Kenneth McVay
Kenneth "Ken" McVay (born c. 1940), a Canadian-American dual citizen, is an Internet activist against Holocaust denial. He is the founder of the Nizkor Project,[1] one of the first websites against Holocaust denial.
Kenneth McVay | |
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Born | c. 1940 (age 82–83) |
Occupation | Activist |
An active participant on the newsgroup alt.revisionism, McVay describes himself as a person who found himself moved to action by the efforts of Holocaust deniers on the newsgroup to promote "evidence" that he found to be poorly presented and claims that were vague at best. He also opposed the idea of censoring and suppressing the deniers, as authorities and experts on hate groups often did.
A former active-duty United States Marine and retired service station manager, McVay found that he had an ample amount of spare time to dedicate to researching and transcribing historical documents, so that they could be made available online to counter the arguments of the deniers. In various interviews, he has stated his belief that of the many reasons for the deniers to oppose him and despise him, one of the most frustrating to them is the fact that their arguments have been so thoroughly debunked by a man who is not Jewish and has never professed to be a world-class scholar.[2]
McVay's efforts in combatting Holocaust denial with speech and documentation instead of censorship won him praise among many activists, and in 1995 he was awarded the Order of British Columbia by the Province of British Columbia.[3]
References
- "Community Directory - The Nizkor Project". Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
- McVay, Kenneth. "1995 Recipient: Kenneth McVay – Nanaimo". British Columbia Honors and Awards Secretariat. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
- McVay, Kenneth. "Order of British Columbia 1995 Recipients". British Columbia Honours and Awards Secretariat. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
External links
- The Nizkor Project (managed by B'nai B'rith Canada)
- Order of British Columbia 1995 Recipients
- An Interview With Ken McVay