Existence of the Holocaust
One of the book's key themes is the existence of the Holocaust, a theme that is oppositional to the other key theme of the book, which is Holocaust denial; however, this theme concentrates on the ways in which we are able to validate and confirm that the Holocaust actually happened. These include eyewitness testimony, photographic evidence, survivor stories and even documentation kept by the Germans who were so proud of their "final solution" that they wanted to document it in great detail. Whilst admitting that all of the accounts in history of the Holocaust are subjective and in some ways different, the author points out that the fact that the Holocaust actually happened is the one thing that all of the accounts have in common.
For example, the perspective of a Jewish survivor of the concentrations camps would differ from that of an SS guard within one of the camps. The perspective of a Nazi party member would be different to that of an American soldier who liberated a concentration camp. All of the accounts would be subjective but all would confirm the fact that this was an historical event that happened, and not a fabricated marketing tool or an event that was fictionalized by those who had been imprisoned in the camps.
Holocaust Denial
This is a growing movement, especially within Europe, where far right groups are seeing a resurgence. The Holocaust denier movement does not deny the existence of what they call work camps. They do deny the fact that these camps were not work camps but death camps; they deny the existence of the gas chambers, claiming that there was a huge amount of this gas on the clothes found at the camp because it was used to disinfect "prisoners". They go to great lengths to try to disprove the workings of a gas chamber and to claim that it was a large communal shower room. Deniers claim also that the Holocaust was a work of fiction dreamed up by the Jews in order to garner public sympathy and support; in short, they will admit what there is irrefutable scientific evidence for, but nothing else.
Far Right Extremism
The book studies the rise of far-right extremism in Europe, where it is becoming more prevalent and where anti-Semitism is again on the rise. Like the opposing themes of the Holocaust and denial, this theme is also in opposition to another, that of free speech, with the author questioning where free speech ends and hate speech begins, and whether one negates the right to the other. Fascism in today's Europe hides behind the right to speak freely and by promoting the denial propaganda far right groups are also marketing to anti-Semites directly.
Free Speech
The book takes the theme of free speech and poses it against the theme of far right extremism. When is it free speech, and when is it hate speech, or denier speech? Do the Holocaust deniers have a right to free speech when they are denying the historical existence of the Holocaust? This is a question that the author posits and looks at in great detail. Free speech is also a concept that Holocaust deniers like to claim when making their nonsensical statements about the death camps, and voicing their hate for Jewish people.
Reliability of History
History is, in large part, subjective, because it is reliant upon the historian who has studied, recorded and interpreted it. There is not one history of any event; there are many individual histories that come together to make the history of an event, or a time period. To make a proper history of the Holocaust, a historian would need to visit the death camps for herself; she would need to speak to survivors of the camps, survivors of Hitler's Reich who spent the key war years in hiding. Eye witness accounts from those in German occupied countries, such as Poland and Romania would be studied; there are accounts from German soldiers, German guards, SS captains and Allied forces who liberated the camps. There are the accounts of those who lived near the camps and turned a blind eye, and those who lived nearby and tried to help. To build a comprehensive history one must look at the event from all angles. However, this is not necessary in order to prove that an event happened, but to gain as complete a picture of the event as possible.
