The Nizkor Project (, "we will remember") is an

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

-based project run by

B'nai Brith Canada B'nai Brith Canada ( ; BBC; from ) is a Canadian Jewish service organization and advocacy group. It is the Canadian chapter of B'nai B'rith International and has offices in Toronto, Winnipeg, Montreal, and Vancouver. Mission The organizatio ...

which is dedicated to countering

Holocaust denial Historical negationism, Denial of the Holocaust is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that asserts that the genocide of Jews by the Nazi Party, Nazis is a fabrication or exaggeration. It includes making one or more of the following false claims: ...

About the project

The website was founded by Ken McVay as a central Web-based archive for the large numbers of documents made publicly available by the users of the newsgroup ''alt.revisionism'' and gifted to B'nai Brith Canada in 2010. The site also archives numerous postings made to the newsgroup since the early 1990s. It does not archive every single posting ever made to the newsgroup; rather, the maintainers of the web site have selected various messages for display that are seen as presenting factual information about

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 ...

; or, in the case of some posters, about the authors of the messages themselves. In addition to providing an extensive archive of documents regarding the Holocaust, including the transcripts of the 1st Nuremberg Tribunal, the Nizkor Project also seeks to expose the activities of Holocaust deniers themselves. Based on the postings to the newsgroup over the years, it has compiled extensive writings from self-proclaimed revisionists, including

David Irving David John Cawdell Irving (born 24 March 1938) is an English author and Holocaust denier who has written on the military and political history of World War II, especially Nazi Germany. He was found to be a Holocaust denier in a British court ...

, Ernst Zündel, Michael A. Hoffman II, and others. Among the various pieces of information stored at Nizkor is a sound recording of an

answering machine An answering machine, answerphone, or message machine, also known as telephone messaging machine (or TAM) in the United Kingdom, UK and some Commonwealth countries, ansaphone or ansafone (from a trade name), or telephone answering device (TAD), ...

message allegedly made by

white supremacist White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...

Tom Metzger, encouraging various individuals to "take action" against "Zinkor on the Internet." In 2009, the

Simon Wiesenthal Center The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) is a Jewish human rights organization established in 1977 by Rabbi Marvin Hier. The center is known for Holocaust research and remembrance, hunting Nazi war criminals, combating antisemitism, tolerance educati ...

congratulated the Nizkor Project for having initiated an effort which led to the successful prosecution of three Nazi war criminals.

Criticisms

Holocaust denial web sites and spokespersons challenged McVay's neutrality and attacked him personally. The original Nizkor web site was accused by self-proclaimed "Holocaust revisionists" and

neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

Web sites as being funded by

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and other

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

sources, though McVay consistently denied these charges. He stated that the Nizkor Project was funded solely by donations from the general public, as well as his own personal finances. In the late 1990s, the

criticized the Nizkor Project for increasing the visibility of hate groups and Holocaust deniers, even as it sought to debunk them. This debate between

free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recognise ...

advocates such as McVay and those who favor the suppression of speech with

hate crime Hate crime (also known as bias crime) in criminal law involves a standard offence (such as an assault, murder) with an added element of bias against a victim (individual or group of individuals) because of their physical appearance or perceived ...

laws continued throughout the late 1990s, but has now mostly been resolved with the two sides agreeing on the common goal of confronting Holocaust deniers and keeping their disagreements over specific tactics private. In 1996, McVay spoke out against Internet hate crime laws in Canada in front of a committee of the

Canadian parliament The Parliament of Canada () is the federal legislature of Canada. The Crown, along with two chambers: the Senate and the House of Commons, form the bicameral legislature. The 343 members of the lower house, the House of Commons, are styled a ...

, stating that it is better to address the false claims of Holocaust deniers, rather than to censor them.

References

External links

Interview with McVay

The Nizkor Project
on The Jewish Federations of North America
The original website created by Ken McVay
{{Authority control Canadian digital libraries Discipline-oriented digital libraries Holocaust denial in Canada Anti-fascism in Canada