History's elusive 'truth'

Irving's judgment is, however, seriously flawed. His political beliefs intrude clumsily in his analysis. Though I doubt he has ever manufactured evidence, he has been unwise in his handling of it. In the case of the Holocaust, tiny shreds of evidence have, perhaps, been given undue prominence, while a cartload of documents that contradict his preconceived views are conveniently ignored.

But all historians manipulate evidence to some degree. Those who claim objectivity most deserve suspicion. All those who practice history do so from a particular perspective and carry with them preconceptions. There is no such thing as historical fact, but merely evidence collected, formed, and packaged by historians. That evidence is itself flawed, because it originates from human observation and is therefore prone to distortion. History is not the past, but merely interpretations of it.

The hardest thing for a teacher of history is to convince students that the truth cannot be discovered, and that books lie. Students read about how Nazi historians of the 1930s reconstructed the German past in order to glorify an Aryan culture and obliterate a Jewish one.

But they seem oblivious to the possibility that historians today might also fabricate the past. Each generation rewrites history because each has a different perspective on the past. Each perceives different lessons to be learned.

Millions of Jews were murdered in wartime Germany. But the term "Holocaust," as we know it today, is a later creation inseparable from the obsession with ethnicity that characterizes our generation. Reality and representation have become hopelessly blurred.

The redemptive and often kitschy reconstructions of concentration camps found in museums and films should not be made official doctrine. It should not be reprehensible to describe "Life is Beautiful" as a silly, manipulative film. Nor should absolute adherence to the figure of 6 million exterminated become a badge of rectitude.

The past is another country, but not one we can actually visit. Irving reminds us that history reveals as much about the world in which we live as the past we seek to discover. I have no doubt that his view of the Holocaust is inaccurate. But I also know that his detractors have their own perspective to peddle.

A British libel court is the last place on earth to look for truth. A bit of healthy skepticism toward all history is the best lesson we can learn.

*Gerard DeGroot, an American, is chairman of the department of modern history at the University of St. Andrews, in Scotland.

(c) Copyright 2000. The Christian Science Publishing Society

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