In Europe, the ground is being prepared for another genocide

On April 15, Austrian Nobel laureate Peter Handke was expected to look connected Austria’s nationalist broadcaster ORF to speech astir his caller writings. Instead, helium proceeded to erstwhile again contradict that the Srebrenica genocide happened, calling it Brudermord – biblical fratricide and framing it arsenic a spiritual calamity alternatively than a transgression against humanity.

ORF stood by its determination to interrogation Handke erstwhile it faced criticism. It claimed that it had done thing incorrect since the interviewer acknowledged the genocide successful a question.

That a European broadcaster would take to level genocide denial astatine this clip is hardly surprising.

Europe faces a situation not lone of representation but of unsafe continuity. From the Holocaust to Srebrenica to Gaza, denial of authorities unit against marginalised groups seeks to erase past atrocities, normalise contiguous ones, and pave the mode for aboriginal ones.

Fratricide arsenic ‘the worst crime’

The Bosnian genocide was the archetypal genocide broadcast connected television. In 1995, distressing images from Srebrenica filled surviving rooms worldwide, exposing the nonaccomplishment of planetary protection. Despite a lengthy process of prosecuting warfare crimes done the International Criminal Tribunal for the erstwhile Yugoslavia and tribunal decisions implicating the complicity of European peacekeepers successful the massacres, denial of the Bosnian genocide continues to beryllium good tolerated successful Europe.

While Handke is by acold not the lone salient nationalist fig who engages successful it, his rhetoric makes wide however this transgression has travel to beryllium weaponised successful minimising German and Austrian guilt for the Holocaust.

Handke portrays the Bosnian genocide arsenic a tragic civilian warfare betwixt “brothers” – Brudermord. He romanticises warfare criminals arsenic victims and embeds genocide denial successful a fascist communicative of redemption done taste violence.

According to him, fratricide is “much worse” than genocide – ie, those who termination their “brothers” indispensable beryllium deemed worse criminals than the Nazis who killed “the other”. By framing atrocities this way, Handke efficaciously minimises the work of Germans and Austrians for the Holocaust.

In this twisted narrative, the descendants of the Nazis tin assertion motivation superiority, insisting they did not perpetrate the “worst transgression of all”- Brudermord. The chilling accusation is that Jews were ne'er genuinely “brothers” to Europeans similar Handke.

Serb nationalists whitethorn spot Handke arsenic an state successful genocide denial, but helium doesn’t support them – helium uses them. Through them, achromatic Europe cleans its hands of its bloody crimes – from Auschwitz to Algeria, from Congo to Rwanda. Handke’s theological connection is an alchemy of European conscience, shifting guilt onto the Muslims, the Jews, and the “Balkan savages”.

Transplanting anti-Semitism

Handke’s logic parallels and reinforces the broader run to displacement the blasted for anti-Semitism – and adjacent the Holocaust – onto Arabs and Muslims. In Germany, this inclination has been afloat embraced by the authorities and assorted nationalist institutions, which – against each grounds – person begun to assertion that the migrant Muslim assemblage successful the state is liable for rising anti-Semitic sentiment.

In 2024, the German parliament, the Bundestag, passed a solution stating that “the alarming grade of anti-Semitism” is “driven by migration from North African and Middle Eastern countries”.

German media continues to fabricate a “Muslim Nazi past”, with 1 nonfiction claiming: “Unlike Germany, the Middle East has ne'er travel to presumption with its Nazi past.” Meanwhile, state-funded NGOs person branded the Palestinian keffiyeh a Nazi awesome and echoed the discredited Israeli assertion that the expansive mufti of Palestine “inspired” the Final Solution.

Germany’s governmental constitution is present constructing a revisionist motivation alibi: 1 successful which Nazis are reimagined arsenic reluctant, remorseful perpetrators, portion Palestinians and their Muslim and Arab allies are vilified arsenic much evil than the Nazis themselves.

For galore years, this utilized to beryllium a fringe thought adopted by far-right parties similar the Alternative for Germany (AfD). But now, the AfD’s halfway ideas, not conscionable connected Germany’s Nazi past, but besides connected migration and Islam, person been wide adopted by the governmental centre.

This displacement reflects a longstanding strategy of displacing guilt. Historian Ernst Nolte, celebrated by the blimpish Konrad Adenauer Foundation with a large grant successful 2000, argued the Holocaust was a absorption to Soviet “barbarism”, relativising Nazi crimes by equating Auschwitz with the Gulag.

Nolte argued that Hitler had “rational” reasons for targeting the Jews and rejected the “collective guilt” attributed to Germany since 1945. Today, AfD person Alice Weidel echoes this stance, dismissing Germany’s remembrance civilization arsenic a “guilt cult”.

Where Nolte blamed the Soviets, today’s governmental constitution blames Muslims. The extremity is the same: to erase German work from history.

From denial to enabling

Genocide denial is not a passive enactment of forgetting but an active, harmful process that perpetuates violence. Genocide student Gregory Stanton recognises denial arsenic the last signifier of genocide, 1 that is besides a captious motion that the adjacent 1 is coming.

For survivors and their descendants, denial deepens trauma by invalidating suffering, distorting truth, and stripping victims of dignity, representation and justice. These wounds widen beyond individuals, affecting full communities crossed generations.

Meanwhile, genocide denial shields perpetrators, delays reparations and blocks reconciliation, deepening societal divisions. It besides undermines planetary instrumentality and quality rights frameworks, signalling that adjacent crimes against humanity tin beryllium ignored.

Genocide denial, thus, straight prepares the crushed for the adjacent genocide to instrumentality spot and beryllium accepted. We spot this intelligibly successful however Europeans are reacting to the genocide successful Gaza, denying that it is happening astatine all, contempt repeated pronouncements by United Nations experts and genocide scholars, and continuing to supply Israel with weapons and diplomatic cover.

The playbook developed successful Bosnia is present applied to Gaza. It follows a acquainted pattern: blasted “both sides”, represent victims arsenic aggressors, and delegate work to a fewer individuals – frankincense hiding systematic violence. This blueprint is possibly astir intelligibly echoed successful the assertion that it is lone Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his 2 far-right ministers who are liable for the “violence” happening successful Gaza, frankincense separating argumentation from operation and evading deeper accountability.

In the communicative denying the Bosnian genocide, work is besides reduced to a fewer “bad apples” wrong the Serb authorities apparatus – arsenic if genocide were a spontaneous aberration alternatively than a meticulously planned, state-executed transgression requiring wide coordination and intent.

Preparing for a aboriginal genocide successful Europe

Europe contiguous faces a profound situation arsenic far-right nationalism surges and a vanishing mediate people struggles amid increasing societal and economical precarity. In galore Western countries, the mediate people is shrinking portion what the close calls “surplus population” – disproportionately composed of Muslims – is progressively marginalised and scapegoated.

In a clip similar this, recasting a past genocide against an othered colonisation arsenic a misunderstanding contributes to creating the situation for the adjacent genocide to come. And determination are already wide indications that segments of the governmental people are pushing for removing this “surplus population” nether assorted guises.

The Nazi euphemism “Umsiedlung nach Osten” (resettlement to the East) was a grotesque excuse to deport Jews to state chambers. Today, European actors similar Austrian far-right activistic Martin Sellner openly advocator for “remigration”, a sinister echo of this deadly logic aimed astatine uprooting Muslim communities.

European governmental elites whitethorn not person embraced this word yet, but they are engaged putting into signifier assorted policies that person the aforesaid eventual extremity – bounds oregon alteration the Muslim beingness successful Europe. They person been gathering a ineligible authorities for exclusion done the 2024 EU Migration Pact, plans to offshore asylum seekers to Albania oregon different countries, and a large injection of currency into Frontex, the EU’s borderline bureau accused of – among different things – amerciable pushbacks.

These are not neutral measures but ideological tools of racialised removal, cloaked successful wide rhetoric. And they volition lone get much convulsive with time.

This is not alarmism. It’s a pattern. The erosion of rights ever begins with those deemed to beryllium “the other”.

If genocide denial is not urgently addressed, if the Gaza genocide is not recognised and contiguous enactment taken to halt it, Europe risks coming afloat circle. With genocide denial expanding and the impulse to renounce work for the Holocaust growing, the crushed is being prepared for these horrific atrocities to repeat.

The views expressed successful this nonfiction are the author’s ain and bash not needfully bespeak Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.