Preparing for a World of Holocaust Deepfakes
The problem with the most pernicious lies is that they are often based on elements of truth.
In a now-famous image known as the Ivanhorod Einsatzgruppen photograph, six huddling Jews were captured on film while being menaced by a rifle-wielding German soldier in Ukraine. Taken in 1942 by an unknown individual, the image was intercepted by the Polish resistance and eventually made its way into public view after the war, providing a chilling personal window into the horrors of the Holocaust.
Years later, however, the picture was enlisted in the service of Holocaust denial. In 1962, a far-right West German newspaper claimed that forensic experts had determined the Ivangorod Einsatzgruppen photograph was fake, and that it had been staged by Polish communists to wrongfully depict German war crimes. The result was a back-and-forth, he said, she said of media forensics until the fraudulent claim was eventually debunked in 1965.
Crucially, the West German newspaper did not need to edit or alter the photograph itself to cast doubt on its authenticity. Instead, the propagandists used the true, real picture, and merely declared that it had been faked.
This is far from the only time that accurate Holocaust imagery has been deployed to undermine the historical facts of the Holocaust. In 2018, a viral meme on Facebook purported to feature the billionaire and liberal financier George Soros dressed as a Nazi.
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