A symposium scheduled to take place here Friday of “revisionist historians” who allege that the Holocaust never took place was abruptly canceled Tuesday, following a storm of protest in Jewish circles and among former Resistance fighters.
Owners of the hall in which the symposium was to have taken place canceled the contract.
Some 30 Jewish organizations, associations of former Resistance fighters and anti-racist leagues took part in a news conference here Tuesday to protest the symposium.
Soon after, the owners of the building, an association of civil engineers, announced they had not known the purpose of the symposium when they made the hall available.
Henri Rocques, a French historian who published a thesis denying the existence of the Holocaust and who was one of the organizers of the symposium, tried to attend the Jewish protest meeting.
He was forcibly expelled by several former deportees.
He later announced that he had given up for the time being any plans to hold the conference in the near future.
Rocques said that some 30 revisionists from France, West Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and Spain were planning to attend the symposium.
The president of the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism (LICRA), Jean Pierre-Bloch, announced that, in spite of the symposium’s cancellation, a protest meeting will be held Thursday in front of the Memorial to the Unknown Jewish Martyr.
Help ensure Jewish news remains accessible to all. Your donation to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency powers the trusted journalism that has connected Jewish communities worldwide for more than 100 years. With your help, JTA can continue to deliver vital news and insights. Donate today.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
