Arthur R. Butz is an associate professor of

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

and a

Holocaust denier Denial of the Holocaust is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that asserts that the genocide of Jews by the Nazis is a fabrication or exaggeration. It includes making one or more of the following false claims: *Nazi Germany's "Final Solution" wa ...

, best known as the author of the pseudohistorical book ''

The Hoax of the Twentieth Century ''The Hoax of the Twentieth Century: The Case Against the Presumed Extermination of European Jewry'' is a book by Northwestern University electrical engineering professor and Holocaust denier Arthur Butz. The book was originally published in 19 ...

''. He achieved

tenure Tenure is a type of academic appointment that protects its holder from being fired or laid off except for cause, or under extraordinary circumstances such as financial exigency or program discontinuation. Academic tenure originated in the United ...

in 1974 and currently teaches classes in control system theory and

digital signal processing Digital signal processing (DSP) is the use of digital processing, such as by computers or more specialized digital signal processors, to perform a wide variety of signal processing operations. The digital signals processed in this manner are a ...

Education and career

Born in 1933, Butz attended the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

from which he received both his

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

and, in 1956, his

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

degrees. In 1965, he received his PhD from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

. His doctoral dissertation considered a problem in

control engineering Control engineering, also known as control systems engineering and, in some European countries, automation engineering, is an engineering discipline that deals with control systems, applying control theory to design equipment and systems with d ...

Holocaust denial

In 1976, after he received tenure, Butz published '' The Hoax of the Twentieth Century: The Case Against the Presumed Extermination of European Jewry'', an

antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

, pseudohistorical book which argues that the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

was a propaganda hoax.Noami Schaefer Riley, ''The Faculty Lounges and Other Reasons Why You Won't Get the College Education You Paid For'', Lanham, Maryland: Ivan R. Dee, 2011, p. 33 From 1980 to 2001, Butz was on the editorial board of the '' Journal of Historical Review'', a publication of the

Institute for Historical Review The Institute for Historical Review (IHR) is a United States–based nonprofit organization that promotes Holocaust denial. It is considered by many scholars to be central to the international Holocaust denial movement. Self-described as a "his ...

, a Holocaust-denying organization.

Faculty reaction

Butz's Holocaust denial sparked an outrage among the Northwestern University's faculty and community, after the existence of the book was disclosed by ''

The Daily Northwestern ''The Daily Northwestern'' is the student newspaper at Northwestern University which is published in print on Mondays and Thursdays and online daily during the academic year. Founded in 1881, and printed in Evanston, Illinois, it is staffed prim ...

'' in 1977. His views were also criticized by Robert H. Strotz, Northwestern University's president at the time of the book's publication. In 1997, Butz drew further criticism after using the university's Internet domain to publish his views. In 2006, sixty of Butz's colleagues from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science faculty signed a censure describing Butz's Holocaust denial as "an affront to our humanity and our standards as scholars". The letter also called for Butz to "leave our Department and our University and stop trading on our reputation for academic excellence." University President Henry Bienen issued a statement condemning Butz' Holocaust denial, but noted that tenure and academic freedom protected Butz from dismissal as he had kept his denialism separate from his work as an instructor. Instead, after the book's existence had been disclosed in 1977, the university began hosting symposia and developing courses on the Holocaust, created an endowed professorship on the subject, and funded a political science fellowship dedicated to study of the Holocaust. Northwestern has a policy applying only to Butz: if he teaches a course which is required for graduation or any degree program, another section of that course must be offered at the same time so no student ever has to enroll in one of his classes.

Debunking

According to the Anti-Defamation League, "some Holocaust deniers argue that Butz's book has never been refuted by mainstream scholars, but in fact many of his arguments were thoroughly debunked" in books by

Deborah Lipstadt Deborah Esther Lipstadt (born March 18, 1947) is an American historian and diplomat, best known as author of the books ''Denying the Holocaust'' (1993), ''History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier'' (2005), ''The Eichmann Trial'' ...

('' Denying the Holocaust'', 1993), John C. Zimmerman (''Holocaust Denial: Demographics, Testimonies and Ideologies'', 2000) and online web sites such as

Nizkor Project The Nizkor Project (, "we will remember") is an Internet-based project run by B'nai Brith Canada which is dedicated to countering Holocaust denial. About the project The website was founded by Ken McVay as a central Web-based archive for th ...

and www.anti-rev.org. Historian Jacques Kornberg, in a 1995 analysis, found that Butz had provided no evidence to support his claims that the Nuremberg trial defendants were tortured, and that his accusations were instead based on unproven allegations of torture associated with other trials unconnected to Nuremberg, such as the

Dachau Military Tribunal The Dachau trials, also known as the Dachau Military Tribunal, handled the prosecution of almost every war criminal captured in the U.S. military zones in Allied-occupied Germany and in Allied-occupied Austria, and the prosecutions of military ...

Removal from Amazon

In 2017,

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon, is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevu ...

removed the book along with other Holocaust-denying books from its US and UK sites. The removal of the books from the platform was requested by the director of the

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

library, Robert Rozett, who sent an email directly to Amazon CEO

Jeff Bezos Jeffrey Preston Bezos ( ;; and Robinson (2010), p. 7. ; born January 12, 1964) is an American businessman best known as the founder, executive chairman, and former president and CEO of Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce and clou ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Butz, Arthur 1933 births Living people Academic scandals in the United States American Holocaust deniers Engineers from New York City Northwestern University faculty Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering alumni Writers from New York City Activists from New York City American control theorists American electrical engineers Electrical engineering academics