In a message dated 4/13/01 1:45:17 PM Pacific Daylight Time, you wrote:

<< mod.- Tamas Stark's number of victims were initially reported to be
400,000. Apparently, after further investigation he has added an
additional 50,000 victims, and POSSIBLY (emphasis is mine) a further
100,000 victims. Professor Braham estimates that 550,000 Jews were
murdered in the Hungarian holocaust. More than anything, my concern is
the "statistical" approach taken by Dr. Stark: in order to include a
victim in the final total one must prove that fact; therefore, without
measurable scientific proof, the victim may not be included in the
total "tally". This is different than taking the numbers postulated by the
Jewish community and verifying their number. Allow me to make my point by
the use of analogy: if there 100 rapes reported in a given community for a
particular time span, does that mean that the number is accurate. I think
most fair-minded observers would agree that the 100 number is minimum
since there would be rape victims that might not report the
incident (for a variety of valid reasons); the method used by Stark would
require that the 100 number is subject to validation and that it is
necessary to prove each case. I realize that the analogy has its faults,
but the attitude, and hence the methodology of the researcher demonstrates
a bias that one should reflect upon. A final point: I understand that some
may be offended by discussing the holocaust in terms of numbers, but, if
not today, perhaps twenty years hence, there will be those who will
challenge the scope and severity of the Holocaust, and they will use such
numbers as evidence that the Holocaust and all that happened then was
exaggerated.LS >>

Dear Louis,

If I may say so: once again, you articulated the point(s) compellingly!
Looking beyond a dubious method of "calculation", it is clear that your
insight extends not only into cause-and-effect relationships, but also into
FUTURE cause-and-effect relationships. Needless to say, I fully agree with
you. Of course, well beyond the particulars of Holocaust, my disdain for ANY
historical revisionism is deep and-----emotional.... I don't even specially
care about the source; to me, the rantings and ravings of those on the
lunatic right are just as bad as the "politically correct" rearranging of
facts on the left...As for the "discoveries" and subsequent bombastic
pronouncements of those in the academic world, I think that, by now, you know
my opinion of this kind of grandstanding...Finally, allow me to salute you
particularly for the obvious "subtext" of your comments: there is a very,
very thin line, indeed, between Holocaust minimizers and Holocaust deniers
(one could even say that the lines of demarcation are kind of blurred....).

Peter A. Gergay
San Francisco, CA