Why Does the Leader of Iran Deny the Holocaust?
This film sheds light on the history of the Holocaust and the Iranian regime’s attempts to discredit the evidence of the persecution and murder of millions of innocent people—Jews, Roma and Sinti, the mentally and physically handicapped, homosexuals, and many others.
Since the 1990s, the Iranian regime has used Holocaust denial as a tool to push their antisemitic and anti-Zionist agenda. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has repeatedly called the Holocaust “a myth” and “a fabricated story.” Former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeatedly denied the Holocaust during his presidency from 2005–2016 and supported a Holocaust cartoon contest and exhibition. The Iranian regime held a second Holocaust cartoon contest and exhibition in 2016.
The Holocaust is one of the most well-documented crimes in history. Despite this fact, Holocaust deniers ignore the overwhelming evidence of the event and insist that the Holocaust is a myth invented by the Allies, the Soviet communists, and the Jews for their own ends. Holocaust denial and distortion are generally motivated by hatred of Jews and are considered forms of antisemitism.
