Cole Comments on the Marco Polo Affair
David Cole, a researcher and filmmaker who lives in Los Angeles and who spoke at news conferences in Japan on the Marco Polo affair, states:
I am a Jewish “Holocaust revisionist.” I believe that the Nazi persecution of the Jews during World War II should be studied freely and openly, like any other historical subject.
The Wiesenthal Center “punished” Marco Polo magazine for publishing a revisionist article that presents evidence casting doubt on claims that gas chambers were used to kill prisoners in German wartime concentration camps. Rather than respond with credible evidence for the existence of gas chambers, the Wiesenthal Center instead did what it does best: it used threats and intimidation to silence critics of the gas chamber theory.
There are those who say that Holocaust revisionism should be censored because it is distressing for Jews. As a Jew, I find that view condescending. If we censor things that are distressing for Jews, should we also censor things that are distressing for Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, and so forth? Where do we stop?
The truth must stand on its own. We call things “facts” only when they can be explained and proven. My own research has convinced me that there is a legitimate reason to doubt the gas chamber story. I have traveled to concentration camp sites, and have interviewed Holocaust historians and survivors. No one has been able to answer my critical questions about the alleged gas chambers.