How does one of the most documented crimes in human history become the target of organised disbelief?

Holocaust Denial: How It Started and Why It Persists is a powerful exposé of the deliberate campaign to distort, erase, and weaponise the memory of the Holocaust. With chilling clarity, historian Cyril Marlen takes listeners through the origins, evolution, and ongoing danger of Holocaust denial—unmasking the pseudoscience, antisemitism, and conspiracy theories that fuel this persistent assault on truth.

This compelling book traces the roots of denial back to the Nazi regime itself, which began destroying evidence of its crimes before the war had even ended. From there, it explores how early post-war deniers—including figures like Paul Rassinier and Willis Carto—manipulated history to whitewash fascism and revive antisemitic ideologies. As denial movements gained traction in the West, institutions like the Institute for Historical Review gave falsehoods an academic facade, while pseudo-scholars cloaked hate in footnotes and jargon.

Marlen deconstructs the core claims of deniers—from the denial of gas chambers and minimisation of death tolls to the baseless accusations of a “Zionist hoax”—and reveals how these lies are not just historically inaccurate, but intentionally crafted to sow doubt, incite hatred, and sanitise Nazi ideology. Through forensic evidence, survivor testimony, and Nazi documentation, each distortion is dismantled with precision.

But this is not just a book about the past. In the digital age, Holocaust denial has evolved—going viral through memes, short-form videos, and algorithm-driven echo chambers.