What is historical revisionism?
As the word implies, historical revisionism is the exercise whereby historians revise their opinions on historical events in the face of new evidence. It is an essential part of the history writing process. “Revisionism” (with quotes) is a distortion of history practiced by persons, usually inspired by antisemitism or a desire to rehabilitate the Nazis, or both. They deny that the Holocaust — the attempted extermination of the Jews by Nazi Germany — took place. The more accurate description of “revisionists”, is “deniers”. They describe themselves as revisionists because they think it gives them an air of respectability.
As more facts about past events come to light, it becomes necessary to re-evaluate them taking the new information into account. All history is constantly being reviewed. It is a natural process. It is an important process. The only way to judge the future is to accurately compare current trends and events to those of earlier times. It has been said that the good thing about experience is that one can recognize a mistake when it is made again. So it is with history, the sum of recorded human experience. Historical revisionism is the process of changing the human record so that it more accurately represents events as they actually occurred. Often there is resistance to the process of bringing history in accord with the facts. The reason for this is history is not simply a record of events, but is also a resource from which a world view is drawn.
As more facts about past events come to light, it becomes necessary to re-evaluate them taking the new information into account. All history is constantly being reviewed. It is a natural process. It is an important process. The only way to judge the future is to accurately compare current trends and events to those of earlier times. It has been said that the good thing about experience is that one can recognize a mistake when it is made again. So it is with history, the sum of recorded human experience. Historical revisionism is the process of changing the human record so that it more accurately represents events as they actually occurred. Often there is resistance to the process of bringing history in accord with the facts. The reason for this is history is not simply a record of events, but is also a resource from which a world view is drawn. A re- examination or re-evaluation of important historical events can be viewed as a threat to the political status quo and to interests upon w
“Revisionism” is dishonest distortion of history practiced by persons, usually inspired by antisemitism or a desire to rehabilitate the Nazis. To do so, they deny that the Holocaust – the attempted extermination of the Jews by Nazi Germany – took place. The more accurate description of “revisionists”, is “deniers”. They describe themselves as “revisionists” because they think it gives them an air of respectability.
