Ausrottung

Ausrottung (also spelled ausrotten) is a German word meaning "to kill" which has been the subject of heated controversy between mainstream upholders of orthodox historiography regarding World War II Nazi policy towards Jews, and revisionists who claim the word does not always or necessarily denote or connote mass murder.

The debate turns on the employment of the term by Adolf Hitler.

According to a leading authority, Charles D. Provan, "It is simply not true that the word "ausrotten" (ausrottung) does not mean to kill. In fact, it denotes "to kill" from the earliest reference I have been able to find where Adolf Hitler used the word, in a quote (approved by Hitler circa 1923) in reference to the occult philosopher Giordano Bruno executed by the Catholic Church during the Renaissance. Hitler states (this is a paraphrase), "The Jews are such a rotten and filthy group of people that the only true solution to them is to ausrotten them while they are still in their mother's womb." There are many other examples of ausrotten (ausrottung) being used to mean "kill" in German, Christian and even Jewish (Talmudic) literature.

Ausrottung