Holocaust denial in South Africa, emerging in the 1970s, must be considered in the context of apartheid, the racist anti-black policy pursued by the National Party in power between 1948 and 1994. The National Party's official policy was that the Holocaust was a falsification. But it did become a benchmark for analysis when appraising apartheid, as did the Nazi regime. As Jews represented only 1.3% of South Africa's population and were moreover white, they did not fall under the proscriptions of apartheid.