depuis la fin de la guerre, un homme écrit qu'il doute ouvertement de l'existence des camps de la mort}}" [For the first time, since the end of the war, a man writes that he openly doubts the existence of death camps]</ref> In the 1950 book ''Nuremberg II, ou les Faux-Monnayeurs'', designed around the tale of [[Paul Rassinier]], a former deportee from [[Nazi concentration camps]] (not to be confused with [[extermination camps]]) turned into a Holocaust denier, Bardèche concluded that [[Kapo (concentration camp)|kapos]] were in reality worse than [[Schutzstaffel|SS]], and expressed his "doubts" about the existence of gas chambers.{{sfn|Igounet|2000|p=}}{{page needed|date=August 2024}}

Viewed as "the father-figure of Holocaust denial",<ref>{{Harvnb|Barnes|2002|p=195}}: "Bardèche being considered as the father-figure of Holocaust denial and its methodology"</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Der Matossian |first=Bedross |author-link=Bedross Der Matossian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TOq1EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1952 |title=Denial of Genocides in the Twenty-First Century |date=2023 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-1-4962-3554-1 |quote=In the postwar period, the two main Holocaust deniers were the French journalist Maurice Bardèche, considered “the father-figure of Holocaust denial,” and the American historian Harry Elmer Barnes.}}</ref> Bardèche introduced in his works many aspects of [[neo-fascist]] and Holocaust denial [[propaganda techniques]] and ideological structures; his work is deemed influential in regenerating post-war European far-right ideas at a time of identity crisis in the 1950–1960s.{{sfn|Algazy|1984|pp=208–209}}{{sfn|Barnes|2002|p=}}{{sfn|Bar-On|2016|p=}} His arguments formed the basis of numerous works of Holocaust denial that followed: "testimonies are not reliable, essentially coming from the mouth of Jews and communists", "atrocities committed in camps were the work of deportees [essentially the [[Kapo (concentration camp)|kapos]]]", "disorganization occurred in Nazi camps following the first German defeats", "the high mortality is due to the 'weakening' of prisoners and epidemics", "only lice were gassed in [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Auschwitz]]", etc.{{sfn|Igounet|2000|p=}}{{page needed|date=August 2024}}