Holocaust Web Site at Emory Launches Non-English Versions

ATLANTA - HDOT.org translated into Arabic, Farsi, Russian and Turkish

Holocaust Denial on Trial (HDOT.org), a Web site founded by Emory University professor Deborah Lipstadt to help readers identify and reject Holocaust denial, is launching in four new languages: Arabic, Farsi, Russian and Turkish. These translations are designed to spread the original site’s messages to areas where Holocaust denial goes the most unchallenged.

According to Dr. Lipstadt, over the past few years there has been a serious increase in online Holocaust denial. “Deniers are attacking the entire history of the Holocaust piece by piece. Our site puts basic, easily accessible information into the hands of people encountering sophisticated content designed to confuse them,” says Lipstadt.

At each of the new sites, visitors will be greeted by a complete parallel home page, site navigation and content in their language of choice. They will be able to search the site’s database in the new languages as well. “This project significantly expands the reach of HDOT.org in regions of the world where a significant amount of Holocaust denial is happening,” says Lipstadt.

In addition, HDOT.org has added significantly to its offering of more than 30 myth/fact sheets, available in all five languages. These fact sheets confront Holocaust denial head-on by listing various myths about the Holocaust versus actual facts. The myth/fact sheets have been HDOT.org’s most popular destination.

In conjunction with this launch, HDOT also announces the creation of a new podcast series, available through Emory’s iTunes University: “Holocaust Education and Online Hate Speech” includes podcasts featuring such figures as Lipstadt, renowned Holocaust historian Saul Friedlander and professor Ken Waltzer, who uncovered fraud in a recent and highly publicized Holocaust memoir.

“As so much of the strategy that deniers employ involves spreading their falsehoods on the Internet, we worked with Professor Lipstadt to have scholarly, authoritative resources available in podcasts. Some of the most respected experts on denial on the Internet are interviewed,” observes, Emory University’s director of academic technology services.

The podcasts will form the core of several new lesson plans being produced for advanced high school and college courses that will help educators and the public approach the complex of social, historical, political and ideological issues that emerge in the study of Holocaust denial.

tinyurl.com/hdotpodcasts

Source: Emory University

Elaine Justice of Emory University, +1-404-727-0643 (w), +1-404-276-8263 (c), elaine.justice at emory.edu