"...Gas chambers were a 'detail' of WWII history", says France's Front National.

[Surya Gayatri]

http://www.france24.com/en/

This from the twitter feed on France 24:

Unrepentant: Founder of #France far-right Front National, #JeanMarieLePen , says still believes gas chambers were a "detail" of WWII history

And, this unspeakable, fascist movement just keeps growing here in France. All political observers say they are now 'a force to be reckoned with', a viable third party in France.

God forbid they should ever take the reigns of power.

[MADem]

1. Isn't it pretty much down to Sarkozy and LePen? Dumb and Way, Way Dumber, in essence? nt

[Surya Gayatri]

3. Well, yeah, and Sarko keeps edging further and further right

to poach some of these RW voters. Bad, sad trend in France.

[mylye2222]

4. Exact Surya.

France is going politically uglyer and uglyer everyday...

[Surya Gayatri]

6. ^^^AMEN to that^^^

Salut mylye! Comment çà va ?

[PeteSelman]

2. Well, they are a detail aren't they?

They're certainly not the whole story of WWII. The invasion of Poland is a detail. D-Day is a detail. The Bataan Death March is a detail.

Your link leads to nothing useful so I don't understand the context. Who are these people? Is "detail" an insult?

[Surya Gayatri]

5. Breaking twitter feed from right-hand side bar of linked page. Nothing more, yet.

You may not understand the charged historical and political background to this.

Saying something this 'incendiary' in the French context is tantamount to being a 'holocaust denier'.

Bad, sad trend for France.

ETA:
The Front National is the neo-fascist political movement in France, comparable to the British National Front:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Front_%28France%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Front_%28UK%29

[linuxman]

7. While factually correct, your point will be lost in a storm of umbrage

In truth, it is just another of many details. That doesn't mean it isn't important, but I've honestly talked to people in my time who were convinced we went to war with Germany to stop the Holocaust.

[Surya Gayatri]

8. Among the former frontline protagonists, i.e. DE and FR, anything

remotely like 'holocaust denial' is inflammatory.

70 years on, and still a very, very sensitive issue.

[cali]

26. a detail by definition, is a small feature

Of course we didn't go to war because of genocide, but historians certainly don't consider Hitler's genocide, a detail.

[pampango]

9. But no modern political party is claiming that D-Day or the Bataan Death March were just "details"

of WWII.

I wonder why the National Front chose to depict the Holocaust - only - as a 'detail'.

[cali]

22. no. none of those are details

They are seminal events. You actually think that the genocide of millions is a detail? Amazing.

[PeteSelman]

23. In the truest sense of the word, yes.

I set no limits on the magnitude of said details.

[cali]

24. baloney. find one respected historian of the period

who would classify the holocaust as a "detail".

[PeteSelman]

25. Hogwash.

If I tell you I have a car, you might ask for details about it. What make? Model? Color? Engine size? Etc.

All major points, all details and specifics.

There was this war, it was called World War II.

Oh yeah? Who was in it? Can you give me some details?

Well there was Germany, Italy, Japan, England, Russia, The United States......

[trumad]

28. Pete...

Come in...Really?

O E Vey!

[cali]

29. codswallop

Laughable and stunningly bad comparison.

Sorry, but the holocaust is considered by every legitimate historian of the period, to be a seminal feature. Now,of course, revionist historians disagree.

[Orsino]

10. I'm guessing that the statement was not issued in German. n/t

[Surya Gayatri]

11. In French, by the leader of the French neo-fascist movement.

[appalachiablue]

12. So the Civil War was about states rights and Northern aggression, not slavery. Not. Unbelievable

and only 70 years after France's occupation by Nazis who shipped French Jews to eastern camps or murdered them along with many others including women and children. My father liberated one of those 'details', at Dachau after the Rhineland Campaign when he was a first lieutenant artillerist in the 7th Army. Some of his time was also spent in southern France. I wonder what he would say about this like many who risked their life there, and his suffering battle fatigue after his unit was shelled by German 88s, the largest artillery guns in the war and he took command to lead his convoy to safety. Madame Le Pen should be__________.

[Surya Gayatri]

13. Yes, she and all of her neo-fascist pack should be_________!

[appalachiablue]

19. Isn't there some way to induce the crazy RW authoritarians & fascists to relocate to another

remote, unpopulated region where they can create a dictatorial and theological society of their liking with their devoted followers? They'd be so happy and it wouldn't be the first time this has happened in human history. Thinking of some of the Nazi refugees in SA, one who actually recreated a Bavarian style village with ye old traditions where he was the supreme leader (and pervert) of his own colony cult. I can see Le Pen, Cruz, Santorum and others thriving in a place like that. Help disinfect free, democratic republics and societies!

[Surya Gayatri]

20. Well, their stronghold in France is the rural areas, but France is only so big...LOL! They're here,

they're alive, and they're coming!

[mylye2222]

14. Will that POS old war criminel Papy Le Pen die one day!

The whole planet will be GRATEFULL. One polluting jerk less

[Surya Gayatri]

15. Unfortunately, his spawn is still young and healthy!

[tishaLA]

16. LePen's piggishness has no bottom

If he could insult Jews, Muslims, LGBT, and Africans in one sentence, I think he'd collapse in ecstasy.

When I lived in Paris, my introduction to LePen was seeing him on TV screaming "pedes!" at people protesting him. Vile, vile man

[Surya Gayatri]

21. Truly a pond scum, bottom feeder. And his daughter is a carbon copy, just easier to look at.

[Surya Gayatri]

27. Lowest of the low...even his daughter is tryng to distance herself from him now.

[KamaAina]

17. So was the atom bomb, I guess

[Surya Gayatri]

18. Oh, snap. A minor footnote of history...