Thread by @OpenLinkArtData

A Thread About Disappearing History on Wikipedia

1. Once upon a time, Wikipedia had a page about a company named Degussa.
Degussa had an ugly past, related to the extermination of the Jews in Europe.
(Today, that page exists only in the internet archive.)
web.archive.org/web/2006102408…

Degussa's Degesch created Zyklon B.
"In 1930, Degussa ceded 42.5 percent ownership of Degesch to IG Farben and 15 percent to Th. Goldschmidt AG, in exchange for the right to market pesticide products of those two companies through Degesch. Degussa retained managerial control."

Holocaust scholars have published lots of studies about Degussa

And there's plenty of press about Degussa AG (a few NYT examples)

However on July 11 2008 a Wikipedia User named BEAGEL was able to eliminate the Degussa AG page from the English language Wikipedia by creating a REDIRECT to the page of a company called EVONIK INDUSTRIES
en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti…

After that, it was just a matter of time before the links to Degussa AG's past #Holocaust were dismissed by a #Wikipedia Editor (Diannaa):
🚩"Evonik Industries was not founded unitl 2007, so Holocaust activities of Degussa AG are not relevant "🚩
en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti…
#erasure

If there were only one case like this, ok, shrug, big deal. But there are MANY cases of German companies with deep involvement in the mass murder and robbery of Jews in the Holocaust having Wikipedia pages redirected and "cleansed"
How to track? How to stop?
#Wikipedia #Wikimedia

How to erase Holocaust history:
from Degussa AG, to Evonik example (see above thread)
en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti…

@threadreaderapp
unroll