Abstract

The essay examines the phenomenon of Holocaust denial from the point of view of constitutional law. After having distinguished Holocaust denial from other similar phenomena (such as hate speech or historical revisionism), the essay reviews the normative solutions adopted in the various European legal systems, highlighting the difficulty to provide universally valid solutions. With regard to the Italian system, discarding the option to introduce a specific crime of Holocaust denial, the paper proposes to practice a distinction between freedom of expression, freedom of historical research and freedom of teaching, thus suggesting to break down the triad of history, memory and truth.