Michael Anthony Hoffman II, (born 1954,
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
), is an American theoretician and an Auschwitz execution gas chamber doubter: for example Overcoming Holocaust Newspeak and The Great Holocaust Trial by Hoffman.
Hoffman is the managing editor of the newsletter
Revisionist History, and describes himself as a "
hereticalHeresy is proposing some unorthodox change to an established system of belief, especially a religion, that conflicts with the previously established opinion of scholars of that belief such as canon. It is sometimes confused with apostasy which is disaffiliation from orthodoxy and blasphemy which is...
writer." He has produced many books and articles. Of German descent, in his book Judaism Discovered he claims ties to the 16th-century
AnabaptistAnabaptists are Christians of the Radical Reformation. This article describes the Anabaptists of 16th-century Europe and their direct descendants, particularly the Amish, Hutterites, and Mennonites.Anabaptists rejected conventional Christian practices such as wearing wedding rings, taking oaths, and...
leader
Melchior HoffmanMelchior Hoffman or Hofmann was an Anabaptist prophet and a visionary leader in northern Germany and the Netherlands.-Life:Hoffman was born at Schwäbisch Hall in Franconia before 1500...
.
Education and employment
Hoffman was educated at the
State University of New York at OswegoThe State University of New York at Oswego, also known as SUNY Oswego and Oswego State, was founded in 1861 as Oswego Normal School by Edward Austin Sheldon and became the New York State Teachers College at Oswego in 1948 with the creation of the State University system. In 1962 Oswego broadened...
. He is a former reporter for the New York bureau of the
Associated PressThe Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
and is the author of several books and articles (including for the UK-based magazine
Fortean TimesFortean Times – "The World of Strange Phenomena" – is a British monthly magazine devoted to the anomalous phenomena popularised by Charles Fort. Previously published by John Brown Publishing and then I Feel Good Publishing , it is now published by Dennis Publishing Ltd. As of February 2009, its...
). Hoffman moved from New York to
IdahoIdaho is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States of America. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans." Idaho was admitted to the Union on 3 July 1890 as the 43rd state....
in 1996. Hoffman now writes mainly on
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
revisionismWithin historiography, that is part of the academic field of history, historical revisionism is the reinterpretation of orthodox views on evidence, motivations, and decision-making processes surrounding a historical event...
, current affairs, the occult roots of
FreemasonryFreemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around 5 million, including just under two million in the United States and around 480,000 in...
and Talmudic
JudaismJudaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts...
.
Views on cryptocracy
Hoffman's self-described vocation is "researching the
occultThe word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
cryptocracy's orchestration of American history." He believes that this
cryptocracyCryptocracy, from the ancient Greek κρυπτός and κραττείν , refers to a type of government where the real leaders are hidden, or merely unknown. A puppet government or figurehead, whether aware or not of their status as such, usually figures into this type of government in concept...
runs American history, controlling culture and thought via ritualistic
psychodramaPsychodrama is a form of human development which explores, through dramatic action, the problems, issues, concerns, dreams and highest aspirations of people, groups, systems and organizations.Psychodrama is a form of human development which explores, through dramatic action, the problems, issues,...
s and killing sprees. A detailed explanation of this hypothesis is found in Hoffman's Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare. Examples of such "psychodramas," in Hoffman's view, include
Route 66U.S. Route 66 was a highway in the U.S. Highway System. One of the original U.S. highways, Route 66, US Highway 66, was established on November 11, 1926. However, road signs did not go up until the following year...
(which connects various centers of
SatanicSatanism comprises a number of related beliefs and social phenomena. They share the feature of symbolism, veneration or admiration of Satan . Satan first appeared in the Hebrew Bible and was an Angel who challenged the religious faith of humans. In the Book of Job he is called "the Satan" and...
importance), and the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, in which Hoffman sees ritualistic elements..
Hoffman also argues that the gnosis of this ruling cabal are slowly being revealed through movies such as
They LiveThey Live is a 1988 film directed by John Carpenter, who also wrote the screenplay under the pseudonym "Frank Armitage." The movie is based on Ray Nelson's 1963 short story "Eight O’Clock in the Morning."...
and
The MatrixThe Matrix is a science fiction-action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski and starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving...
and other forms of symbolic and subliminal communication which Hoffman terms
twilight languageTwilight language is a rendering of the Sanskrit terms and — or of their modern Indic equivalents — and may refer to:...
.
Views on Jews and Judaism
In his books Judaism's Strange Gods (2000) and Judaism Discovered: A Study of the Anti-Biblical Religion of Racism, Self-Worship, Superstition and Deceit (2008), Hoffman argues that modern-day Jewish Orthodoxy has little to no relation to the
Old TestamentIn Christianity, the Old Testament is the collection of books that form the first of the two-part Christian Biblical canon. These works correspond to the Hebrew Bible , with some variations and additions. In the Eastern Orthodox Church the comparable texts are known as the Septuagint, from the...
, but is instead based on the
oral traditionOral tradition, oral culture and oral lore are messages or testimony transmitted orally from one generation to another. The messages or testimony are verbally transmitted in speech or song and may take the form, for example, of folktales, sayings, ballads, songs, or chants...
as represented by the
MishnahThe Mishnah or Mishna is the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions called the "Oral Torah" and the first major work of Rabbinic Judaism. It was redacted c...
, the
GemaraThe Gemara is the part of the Talmud that contains rabbinical commentaries and analysis of the Mishnah. After the Mishnah was published by Rabbi Judah the Prince The Gemara (also transliterated Gemora or, less commonly, Gemorra) (from Aramaic גמרא gamar; literally, "[to] study" or "learning by...
and derivative rabbinic halacha. Hoffman cites the Karaites, a Jewish sect who reject the
Talmud, as "a group which, historically, has been most hated and severely persecuted by orthodox Jewish rabbinate." According to the back cover of Judaism Discovered, Hoffman contends that Orthodox Judaism has more in common with Babylonian paganism than Israelite Biblicism.
Hoffman also contends that the
British EmpireThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom, that had originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height it was...
might have achieved its power via a pact
John DeeJohn Dee was a noted mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occultist, navigator, imperialist, and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I. He devoted much of his life to the study of alchemy, divination, and Hermetic philosophy....
made with
KabbalisticKabbala may refer to;*Kabbala Village, in the Karnataka State of India*Kabbalah, is a religious philosophical system claiming an insight into divine nature....
JudaismJudaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts...
. He has characterized Jews as "Khazars" and "Edomite parasites" and Ashkenazi (Central and Eastern European Jews) as "Ash-ken-nazi".
Views on the Holocaust
Hoffman doubts that execution
gas chamberA gas chamber is an apparatus for killing, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. The most commonly used poisonous agent is hydrogen cyanide; carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide have also been used. Gas chambers were used as a method of execution for...
s existed in the Nazi camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, and claims that the term "Holocaust" is
OrwellianThe adjective Orwellian describes the situation, idea, or societal condition that George Orwell identified as being destructive to the welfare of a free society...
NewspeakNewspeak is a fictional language in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. In the novel, it is described as being "the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year". Orwell included an essay about it in the form of an appendix in which the basic principles of the...
imposed beginning circa 1978 in order to confuse and distract from debates about the numbers of Jewish deaths that can be attributed to Nazism. Hoffman doubts that six million Jews were killed by the Nazis and asserts that most of the Jewish deaths in WWII were from
typhusEpidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
,
malnutritionMalnutrition is the insufficient, excessive or imbalanced consumption of nutrients.A number of different nutrition disorders may arise, depending on which nutrients are under or overabundant in the diet....
and shootings perpetrated by some units of the SS on the Eastern front.
Hoffman believes that Hitler did indeed have as a goal, at least philosophically, the extermination (
Ausrottung) of the Jewish people, but Hoffman also argues that the primary means of extermination—the execution gas chambers of Auschwitz—have not been scientifically proved to have existed or been operable, and that "eyewitness" testimony failed under cross-examination at the 1985 "Great Holocaust Trial" of
Ernst ZündelErnst Christof Friedrich Zündel is a German neo-Nazi, Holocaust denier and pamphleteer who was jailed several times in Canada for publishing literature which "is likely to incite hatred against an identifiable group" and for being a threat to national security, in the United States for overstaying...
in
TorontoToronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With over 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth most populous municipality in North America...
.
Hoffman has been influenced by the research of
Charles D. ProvanCharles D. Provan was a revisionist scholar and Christian theologian based in Monongahela, Pennsylvania. He attended Bob Jones University for a few years and then transferred to the University of Pittsburgh to study history. Provan was a manager of Zimmer Printing of Monongahela, Pennsylvania...
,
Carlo MattognoCarlo Mattogno is an Italian Holocaust denier.He carried out advanced linguistic studies in Latin and Greek. He is the author of numerous books and monographs, several of which have been published in the Journal of Historical Review.In 1985 Mattogno published the booklet The Gerstein Report –...
,
Germar RudolfGermar Rudolf is a German chemist and Holocaust denier.-Background:After finishing secondary education in 1983 in Remscheid, Rudolf studied chemistry in Bonn, completing his studies in 1989. As a student, he joined A.V. Tuisconia Königsberg zu Bonn and K.D.St.V. Nordgau Prag zu Stuttgart...
and Brian Renk.
Hoffman rejects the label "Holocaust denier," and argues that the label is applied unfairly, and with an emotional rather than empirical basis, to those who research controversial issues related to WWII and Judaism—according to Hoffman, applying the same partisan logic, those who doubt the Roman Catholic dogma of the
Immaculate ConceptionThe Immaculate Conception is, according to Roman Catholic Dogma, the conception of the Virgin Mary without any stain of original sin. Under this aspect Mary is sometimes called the Immaculata , particularly in artistic contexts...
would be
stigmaSocial stigma is severe social disapproval of personal characteristics or beliefs that are perceived to be against cultural norms. Stigma is often based on ignorance, irrational or unfounded fears, mass hysteria, lack of education, or a lack of information pertaining to a particular person or group...
tized by journalists and academics as "Immaculate Conception deniers."
Views of Slavery
Another of Hoffman's subjects of study is indentured servitude and
slaverySlavery is a form of forced labor in which people are considered to be the property of others. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive compensation...
in America; he claims that a widespread history of white slavery has been overlooked by most historians. In his book
They Were White and They Were Slaves, Hoffman describes a social structure situating poor whites as holding the lowest post in colonial and post-colonial America, citing a quote from
Eugene D. GenoveseEugene Dominic Genovese is an American historian of the American South and American slavery. He has been noted for bringing a Marxist perspective to the study of power, class and relations between planters and slaves in the South...
in "Toward a New View of America" (pp. 79, 81-82, 84, 90-91), in which a former black slave in South Carolina, Ella Kelly, refers to the poor whites as the bottom rung, black slaves occupying the middle, and the white planters as the ruling stratum. {cf. Hoffman, pp. 43-44}
Hoffman has summarized his thesis as follows: "The de facto enslavement of whites began with the
enclosureEnclosure or inclosure is the process which was used to end some traditional rights, such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on land which is owned by another person, or a group of people. In England and Wales the term is also used for the process that ended the ancient system of...
acts (privatization of formerly public grazing lands known as commons), which made paupers of much of the English
yeomanYeoman refers to a farmer who cultivates his own land, historically a lesser freeholder of England, below the gentry but with political rights. More generally, yeoman can be an indicator of a position or social class, varying over time and place, or a diligent, dependable worker. A yeoman could...
ry and created an army of homeless and unemployed citizens demonized by official history as England's fabled 'criminal underclass' (the criminal overclass escapes this withering scrutiny). The history of white slavery in Britain is found in the practice of 'kid-nabbing' (
kidnappingIn criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or asportation of a person against the person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
) and the laws and customs that permitted enslavement aboard ship of abducted farmers and laborers taken from such notorious "crimping" ports as
GlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
. Malthusian scarcity paradigms were later invented out of fear of the insurrectionist potential of whites dubbed 'surplus poor,' who, in the seventeenth century, were shipped to British America and the West Indies as slaves, to toil unto death (not seven years) on sugar and tobacco plantations as soon as colonies were established (
GeorgiaThe Province of Georgia was one of the Southern colonies in British America. It was the last of the thirteen original colonies established by Great Britain in what later became the United States...
was envisioned as a white slave dumping ground and
VirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" because it is the birthplace of eight U.S. presidents. The geography and climate of the state are shaped by the Blue...
initially had more white slaves than black ones)." ("Movie 'Amazing Grace' Makes a Hero out of an Oppressor of White Slaves").
Hoffman's book "They Were White and They Were Slaves" was cited heavily in Jim Goad's "Redneck Manifesto" as part of a larger discussion of race and the white underclass in America.
Criticism
Political scientistPolitical science is a social science concerned with the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of political systems and political behavior. It is often described as the pragmatic application of the art and science of politics defined as "who gets what, when and how",...
Michael BarkunMichael Barkun, a professor of political science at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University, is a frequent commentator on a range of issues relating to domestic terrorism, political extremism, right-wing extremist groups, and the relationship between religion and violence...
has characterized Hoffman as a "Holocaust denier and proponent of multiple conspiracy theories", while
Mattias GardellHans Bertil Mattias Gardell is a Swedish scholar of comparative religion. He is the current holder of the Nathan Söderblom Chair of Comparative Religion at Uppsala University, Sweden....
contends that Hoffman is "one of the
countercultureCounterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition...
's more original conspiracy researchers".
Robert Jan van PeltRobert Jan van Pelt is an author, architectural historian, professor at the University of Waterloo in Ontario and a Holocaust scholar. One of the world's leading experts on Auschwitz, he regularly speaks on Holocaust related topics, through which he has come to address Holocaust denial...
calls Hoffman a Holocaust "negationist."
External links