 Dr. Waitman W. Beorn (waitmanwbeorn.com on 🟦) Profile picture
Holocaust & Genocide Studies/ History prof/ @usarmy vet/single dad/ Grad @westpoint_usma and @UNC. he/him writes @PostOpinions, FRHistS Host of @holocaustpod
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Aug 4 16 tweets 5 min read
Don't do this.

Historians don't debate #Holocaust deniers.

Here's why!

🧵 𝟭) 𝗗𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗲, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗵𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆.

Holocaust denial is a belief system, not an historical position. It is based on faith, not evidence. You will never convince someone not to be a denier because denial is not a rational historical position. Image
Jun 21 7 tweets 2 min read
This is infuriating on multiple levels.

A journalist discovers history...that is widely-known.

Apparently only went to "digital archives"
And she used...AI to search through the documents? 🙄 JFC

She doesn't mention ANY of a large number of historians that have done this work. "We couldn't find the maps of plantations" = "it was hard to find them so we stopped looking."

Because I bet there ARE maps of all these plantations, but they weren't available in her Google search results.
May 18 20 tweets 7 min read
Great work, @VisitNotts!

You failed the Don't Invite The Nazis Challenge 2024.

facebook.com/groups/5172067…


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JFC...what is the deal with that chair? Image
May 4 7 tweets 3 min read
🧵So, apparently some Israeli soldiers beat up a child to "save his life."

Well, let me tell you an almost identical story with an importantly different ending from when I was in Iraq and a kid threw rocks at us.
Image Here's the video being referred to.

May 3 5 tweets 2 min read
Look at this nonsense.

DudeBros raised over $500,000 for some mouth-breather fraternity to have a party because they..."defended" the flag.

I'm sure this will work out well.

Oh, and there's this:

wral.com/story/drink-ta…

Image reddit.com/r/UNC/comments…
May 3 5 tweets 2 min read
Oh, good. Glad the Frat Boys have gotten into the Israel-Palestine debate. They will definitely bring a thoughtful perspective.

The Frat Boys: <making monkey noises at a Black lady>
Image I hope the internet does its thing with this guy.
Apr 21 8 tweets 2 min read
🧵 On German memory and forgetting about the Third Reich

Was watching a #Holocaust documentary and it includes this interview with a former Hitler Youth/Luftwaffe member.

Listen to what he says about what he knew about the concentration camps. "The entire operation was concealed so the majority of people didn't know about it."

No...my goodness, no.
Apr 20 4 tweets 1 min read
Anyone arguing for an auto-loader is not a serious person.

You heard it here. Ok, so I should probably add something besides snark.

Why are human loaders better?

1) They are usually faster.
2) They are ALWAYS more reliable.
3) They can help with maintenance/refueling/rearming/etc
4) They are an extra set of eyes scanning for threats
Apr 16 48 tweets 18 min read
🧵 On Those Classic Cultural Twitter Accounts

Someone on here questioned why I would say that accounts like the one below are dog whistles for white supremacy.

Well, ok. Let's do this. Image This account has over a million followers and posts seemingly innocuous images of admittedly BEAUTIFUL buildings.

Of course, 99% of them are...er...the creations of white Europeans located in Europe.
Apr 11 17 tweets 4 min read
🧵 On Nazi "efficiency"

It's a good point!

I can speak mainly from the perspective of the Holocaust but I can give a few examples here: There are several version of this (in the Holocaust context) one applied to the killing process and the other to Jewish policy in general.

I'll start with the latter first. There is a popular misconception of the Nazi bureaucracy as this ruthlessly efficient system but... no.
Nov 12, 2023 42 tweets 11 min read
🧵 Ok...let's talk about Hamas and Nazis and reluctance to kill, etc. etc.

Of late, certain people on here have made some very weird (and very bad) arguments about the Nazis in light of the war in Israel. Here's a sampling:

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Oct 13, 2023 7 tweets 2 min read
🧵Lots of people talking (mostly incorrectly) about proportionality in terms of an Israeli response, so here's some thoughts from a military/LOAC (law of war) perspective.

✅Acceptable responses:
- Kill/capture Hamas fighters/leadership
- Capture/destroy Hamas weapons/ammo

/1
- Operations to free hostages
- Destroy infrastructure SPECIFICALLY USED by Hamas
- Targeted killing of Hamas leadership
- Blockade of Gaza to prevent weapons/military equipment entering (after inspection, allowing other essential supplies in)

/2
Jul 20, 2023 20 tweets 4 min read
🧵It's July 20 and some people are out here stanning Rommel so let's talk about him and...

...Einsatzkommando Egypt.

TL;DR- he's not a good guy, folks. Image First, let's not forget that Rommel was the commander of Hitler's personal security detachment and Hitler rewarded him for this with command of a panzer division.
Jul 9, 2023 25 tweets 9 min read
🧵Let's have a conversation about museums and what they are and how they work.

Because recently some people have been having some Big Feelings about them and about their favorite artifact being removed from an exhibit. 🧵

#museum
#publichistory
#twitterstorians https://t.co/ysLCwkmP0R
I come to this conversation as a former museum director, historian, public-facing scholar, and someone who has taught about museums at the university level.

I don't have all the answers, but I have been both hands-on in exhibit and museum management and familiar with the lit.

May 23, 2023 8 tweets 2 min read
🧵This guy is upset because there's no footnote in a textbook for Nazis calling themselves the "Master Race."

This guy then goes on to claim that the Nazis never called themselves a Master Race.

Well, read on...🧵 Well, no. They never used the phrase...because they spoke German.

So, they said "Herrenvolk." Like Goebbels, here in 1936.

archive.org/details/Editio… Image
May 21, 2023 5 tweets 1 min read
🧵OOPS, I did it again.

I don't think Dollfie really appreciates what I am offering.

Read through to the end. 😉 Image Image
Apr 29, 2023 14 tweets 5 min read
🧵 This Martin Rowson cartoon is deeply antisemitic and contains a BUNCH of deep antisemitic allusions which makes it even more disturbing.

He needs to answer/explain this. There is no way this accidental.

Let's look at some of these: Image Antisemitic appearance stereotypes (both on the human figure and the figure in the box) ImageImage
Apr 17, 2023 11 tweets 2 min read
🧵Hitler wasn't "elected" chancellor of Germany because...that wasn't an electoral position.

In a parliamentary democracy, you vote for the party which then selects the leadership.

But that is not the same as saying that people didn't vote for Hitler. It was the strength of turnout for the Nazi party that enabled it to exercise the influence to get Hitler in that position where the powers that be felt they had to include him.
Apr 15, 2023 7 tweets 2 min read
Might have been more interesting had you stopped to ask them why they had chosen to behave in this way.

But that might have approached journalism.*

*This is not an endorsement of the behavior per se, but perhaps a reluctance to judge for clout. And, yes, I recently posted on Twitter that I didn't think a couple should take a selfie in Auschwitz I literally in front of a photo of Jews on their way to the gas chambers BUT...

I think that's different and I didn't post their photo on Twitter for clout.
Apr 15, 2023 4 tweets 1 min read
OH DAMN. He did the damn thing. lol Context: Image
Apr 15, 2023 5 tweets 2 min read
Roughly 20 years ago today, my scout platoon of Bradleys crashed through the fence of the Taji military complex outside of Baghdad. Image One of air troops accidentally shot a rocket into a bunker complex full of bombs. So...that was fun. Image