14 May 2025
Time to read: 2 mins
Defeating distortion: new report highlights Holocaust distortion amid rising antisemitism
Berlin (14 May 2025): Eighty years after the liberation of Auschwitz, Holocaust distortion remains a widespread and pressing challenge across the European Union. A new report by ENMA, the European Network on Monitoring Antisemitism, sheds light on this persistent threat from a cross-European perspective. Published as part of a two-year project, the report establishes a transnational framework for documenting Holocaust denial and distortion. It was presented today at an international conference in Berlin.
New Report Reveals Scope of Holocaust Distortion Across Europe
The ENMA report provides a sobering analysis of Holocaust denial and distortion in Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy, and Poland. It demonstrates how antisemitic narratives adapt to societal crises, are exploited for political gain, often evade legal accountability, and erode historical truth—with harmful consequences for Jewish communities, Holocaust survivors, and their descendants.
“We are at a dangerous crossroads: As antisemitism rises and historical ignorance grows, we face an era marked by an antisemitic tide,” said Benjamin Steinitz, Executive Director of Bundesverband RIAS. “We need sound, comparable data in order to develop strategies that can effectively counter antisemitic narratives.”
The report introduces a shared framework for the documentation and monitoring of antisemitic incidents, aligning with the IHRA Working Definition of Holocaust Denial and Distortion. “Holocaust distortion is not only growing – it is growing everywhere. That’s why the work of the IHRA and ENMA is so urgent. Together, we are building tools to make distortion visible and challenge it – online, on the ground, and across borders. Because facts are not negotiable. They are the foundation of remembrance – and its defence,” said Michaela Küchler, Secretary General of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).
A Coordinated Response to a Europe-Wide Threat
The report was launched at the international conference Defeating Distortion: Holocaust Denial and Distortion in an Era of Antisemitic Tidal Change, held in Berlin. The event convened representatives from the European Commission, World Jewish Congress, Jewish Claims Conference, USC Shoah Foundation, and a broad spectrum of pan-European Jewish and non-Jewish civil society organizations. Discussions centred on the rising impact of Holocaust distortion on Jewish communities as well as Holocaust survivors and their descendants, the digital dissemination of these antisemitic narratives and the role of remembrance institutions in a contested field of memory politics. These transnational challenges require a coordinated effort to understand both their national and international dimensions — a task for which ENMA provides a comprehensive framework.
Ariella Woitchik, Director of European Affairs at the European Jewish Congress, warned of a “tsunami of antisemitism and Holocaust denial following the October 7 Hamas massacre” and underscored the critical role of ENMA’s monitoring of antisemitic incidents and standardised reporting across European borders.
Rüdiger Mahlo, Representative of the Jewish Claims Conference in Europe and funder of the project, added: “This manipulation of Shoah history is endangering the very foundation of our democratic societies. The ENMA report provides an evidence-based foundation for urgently needed political action to counter this trend.”
About the Project
The project “Standardised Recording of Holocaust Denial and Distortion in Five European Countries” has developed a methodology to enable comparative documentation of antisemitic incidents that involve Holocaust denial and distortion. It is funded with assistance from the Jewish Claims Conference and supported by the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (EVZ), as well as the German Federal Ministry of Finance. The project is co-funded by the European Union.
About ENMA
The European Network on Monitoring Antisemitism (ENMA) unites Jewish and non-Jewish civil society organizations in Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy, and Poland. ENMA documents antisemitic incidents and raises awareness of Holocaust distortion as an urgent and growing threat to democratic societies.
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