H olocaust Abuse: The Case of H ajj M uhammad A min al‐ H usayni

This essay reconsiders the category of “ H olocaust denial” as the marked indicator of ethical transgression in H olocaust historiography within A merican civil religion. It maintains that the present category excludes and thereby enables other violations of responsible Holocaust historiography. To demonstrate the nature and gravity of such violations, the essay engages the widespread claim that H ajj M uhammad A min al‐ H usayni, the former mufti of J erusalem, was an instigator, promoter, or “driving spirit” of the N azi genocide against J ews, and the associated suggestions of wider A rab and M uslim complicity. The essay uncovers the history of the H usayni narrative in question, the dramatic circumstances in which it emerged, its role in the 1961 trial of A dolf E ichmann, and its rediscovery and misuse within A merican popular and political circles over the past two decades. Such misuse, it concludes, corrodes H olocaust recognition within A merican civil religion and demonstrates the need for a revision of the socially accepted ethical boundary for responsible H olocaust historiography.