Valérie Igounet

Valérie Igounet is a French historian and political scientist. She studies the phenomenon of Holocaust denial, and extreme right-wing politics in France. Her research on the history of Holocaust denial and Holocaust revisionism in France traces them to both extreme right-wing and extreme left-wing sources. She was the author of the 2000 book Histoire du négationnisme en France (History of Holocaust Denial in France), as well as a biography of the prominent French Holocaust denier Robert Faurisson.

Valérie Igounet
NationalityFrench
Alma mater
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions
  • Modern History Institute, FNCSR
Doctoral advisorPierre Milza

Education and workplaces

Igounet was born in 1970, and in 1998 she obtained a PhD in history from the Institut d'études politiques in Paris, under the supervision of Pierre Milza.[1] Beginning in the late 1990s, she wrote pieces for Le Monde diplomatique.[2] She then became affiliated with the Modern History Institute (fr) of the French National Centre for Scientific Research.[3]

Beginning in 2017, she worked together with Rudy Reichstadt on the site Conspiracy Watch (fr).[4] Since 2019, she has been a member of the French scientific council to the Inter-Ministerial Delegation to Combat Racism, Anti-Semitism, and Anti-LGBT Hate (fr).[5]

Work

History of Holocaust denial in France

Igounet's work Histoire du négationnisme en France was drawn from her work for her doctoral dissertation. Using archival materials as well as interviews with people involved in Holocaust denial like Maurice Bardèche, Robert Faurisson, Roger Garaudy, Pierre Guillaume, and Jean-Claude Pressac, Igounet narrates the spread of Holocaust denial in France from immediately after the end of World War II, demonstrating how it was facilitated both by the extreme right-wing press and also some sources on the French far left. According to the sociologist Gisèle Sapiro, Igounet centers the roles of anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, and anti-communism in the history of French Holocaust denial (notably the role of the early National Front leader François Duprat), which existed not just on the extreme right but also in the extreme left during the 1970s, on which side Pierre Guillame played a key role.[6] Olivier Lalieu, a historian at the Mémorial de la Shoah Holocaust museum in Paris, wrote that the chapters related to the activities of Robert Faurisson are the most innovative, both in their descriptions of his relationship with Pierre Guillaume and the role of the extreme left.[7] Shortly after the book's release, Robert Redeker predicted that it would become the main reference work in the subject of the history of Holocaust denial in France.[8]

She subsequently extended her work on far-right politics in France to study the history of the National Front, in the book Le Front National de 1972 à nos jours: le parti, les hommes, les idées (The National Front from 1972 to the present: The party, the men, the ideas).[9]

Robert Faurisson

In 2012, Igounet continued her work on Holocaust denial with the book Robert Faurisson: portrait d'un négationniste (Robert Faurisson: Portrait of a Holocaust denier). In this book she relied more heavily on oral testimony due to a lack of open archives.[10] According to the historian Grégoire Kauffmann (fr), the book chooses to focus on Faurisson's tendency to repeat falsehoods, particularly about himself.[11] To the historian Stéphanie Courouble-Share, this biography captured deceptions by Faurisson sufficiently well to dispel the ambiguity that had previously characterised the public understanding of him.[12][13] Robert Faurisson disapproved of the work, but declined to file any civic action against Igounet.[14]

Media

In addition to her work with Conspiracy Watch, Igounet has extensively published work related to her historical expertise in popular media. In 2018, she co-authored an editorial in Le Monde calling on Israel to recognize the Armenian Genocide.[15] She has also published on historical topics in outlets like Harper's Magazine,[16] and her work has been cited in venues like The New York Times[17] and The Times of Israel.[18]

Selected works
  • Histoire du négationnisme en France (2000) ISBN 2-02-035492-6, 978-2020354929.
  • Robert Faurisson : portrait d'un négationniste (2012) ISBN 2207259986, 9782207259986.
  • Le Front national de 1972 à nos jours : le parti, les hommes, les idées (2014)) ISBN 9782021078268.
  • Les Faussaires de l'histoire, a film with Michaël Prazan, 2014, Imdb title id 4144712.

References
  1. "L'histoire d'une négation : négationnisme et "révisionnisme" en France de l'après-guerre à nos jours" (in French). Theses France. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  2. Igounet, Valérie (May 1998). "Un négationnisme stratégique". Le Monde diplomatique (in French). Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  3. "IHTP résumé" (in French). Institut d'histoire du temps présent, French National Centre for Scientific Research. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  4. Blumenfeld, Samuel (11 March 2017). "Conspiracy Watch: les théories du complot ne passeront pas par lui". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  5. "Installation du nouveau Conseil scientifique de la DILCRAH" (in French). Government of France. 15 January 2019. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  6. Sapiro, Gisèle (2004). "Le négationnisme en France". Revue de synthèse (in French). 125: 217–228.
  7. Lalieu, Olivier (2001). "Librairie". Vingtième Siècle. Revue d'histoire (in French). 1 (69): 200–230.
  8. Redeker, Robert (1 November 2000). "Valérie Igounet, historienne des « assassins de la mémoire »". Le Banquet (in French). Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  9. Igounet, Valérie (2014). Le Front national de 1972 à nos jours : le parti, les hommes, les idées (in French). Paris. ISBN 9782021078268.
  10. Igounet, Valérie (2012). Éditions Denoël (ed.). Robert Faurisson. Portrait d'un négationniste (in French). Paris. p. 464. ISBN 978-2207259986.
  11. Kauffmann, Grégoire (4 March 2012). "Robert Faurisson, portrait d'un menteur". L'Express.
  12. Courouble-Share, Stéphanie (26 February 2013). "Négationnistes : quand tombent les masques (1/2)" (in French). Conspiracy Watch. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  13. Courouble-Share, Stéphanie (5 March 2013). "Négationnistes : quand tombent les masques (2/2)" (in French). Conspiracy Watch. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  14. Roumestand, Alain (1 May 2015). "Valérie Igounet, l'extrême droite en ligne de mire". The Dissident (in French). Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  15. "Nous demandons à l'Etat d'Israël de reconnaître le génocide des Arméniens". Le Monde. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 10 February 2020..
  16. Igounet, Valérie; Jarousseau, Vincent (May 2016). "In Hayange". Harpers Magazine. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  17. Nossiter, Adam (22 October 2018). "Robert Faurisson, Holocaust Denier Prosecuted by French, Dies at 89". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  18. "Plongée dans les origines du négationnisme en France". The Times of Israel (in French). 28 January 2020. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
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