'Despite years of controversy, Mr. Hilberg remains steadfast in his views on Jewish resistance. He still maintains that the Jews reacted to the Nazi assault with an ''almost complete lack of resistance.'' Instead of violence, they persisted in the long-ingrained defense pattern of the Diaspora Jews, a combination of appeals and compliance with the oppressors' demands. ''They avoided 'provocations' and complied instantly with decrees and orders,'' he says. ''In exile the Jews had always been a minority, always in danger, but they had learned that they could avert or survive destruction by placating and appeasing their enemies. . . . Armed resistance in the face of overwhelming force could end only in disaster.'' Over the centuries, despite many casualties, the Jewish community had always survived the terrible assaults by refraining from resistance. In the 1940's, when the Jewish leadership finally perceived that the Nazi threat was of a different nature, the ''2,000-year-old lesson could not be unlearned; the Jews could not make the switch. They were helpless . . . caught in the straitjacket of their history."'

'I have come to the conclusion, not once but several times, that, as far as I am concerned, I do not agree with legislation [in some European countries] that makes it illegal to utter pronouncements claiming that there was no Holocaust. I do not want to muzzle any of this because it is a sign of weakness not of strength when you try to shut somebody up. Yes, there is always a risk. Nothing in life is without risk, but you have to make rational decisions about everything.'