David Irving 87585 225082430 2008-07-11T20:06:34Z Kbdankbot 6505923 Robot - move category per [[WP:CFD|CFD]] [[Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2008 July 5|2008 July 5]] {{otheruses}} {{Infobox Person | name = David Irving | image =David_irving.jpg | image_size = 200px | caption = At [[The National Archives]], 2003 | birth_name = David John Cawdell Irving | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1938|03|24}} | birth_place = Essex, England | death_date = | death_place = | death_cause = | home town = | nationality = British | residence = London, United Kingdom | occupation = World War II military history | known_for = [[Holocaust denial]] | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = John James Cawdell Irving & Beryl Irving | relatives = | signature = | website = http://www.fpp.co.uk | footnotes = }} '''David John Cawdell Irving''' (born [[March 24]], [[1938]]) is an [[England|English]] writer<ref name="DI_author">Not a historian: *"In 1969, after David Irving's support for Rolf Hochhuth, the German playwright who accused Winston Churchill of murdering the Polish wartime leader General Sikorski, The Daily Telegraph issued a memo to all its correspondents. 'It is incorrect,' it said, 'to describe David Irving as a historian. In future we should describe him as an author.'" Ingram, Richard. [http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article347567.ece. Irving was the author of his own downfall], ''[[The Independent]]'', [[25 February]] 2006. *"It may seem an absurd semantic dispute to deny the appellation of ‘historian’ to someone who has written two dozen books or more about historical subjects. But if we mean by historian someone who is concerned to discover the truth about the past, and to give as accurate a representation of it as possible, then Irving is not a historian. Those in the know, indeed, are accustomed to avoid the term altogether when referring to him and use some circumlocution such as ‘historical writer’ instead. Irving is essentially an ideologue who uses history for his own political purposes; he is not primarily concerned with discovering and interpreting what happened in the past, he is concerned merely to give a selective and tendentious account of it in order to further his own ideological ends in the present. The true historian’s primary concern, however, is with the past. That is why, in the end, Irving is not a historian." Irving vs. (1) Lipstadt and (2) Penguin Books, [http://www.holocaustdenialontrial.org/evidence/evans006.asp Expert Witness Report by [[Richard J. Evans]] FBA, Professor of Modern History, [[University of Cambridge]]], 2000, Chapter 6. *"State prosecutor Michael Klackl said: 'He's not a historian, he's a falsifier of history.'" Traynor, Ian. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/farright/story/0,,1714403,00.html Irving jailed for denying Holocaust], ''[[The Guardian]]'', [[February 21]], [[2006]]. *"...Irving has never examined and interpreted facts for the simple reason that he is not a historian. He twists or suppresses evidence to fit a foregone conclusion -- the opposite of what any reputable historian does." Taylor, Charles. [http://archive.salon.com/books/feature/2001/05/23/irving/index4.html Evil takes the stand], ''[[Salon.com]]'', [[May 24]], 2001. Retrieved [[May 30]], 2007. </ref> specializing in the [[military history]] of [[World War II]]. He is the author of 30 books, including ''The Destruction of Dresden'' (1963), ''Hitler's War'' (1977), ''Uprising!'' (1981), ''Churchill's War'' (1987), and ''Goebbels — Mastermind of the Third Reich'' (1996). Irving's reputation as a [[historian]] was widely<!--The consensus, arrived at after a great deal of discussion, is that "discredited" is an accurate and widely documented term for Irving (see the twenty-four references using the term "discredited" in footnote 1), therefore it is not an NPOV violation to describe Irving as such. Please DO NOT change this until such time as consensus on the talk page dictates otherwise. PLEASE SEE TALK PAGE about fact tag/refimprovesect tag--> discredited<ref name=discredited>Discredited: *Taylor, Matthew, ''The Guardian'', [http://www.guardian.co.uk/farright/story/0,,2179842,00.html "Discredited Irving plans comeback tour"], [[September 29]], 2007. *"One of Britain's most prominent speakers on Muslim issues is today exposed as a supporter of David Irving... Bukhari contacted the discredited historian, sentenced this year to three years in an Austrian prison for Holocaust denial, after reading his website." Doward, Jamie. [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1951773,00.html "Muslim leader sent funds to Irving"], ''The Guardian'', [[November 19]], 2006. *"David Irving, the discredited historian and Nazi apologist, was last night starting a three-year prison sentence in Vienna for denying the Holocaust and the gas chambers of Auschwitz." Traynor, Ian. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/farright/story/0,,1714403,00.html "Irving jailed for denying Holocaust"], ''The Guardian'', [[February 21]], [[2006]]. *"Conclusion on meaning 2.15 (vi): that Irving is discredited as an historian." [[s:David Irving v. Penguin Books and Deborah Lipstadt/II|David Irving v. Penguin Books and Deborah Lipstadt/II]]. *"DAVID Irving, the discredited revisionist historian and most outspoken British Holocaust denier, has added further fuel to the controversy over his early release from an Austrian jail by recanting his court statement of regret over his views." Crichton, Torcuil. "Holocaust denier reneges on regret", ''[[The Sunday Herald]]'', [[December 24]], [[2006]]. *"Discredited British author David Irving spoke in front of some 250 people at a small theatre on Szabadság tér last Monday." Hodgson, Robert. [http://www.budapesttimes.hu/?do=article&id=2273 "Holocaust denier David Irving draws a friendly crowd in Budapest"], ''The Budapest Times'', [[March 19]], 2007. *"An account of the 2000 - 2001 libel trial in the high court of the now discredited historian David Irving, which formed the backdrop for his recent conviction in Vienna for denying the Holocaust." [http://bbc.ask-adders.com/program-details/David+Irving%3A+The+London+Trial/20060226170000/ Program Details - David Irving: The London Trial 2006-02-26 17:00:00], ''[[BBC Radio 4]].'' *"Yet Irving, a discredited right-wing historian, was described by a High Court judge after a long libel trial as a racist anti-semite who denied the Holocaust." Edwards, Rob. "Anti-green activist in links with Nazi writer; Revealed: campaigner", ''The Sunday Herald'', [[May 5]], 2002. *"'The sentence against Irving confirms that he and his views are discredited, but as a general rule I don’t think that this is the way this should be dealt with,' said Antony Lerman, director of the London-based Institute for Jewish Policy Research. 'It is better to combat denial by education and using good speech to drive out bad speech.'" Gruber, Ruth Ellen. [http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/28480/edition_id/541/format/html/displaystory.html "Jail sentence for Holocaust denier spurs debate on free speech"], ''[[j.]]'', [[February 24]], 2006. *"Deborah Lipstadt is Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies and director of The Rabbi Donald A. Tam Institute for Jewish Studies at Emory University. She is the author of two books about the Holocaust. Her book ''Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory'' led to the 2000 court case in which she defeated and discredited Holocaust denier David Irving." [http://www.pbs.org/auschwitz/understanding/justice.html Understanding Auschwitz Today], Task of Justice & Danger of Holocaust Deniers, ''[[Public Broadcasting Service]]''. *"After the discredited British historian David Irving was sentenced to a three-year jail term in Austria as a penalty for denying the Holocaust, the liberal conscience of western Europe has squirmed and agonised." Glover, Gillian. [http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=1087&id=277732006 "Irving gets just what he wanted - his name in the headlines"], ''[[The Scotsman]]'', [[February 23]], 2006. *"...is a disciple of discredited historian and Holocaust denier David Irving." [[David Horowitz|Horowitz, David]]. ''The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America'', Regnery Publishing, 2006, ISBN 0895260034, p. 175. *"If the case for competence applies to those who lack specialist knowledge, it applies even further to those who have been discredited as incompetent. For example, why ought we include David Irving in a debate aiming to establish the truth about the Holocaust, after a court has found that he manipulates and misinterprets history?" Long, Graham. ''Relativism and the Foundations of Liberalism'', Imprint Academic, 2004, ISBN 1845400046, p. 80. *"Ironically, Julius is also a celebrated solicitor famous for his defence of Schuchard's colleague, Deborah Lipstadt, against the suit for of libel brought by the discredited historian David Irving brought when Lipstadt accused him of denying the Holocaust." [http://www.york.ac.uk/admin/presspr/pressreleases/tseliot.htm "T S Eliot's anti-Semitism hotly debated as scholars argue over new evidence"], [[University of York]], Communications Office, [[February 5]], 2003. *"Irving, a discredited historian, has insisted that Jews at Auschwitz were not gassed." "Irving vows to continue denial", Breaking News, ''[[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]]'', [[February 7]], 2007. *"David Irving, the discredited historian and Nazi apologist, was on Monday night starting a three-year prison sentence in Vienna for denying the Holocaust and the gas chambers of Auschwitz." [http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=264817&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/ "Historian jailed for denying Holocaust"], ''[[Mail & Guardian]]'', [[February 21]], 2006. *"Irving, a discredited historian, has insisted that Jews at Auschwitz were not gassed." [http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=13464 "Irving Vows To Continue Denial"], ''[[The Jewish Week]]'', [[December 29]], 2006. *"The two best-known present-day Holocaust deniers are the discredited historian David Irving, jailed last year in Austria for the offence, and the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who wants Israel wiped off the map." Wills, Clair. " Ben Kiely and the 'Holocaust denial'", ''[[Irish Independent]]'', [[March 10]], 2007. *"[Irving] claimed that Lipstadt's book accuses him of falsifying historical facts in order to support his theory that the Holocaust never happened. This of course discredited his reputation as a historian. .. On April 11, High Court judge Charles Gray ruled against Irving, concluding that he indeed qualified as a Holocaust denier and anti-Semite and that as such he has distorted history in order to defend his hero, Adolf Hitler." Wyden, Peter. ''The Hitler Virus: the Insidious Legacy of Adolf Hitler'', Arcade Publishing, 2001, ISBN 1559705329, p. 164. *"Now that holocaust denier David Irving has been discredited, what is the future of history?" Kustow, Michael. [http://web.archive.org/web/20070416193052/http://www.redpepper.org.uk/cularch/xirving.html "History after Irving"], ''[[Red Pepper (magazine)|Red Pepper]]'', June, 2000. *"In Britain, which does not have a Holocaust denial law, Irving had already been thoroughly discredited when he unsuccessfully sued historian Deborah Lipstadt in 1998 for describing him as a Holocaust denier." Callamard, Agnès. "Debate: can we say what we want?", ''[[Le Monde diplomatique]]'', April, 2007. *"Holocaust denier and discredited British historian David Irving, for example, asserts. .. that Auschwitz gas chambers were constructed after World War II." [http://www.psych.org/pnews/01-02-02/hate.html "Hate-Group Web Sites Target Children, Teens"], ''Psychiatric News'', [[American Psychiatric Association]], [[February 2]], 2001. *"Holocaust denier: An Austrian court hears discredited British historian David Irving's appeal against his jail sentence for denying the Nazi genocide of the Jews.", [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6183173.stm "The world this week"], ''[[BBC News]]'', [[December 20]], 2006. *"DISCREDITED British historian David Irving began serving three years in an Austrian prison yesterday for denying the Holocaust, a crime in the country where Hitler was born." Schofield, Matthew. [http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2006/02/21/1140284069021.html?from=rss "Controversial Nazi apologist backs down, but still jailed for three years"], ''[[The Age]]'', [[February 22]], 2006. </ref>after he brought an unsuccessful [[libel]] case against [[United States|American]] historian [[Deborah Lipstadt]] and [[Penguin Books]] in 1998. During the trial, an English court found that Irving was an "active Holocaust denier," as well as an [[Antisemitism|antisemite]] and [[Racism|racist]], and that he "associates with [[Far right|right-wing extremists]] who promote [[neo-Nazism]]."<ref name=Guardianruling/> The judge also ruled that Irving had "for his own [[ideological]] reasons persistently and deliberately misrepresented and manipulated historical evidence."<ref name=Guardianruling>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/irving/article/0,,181049,00.html "The ruling against David Irving"], excerpts from High Court Judge Charles Gray's ruling, ''The Guardian'', [[11 April]] [[2000]].</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/709128.stm "Hitler historian loses libel case"], BBC News, [[April 11]], [[2000]].</ref> On a visit to [[Austria]], Irving was apprehended, tried and convicted of "glorifying and identifying with the German [[Nazi Party]]", which is a crime in Austria under section 3g of the [[Verbotsgesetz]] law. He served a [[prison sentence]] from February to December 2006 on the charges. ==Early life== Irving, along with his twin brother,<ref>Guttenplan, D.D. ''The Holocaust on Trial'', p. 41.</ref> was born in Hutton, near [[Brentwood, Essex]], [[England]]. His father, John James Cawdell Irving, was a commander in the [[Royal Navy]], and his mother, Beryl, an illustrator. During the Second World War, his father was an officer aboard the light cruiser [[HMS Edinburgh (C16)|HMS ''Edinburgh'']]. On [[2 May]] [[1942]], while escorting [[Arctic convoys of World War II#1942|Convoy QP-11]] in the [[Barents Sea]], the ship was sunk by the German [[U-boat]] U-456. Irving's father survived, but severed all links with his wife and their children after the incident.<ref>Guttenplan, D.D. ''The Holocaust on Trial'', p. 40.</ref> ==Student years== After completing [[Advanced Level (UK)|A-levels]] at [[Brentwood School (Brentwood, England)|Brentwood School]], Irving briefly studied physics (though never graduated, due to financial reasons{{Fact|date=July 2007}}) at [[Imperial College London]]. He gained notoriety by writing for the student newspaper ''Phoenix'' and in 1959 served as editor of the [[University of London]] Carnival Committee's journal, ''Carnival Times''. His time as editor was controversial, though Irving deflected criticism by characterizing the ''Carnival Times'' as "[[satire|satirical]]".{{Fact|date=February 2007}} He also stated he was against the formation of what is now the [[European Union]]. He later studied for a degree in [[Political Economy]] at [[University College London]],<ref>[http://www.fpp.co.uk/Legal/PQ17Libel/Background220170.html Real History and the 1942 North Russian Convoys<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> which he dropped out of after two years. During his time at university, he seconded British [[Fascist]] Sir [[Oswald Mosley]] in a debate on [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] immigration. He was heckled.<ref>http://www.fpp.co.uk/online/08/03/images/Mosley_at_UCL.gif</ref> According to the [[Anti-Defamation League]], Irving also supported [[apartheid]] in [[South Africa]], [[racist]] cartoons, and wrote appreciatively of [[Nazi Germany]].<ref>[http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/irving.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=2&item=Irving ADL profile]</ref> Covering the controversy, the [[1 May]] [[1959]] edition of the ''[[Daily Mail]]'' quoted Irving as saying, "You can call me a mild [[fascist]] if you like." He has denounced that article as libellous and the "handiwork of an imaginative ''Daily Mail'' journalist".<ref>[http://www.fpp.co.uk/Legal/PQ17Libel/Parker240269.html Real History and the 1942 North Russian Convoys]</ref> ==''The Destruction of Dresden''== Sometime after serving in 1959 as editor of the University of London Carnival Committee's journal, Irving left for [[West Germany]], where he worked as a steelworker in a [[ThyssenKrupp|Thyssen]] steel works in the [[Ruhr]] area and learned [[German language|German]]. He then moved to [[Spain]], where he worked as a clerk at an airbase. During his time in Spain, Irving married his first wife, a Spanish woman with whom he had five children. In 1962, he wrote a series of 37 articles on the [[Allies#World War II|Allied]] bombing campaign, ''Wie Deutschlands Städte starben'' (''How Germany's Cities Died''), for the [[right-wing]] German journal ''Neue Illustrierte''. These were the basis of his first book, ''The Destruction of Dresden'' (1963), in which he examined the Allied [[Bombing of Dresden in World War II|bombing of Dresden]] in February 1945. By the 1960s, a debate about the morality of the [[carpet bombing]] of German cities and civilian population had already begun, especially in the United Kingdom. There was consequently considerable interest in Irving's book, which was illustrated with graphic pictures, and it became an international [[bestseller]]. In the first edition, Irving's estimates for deaths in [[Dresden]] were between 100,000 and 250,000 — notably higher than most previously published figures.<ref>Guttenplan, D.D. ''The Holocaust on Trial'', New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2001 pages 225-226</ref> These figures became authoritative and widely accepted in many standard reference works. In later editions of the book over the next three decades, he gradually adjusted the figure downwards to 50,000-100,000.<ref>Guttenplan, D.D. ''The Holocaust on Trial'', New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2001 page 43</ref> According to the evidence introduced by [[Richard J. Evans]] at the libel trial of [[Deborah Lipstadt]] in 2000, Irving based his estimates of the dead of Dresden on the word of one individual who provided no supporting documentation, used forged documents, and described one witness who was a [[urologist]] as Dresden's Deputy Chief Medical Officer. The doctor has since complained about being misidentified by Irving, and further, was only reporting rumours about the death toll.<ref>Guttenplan, D.D. ''The Holocaust on Trial'', New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2001 page 225</ref> Today, casualties at Dresden are estimated as most likely 25,000-35,000 dead, and probably towards the lower end of that range.<ref>Evans, Lying about Hitler, Pg. 170</ref> ==1963 burglary of Irving's apartment == By November 1963, Irving was in England when he called the [[London Metropolitan Police]] with suspicions he had been the victim of a burglary, perpetrated by three men who had gained access to his [[Mayfair]] apartment claiming to be [[General Post Office (United Kingdom)|General Post Office]] (GPO) engineers. [[Gerry Gable]] was subsequently arrested and held at [[Hornsey]] police station, where on [[14 January]] [[1964]], along with Manny Carpel and another, Gable admitted breaking in with intent to steal private papers. At the trial, counsel for the defence claimed that this was no ordinary crime, telling the court, "they hoped to find material they could take to [[Special Branch]]". The case was reported in the ''[[Daily Telegraph]]'', [[January 17]] [[1964]] and other newspapers.<ref>[http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/bulletin/issues/kslb28.htm#searchlight "Searchlight" & the State]</ref> Irving considered this incident important, and in his video 'Ich komme wieder' he describes this as the first indication he had that he was under attack for some reason.<ref>[https://pro4.abac.com/focalp/aim/misc_tapes/ David Irving's World of Real History.]</ref> Gable was a former member of the [[British Communist Party]], and would later run ''[[Searchlight (magazine)|Searchlight]]'' a magazine devoted to anti-Fascist activities. In the notorious 'Gable Memorandum', a letter from Gable to [[London Weekend Television]] in May 1977, he would later boast of his "top level [[security service]] sources".<ref>[http://www.fpp.co.uk/docs/people/Gable/OxfordStudent0500.html Fighting the Holocaust deniers]</ref> ==Historian== After the success of the Dresden book, Irving continued writing, including some works of [[Historical revisionism (political)|revisionist history]]. In 1964, he wrote ''The Mare's Nest'', an account of the German secret weapons projects and the Allied intelligence countermeasures against it, translated the Memoirs of Field Marshal [[Wilhelm Keitel]] in 1965 (Edited by Walter Görlitz), and in 1967 published ''Accident: The Death of General Sikorski'', in which Irving claimed that the plane crash which killed [[Polish government in exile]] leader General [[Władysław Sikorski]] in 1943 was really an "assassination" ordered by [[Winston Churchill]], so as to enable Churchill to "betray" [[Poland]] to the [[Soviet Union]]. Irving's book inspired the highly controversial 1967 play ''Soldiers'' by his friend, the German playwright [[Rolf Hochhuth]], which depicts Churchill ordering the “assassination” of General Sikorski. Also in 1967, he published two more works: ''The Virus House,'' an account of the [[German nuclear energy project]], and ''The Destruction of Convoy PQ-17,'' in which he blamed the British escort group commander, Commander [[Jack Broome]] for the catastrophic losses of the [[Convoy PQ-17]]. Amid much publicity, Broome sued Irving for libel in October 1968, and in February 1970, after 17 days of deliberation before London's High Court, Broome won. Irving was forced to pay £40,000 in damages, and the book was withdrawn from circulation. <!-- moved for better flow and timeline organization --> After ''PQ-17'', Irving shifted to writing [[biography|biographies]]. As a result of Irving's success with ''Dresden'', but prior to the conclusion of the Broome trial, members of Germany's extreme right-wing assisted him in contacting surviving members of Hitler's inner circle. In an interview with the American journalist [[Ron Rosenbaum]], Irving claimed to have developed sympathies towards them (referring to them as "the Magic Circle"). Many aging former mid- and high-ranked Nazis saw a potential friend in Irving and donated diaries and other material. In 1972, he translated the memoirs of General [[Reinhard Gehlen]], and in 1973 published ''The Rise and Fall of the [[Luftwaffe]]'', a biography of Air Marshall [[Erhard Milch]]. He spent the remainder of the 1970s working on ''[[Hitler's War]]'' and the ''War Path'', his two-part biography of Adolf Hitler; ''The Trail of the Fox,'' a biography of Field Marshall [[Erwin Rommel]]; and a series in the ''[[Sunday Express]]'' describing the [[Royal Air Force]]'s famous [[Operation Chastise|Dam Busters]] raid. Description of Irving as a historian, rather than a historical author, is controversial, with some publications continuing to refer to him as a "historian"<ref name="DI_historian">e.g. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/irving/ The Guardian]</ref> or "disgraced historian,"<ref name=DIdisgraced>Philippe Naughton and agencies in Vienna. [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2049360,00.html "Irving jailed for three years, despite Holocaust U-turn"], ''[[The Times]],'' [[February 20]], [[2006]].</ref> while others insist he is not a historian, and have adopted alternatives such as "author" or "historic writer,"<ref name="DI_author"/> The military historian [[John Keegan]] has praised Irving for his "extraordinary ability to describe and analyse Hitler's conduct of military operations, which was his main occupation during the [[Second World War]]."<ref>The trial of David Irving -- and my part in his downfall By John Keegan, Defence Editor, Daily Telegraph (UK) ISSUE 1783 Wednesday 12 April 2000</ref> Donald Cameron Watt, [[Emeritus Professor]] of Modern History at the [[London School of Economics]], wrote that he admires some of Irving's work as a historian, though he rejects his conclusions about the Holocaust.<ref name=HistoryNeeds>"History needs David Irvings" by Donald Cameron Watt, The Evening Standard, April 11, 2000.</ref> At the libel proceedings against Irving, Watt declined Irving's request to testify, appearing only after a [[subpoena]] was ordered.<ref name=dd>Guttenplan, D.D. ''The Holocaust on Trial''. 2001, page 128.</ref> He testified that Irving had written a "very, very effective piece of historical scholarship" in the 1960s, which was unrelated to his controversial work; he also suggested that Irving was "not in the top class" of military historian.<ref name=dd /> ==Revisionism== [[Image:Rolf Hochhuth David Irving.jpg|thumb|David Irving and [[Rolf Hochhuth]] in 1966]] In 1977 Irving published ''[[Hitler's War]]'', the first of his two-part biography of [[Adolf Hitler]]. In it, Irving tried to describe the war from "Hitler's point of view". He portrayed Hitler as a rational, intelligent politician, whose only goal was to increase Germany's prosperity and influence on the continent. For instance, Irving's book faulted the Allied leaders, most notably Winston Churchill, for the eventual escalation of war, and claimed that the [[Operation Barbarossa|German invasion of the Soviet Union]] in 1941 was a "[[preventative war]]" forced on Hitler to avert an impending Soviet attack (supported by some, notably Soviet [[GRU]] defector [[Victor Suvorov]], and others; see ''[[Icebreaker (Suvorov)|Icebreaker]]''). He also claimed that Hitler had no knowledge of [[the Holocaust]]; while not denying its occurrence, Irving claimed that [[Heinrich Himmler]] and his deputy [[Reinhard Heydrich]] were its originators and architects. Irving made much of the lack of any written order from Hitler ordering the Holocaust, and for decades afterward offered to pay £1000 to anyone who could find such an order. In addition, citing the work of such historians as [[Harry Elmer Barnes]], [[David Hoggan]], and Frederick J.P. Veale, Irving argued that Britain was primarily responsible for the [[WWII#War breaks out|outbreak of war]] in 1939. Reaction to ''Hitler’s War'' was polarized. While some historians like John Keegan and [[Hugh Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton|Hugh Trevor-Roper]]—though disputing Irving’s claim that Hitler had no knowledge of the Holocaust—praised the book as well-written and well-researched, other historians were more hostile. [[John Lukacs]] in a very unfavourable book review in the [[19 August]] [[1977]] edition of ''[[National Review]]'' called ''Hitler’s War'' a worthless book while [[Walter Laqueur]] when reviewing ''Hitler’s War'' in the ''The New York Times Book Review'' of [[3 April]] [[1977]] accused Irving of selective use of the historical record in Hitler's favour. In a review, the American historian Bradley Smith noted that through Irving had uncovered some new documents, and was correct in arguing against those Germans who sought to place all of the blame for the ''Shoah'' onto Hitler, but went on to note that Irving’s determination to tell World War II from Hitler’s point of view had apparently led him to totally identify himself with Hitler<ref>Smith, Bradley “Two Alibies for the Inhumanities: A. R. Butz, "The Hoax of the Twentieth Century" and David Irving, "Hitler's War"” pages 327-335 from ''German Studies Review'', Volume 1, Issue # 3. October 1978</ref>. Smith noted it was often impossible to tell where Hitler’s views ended and where Irving's began<ref>Smith, Bradley “Two Alibies for the Inhumanities: A. R. Butz, "The Hoax of the Twentieth Century" and David Irving, "Hitler's War"” pages 327-335 from ''German Studies Review'', Volume 1, Issue # 3. October 1978</ref>. Various historians such as [[Gitta Sereny]], [[Martin Broszat]], [[Lucy Dawidowicz]], Gerard Fleming, Charles W. Sydnor and [[Eberhard Jäckel]] wrote either articles or books rebutting what they considered to be erroneous information in ''Hitler’s War''. Broszat wrote that: "He [Irving] is too eager to accept authenticity for objectivity, is overly hasty in interpreting superficial diagnoses and often seems insufficiently interested in complex historical interconnections and in structural problems that transcend the mere recording of historical facts, but are essential for their evaluation"<ref>Broszat, Martin "Hitler and the Genesis of the 'Final Solution': An Assessment of David Irving's Theses" pages 390-429 from ''Aspects of the Third Reich'' edited by H.W. Koch pages 392-393.</ref>. Broszat argued that in writing ''Hitler's War'', Irving was too concerned with the "antechamber aspects" of Hitler's headquarters, and accused Irving of distorting historical facts in Hitler's favor<ref>Broszat, Martin "Hitler and the Genesis of the 'Final Solution': An Assessment of David Irving's Theses" pages 390-429 from ''Aspects of the Third Reich'' edited by H.W. Koch pages 393 & 413-419</ref>. Broszat complained that Irving was focused too much on military events at the expense of the broader political context of the war, and that he had offered false interpretations such as accepting at face value the Nazi claim that the T4 "euthanasia" program was launched in September 1939 to free up hospital spaces for wounded German soldiers when in fact the [[Action T4]] program was launched in January 1939<ref>Broszat, Martin "Hitler and the Genesis of the 'Final Solution': An Assessment of David Irving's Theses" pages 390-429 from ''Aspects of the Third Reich'' edited by H.W. Koch page 394.</ref>. In particular, Broszat criticized Irving's claim that because of one telephone note written by Himmler stating "No liquidation" in regards to a train convey of German Jews passing through [[Berlin]] to [[Riga]] (whom the SS intended to have all shot upon arrival) on November 30, 1941 that this proved that Hitler did not to see the Holocaust happen<ref>Broszat, Martin "Hitler and the Genesis of the 'Final Solution': An Assessment of David Irving's Theses" pages 390-429 from ''Aspects of the Third Reich'' edited by H.W. Koch pages 413-415</ref>. Broszat argued that this was not proof that Hitler had given any such order to Himmler to stop the killings of Jews, but rather that the comment "No liquidation" referred only to that particular train, and was mostly likely related to concerns about questions American reporters were asking about the fate of German Jews being sent to Eastern Europe<ref>Broszat, Martin "Hitler and the Genesis of the 'Final Solution': An Assessment of David Irving's Theses" pages 390-429 from ''Aspects of the Third Reich'' edited by H.W. Koch pages 414-415</ref>. Likewise, Broszat criticized Irving for accepting the "fantastic" claims of the SS ''[[Obergruppenführer]]'' [[Karl Wolff]] that he did not know about the Holocaust (Irving's argument was that if Wolff did not know about the Holocaust, how could Hitler have known), despite the fact that Wolff was convicted of war crimes in 1963 on the basis of documentary evidence implicating him in the Holocaust<ref>Broszat, Martin "Hitler and the Genesis of the 'Final Solution': An Assessment of David Irving's Theses" pages 390-429 from ''Aspects of the Third Reich'' edited by H.W. Koch pages 420-421</ref>. Broszat accused Irving of seeking to generate a highly misleading impression of a conference between Hitler and the Hungarian Regent, Admiral [[Miklós Horthy]] in April 1943 by re-arranging the words to make Hitler appear less brutally anti-Semitic then what the original notes showed<ref>Broszat, Martin "Hitler and the Genesis of the 'Final Solution': An Assessment of David Irving's Theses" pages 390-429 from ''Aspects of the Third Reich'' edited by H.W. Koch pages 427-428.</ref>. Along the same lines, Broszat maintained that the picture of World War Two drawn by Irving was done in a such way to engage in moral equivalence between the actions of the Axis and Allied states, leading to Hitler's "fanatical, destructive will to annihilate" being downgraded to being "...no longer an exceptional phenomenon"<ref>Broszat, Martin "Hitler and the Genesis of the 'Final Solution': An Assessment of David Irving's Theses" pages 390-429 from ''Aspects of the Third Reich'' edited by H.W. Koch page 395.</ref>. The criticism by Broszat was considered to be especially damaging to Irving because Broszat had based his critique largely by examining the same primary sources Irving had used for ''Hitler's War''. Because of the controversy ''Hitler’s War'' generated, it was a best-seller in 1977. Just months after the initial release of ''Hitler's War'', Irving published ''The Trail of the Fox'', a biography of [[Generalfeldmarschall|Field Marshal]] [[Erwin Rommel]]. In it, Irving attacked the members of the [[July 20 Plot]] to assassinate Hitler, branding them "traitors", "cowards", and "manipulators", and uncritically presented Hitler and his government's subsequent revenge against the plotters, of which Rommel was also a victim. Irving painted the men and women involved in the plot in the blackest of colours, and argued that their fate after July 20 was fully deserved. Irving challenged the popular notion that Rommel was one of the leaders of the rebellion: Rommel stayed loyal to Hitler until the end, Irving claimed, and the real blame for his forced suicide lay with his associates, who schemed against him so they could save their own lives and because they were jealous of Rommel's medals. In particular, Irving accused Rommel's friend and Chief of Staff General [[Hans Speidel]] of framing Rommel in the attempted coup. The British historian [[David Pryce-Jones]] in a book review of ''The Trail of the Fox'' in the [[12 November]] [[1977]] edition of ''[[The New York Times Book Review]]'' accused Irving of mindlessly taking everything Hitler had to say at face value. In 1978, Irving released ''The War Path'', the companion volume to ''Hitler's War'' which covered events leading up to the war and which was written from a similar point of view. Again, professional historians such as D.C. Watt noted numerous inaccuracies and misrepresentations. Despite the criticism, the book sold well, as did all of Irving's books to that date. The financial success of his books enabled Irving to buy a home in the prestigious [[Mayfair]] district of [[London]], own a [[Rolls-Royce (car)|Rolls-Royce]] car, and to enjoy a very affluent lifestyle.<ref>Guttenplan, D.D. ''The Holocaust on Trial'' page 52</ref> In addition, Irving, despite being married, became increasing open with his affairs with other women, all of which were detailed in his self-published diary.<ref>Guttenplan, D.D. ''The Holocaust on Trial'' page 51</ref> <!-- entire Keegan paragraph moved to the trial portion --> <!-- Commented out because image was deleted: [[Image:Irving Spiegel01.jpg|thumb|By the early 1980s Lipstadt and others were starting to see Irving as a Nazi sympathizer.]] --> In the 1980s Irving started researching and writing about topics other than Nazi Germany, but with less success. He began his research on his three-part biography of Winston Churchill. In 1981, he published two books. The first was ''The War Between the Generals'', in which Irving offered an account of the Allied High Command, detailing the heated conflicts Irving alleges occurred between the various generals of the various countries and presenting rumours about their private lives. The second book was ''Uprising!'', about the [[1956 Hungarian Revolution|1956 revolt in Hungary]], which Irving characterized as "primarily an anti-Jewish uprising", supposedly because the [[Communism|Communist]] regime was itself controlled by Jews. Irving’s depiction of [[Hungary]]’s Communist regime as a Jewish dictatorship oppressing [[Gentiles]] sparked charges of [[anti-Semitism]].<ref>Guttenplan, D.D. ''The Holocaust on Trial'' page 47</ref> In addition, there were complaints that Irving had grossly exaggerated the number of people of Jewish origin in the Communist regime and had ignored the fact that Hungarian Communists who did have a Jewish background like [[Mátyás Rákosi]] and [[Ernő Gerő]] had totally repudiated [[Judaism]] and sometimes expressed anti-Semitic attitudes themselves<ref>Ascherson, Neal "A Bucketful of Slime" from ''[[The Observer]]'', March 29, 1981</ref>. ===Hitler Diaries=== In 1983, Irving played a major role in the [[Hitler Diaries]] controversy. Irving was an early proponent of the argument that the diaries were a forgery, and went so far as to crash the press conference held by [[Hugh Trevor-Roper]] at the [[Hamburg]] offices of ''[[Der Stern]]'' magazine on [[25 April]] [[1983]] to denounce the diaries as a forgery and Trevor-Roper for endorsing the diaries as genuine (Trevor-Roper had called the press conference to announce his withdrawal of his endorsement, arguably rendering Irving's attack on Trevor-Roper irrelevant).<ref>Guttenplan, D.D. ''The Holocaust on Trial''</ref> Irving's performance at the ''[[Der Stern]]'' press conference where he violently harangued Trevor-Roper until ejected by security led him to be featured prominently on the news and the next day Irving appeared on ''Today'' television show as a featured guest.<ref>Harris, Robert ''Selling Hitler : The Story Of The Hitler Diaries'' London : Faber and Faber, 1986 pages 320-323</ref> However, a week later on [[May 2]], Irving reversed himself and claimed the diaries were genuine; at the same press conference, Irving took the opportunity to promote his translation of the memoirs of Hitler’s physician Dr. [[Theodor Morell]]. [[Robert Harris (novelist)|Robert Harris]] in his book ''Selling Hitler'' suggested that an additional reason for Irving's change of mind over the authenticity of the alleged Hitler diaries was that the fake diaries contain no reference to the Holocaust, thereby buttressing Irving's claim in ''Hitler's War'' that Hitler had no knowledge of the Holocaust.<ref>Harris, Robert ''Selling Hitler : The Story Of The Hitler Diaries'' pages 338-339</ref> Subsequently Irving reversed himself again when the diaries were revealed as a forgery. At a press conference held to withdraw his endorsement of the diaries, Irving proudly claimed that he was the first to call the diaries a forgery, to which a reporter replied that he was also the last to call the diaries genuine. In his later accounts of his role in the Hitler Diaries matter, Irving has always mentioned his role as proponent of the theory that the diaries were fake while ignoring his change of opinion about their authenticity. ===Churchill=== By the mid-1980s, Irving had not had a successful book in years, and was behind schedule in writing the first volume of his Churchill series, the research for which had strained his finances {{Fact|date=March 2007}}. By the time he finished the manuscript in 1985, his reputation was greatly diminished,{{Fact|date=March 2007}} so it was not until 1987 that the book was published as ''Churchill's War, Volume I''. In it, Irving writes a revisionist portrayal of Churchill—a debauched [[alcoholic]], a coward, an unabashed racist, and a corrupt warmonger servile to the interests of "international Jewry".{{Fact|date=March 2007}} Irving also accused Churchill of "selling out the [[British Empire]]" and "turning Britain against its natural ally, Germany". ===Ernst Nolte=== In 1986, Irving was one of the few [[English language]] authors to endorse the controversial thesis of the German philosopher [[Ernst Nolte]] who, in a 1986 article named ''Die Vergangenheit, die nicht vergehen will'' ("The Past That Does Not Want To Go Away"), claimed that because the President of the [[World Zionist Organization]] [[Chaim Weizmann]] wrote a letter to the British Prime Minister [[Neville Chamberlain]] pledging the full support of his organization to the British war effort on [[3 September]] [[1939]], that this constituted a “Jewish declaration of war” against Germany, and thus the German government was fully justified in “interning” the Jews of Europe in [[concentration camp]]s. Many other historians attacked Nolte’s argument (and those, like Irving, who supported Nolte’s views) as highly factually incorrect and as coming very close to justifying the Holocaust. Nolte in his turn has been a great admirer of Irving and has often cited Irving’s work in his writings. ===Göring=== In 1989, Irving published his biography of [[Hermann Göring]], in which he highlighted, though did not endorse, the more "positive" features of the Nazi [[Reichsmarschall]]. Irving avoided discussion of Göring's role in the Holocaust, describing instead Göring's jovial personality and offering a wealth of lesser-known facts about his life. Irving also recounts various incidents and produces documents as evidence that Göring disapproved of the persecution of Jews and other Nazi crimes. ===Goebbels=== In 1992, Irving signed a contract with [[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]] for a biography of [[Joseph Goebbels]] entitled ''Goebbels: Mastermind of the Third Reich''. Following charges that Irving had selectively "edited" a recently discovered complete edition of Goebbels's diaries in [[Moscow]], Macmillan cancelled the book deal.<ref>Guttenplan, D.D. ''The Holocaust on Trial'' page 55</ref> In 1995, the [[St. Martin's Press]] of [[New York City]] agreed to publish the Goebbels biography.<ref>Guttenplan, D.D. ''The Holocaust on Trial'' page 56</ref> By this time, Irving's financial state was such that he very much needed this book deal to be completed in order to pay down the massive arrears on his mortgage.<ref>Guttenplan, D.D. ''The Holocaust on Trial'' page 56</ref> In March 1996, following widespread protests over allegations of anti-Semitism in ''Goebbels: Mastermind of the Third Reich'', St. Martin's cancelled the contract, and left Irving in a situation where he was desperate for both publicity and the need to re-establish his reputation as a historian.<ref>Guttenplan, D.D. ''The Holocaust on Trial'' pages 56-57</ref> ==Holocaust denial== {{wikiquote}} Over the years, Irving's stance on the Holocaust has changed significantly. Until 1988, when he started to espouse [[Holocaust denial]] openly, Irving never sought to deny the reality of the Holocaust and for this reason many Holocaust deniers were ambivalent about him. They admired Irving for the pro-Nazi slant in his work and the fact that he possessed a degree of mainstream credibility that they lacked, but were annoyed that he did not openly deny the Holocaust. Typical of the ambiguity felt by them was a letter written in 1984 by the French Holocaust denier [[Robert Faurisson]] in the ''Journal of Historical Review'', the official journal of the [[Institute for Historical Review]] (I.H.R). In an open letter entitled “A Challenge to David Irving”, Faurisson praised Irving as a historian but criticized him for maintaining that the Holocaust had taken place, and challenged him to take up the cause of Holocaust denial. It has been alleged that the original draft of Faurisson's open letter was more critical of Irving, but [[Willis Carto]] persuaded Faurisson to tone down the criticism, lest it alienate Irving (who had spoken at a conference sponsored by the I.H.R. in September 1983) from the I.H.R. It is not known what Irving’s response to Faurisson’s letter was. Until 1988, Irving seemed torn between a desire to be taken seriously as a historian and a desire to associate with those he seemed to share an ideological affinity with. In the first edition of ''Hitler's War'', Irving footnotes, "I cannot accept the view. .. [that] there exists no document signed by Hitler, Himmler or Heydrich speaking of the extermination of the Jews." By the mid-1980s, however, Irving associated himself with the Holocaust-denying I.H.R.<!-- I don't care if God says the IHR is anti-semitic; they are openly Holocaust-denying and that's what's significant here-->, began giving lectures to groups such as the far-right German [[Deutsche Volksunion]], and publicly denied that the Nazis systematically exterminated Jews in gas chambers during World War II. He also alleged that parts of ''[[The Diary of a Young Girl|The Diary of Anne Frank]]'' might have been forged by her surviving father, and in 1988 testified for the defence at [[Canada|Canadian]]-based Holocaust denier [[Ernst Zündel]]'s trial. Irving later claimed that Zündel had convinced him that the Holocaust had not occurred.<ref>Guttenplan, D.D. ''The Holocaust on Trial'' page 54</ref> In the 1988 Zündel trial, Irving repeated and defended his claim from ''Hitler's War'' that until October 1943 Hitler knew nothing about the actual implementation of the [[Final Solution]]. He also expressed his evolving belief that the Final Solution involved "[[war crimes|atrocities]]", not systematic murder: <blockquote>I don't think there was any overall [[Third Reich|Reich]] policy to kill the Jews. If there was, they would have been killed and there would not be now so many millions of survivors. And believe me, I am glad for every survivor that there was.<ref>[http://www.ihr.org/books/kulaszka/35irving.html The 'False News' Trial of Ernst Zündel -- 1988: David Irving]</ref><!--this might upset some folks, so I'm stating this for the record: this is included to provide balance, since Irving's entry is included in the category of anti-semitism; --></blockquote> As to what evidence further led Irving to believe that the Holocaust never occurred, he cited a report by self-styled execution expert [[Fred A. Leuchter]], which claimed there was no evidence for the existence of homicidal [[gas chamber]]s at the [[Auschwitz concentration camp]]. After the trial, Irving published <!--''self-published'' makes little sense here.anyway, it was published--> Leuchter's report in the [[United Kingdom]] and wrote its foreword. In [[Errol Morris]]' 1999 documentary about Leuchter, ''Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.'', Irving said, "The big point [of the Leuchter report]: there is no significant residue of [[cyanide]] in the brickwork. That's what converted me. When I read that in the report in the courtroom in Toronto, I became a hard-core disbeliever."<ref>[http://errolmorris.com/film/mrd_transcript.html Mr. Death: Transcript]</ref> In his 1991 revised edition of ''Hitler's War'' he had removed all references to [[death camp]]s and the Holocaust. Many have considered Irving’s historical arguments to be very convoluted. An example occurred in the above-mentioned interview with [[Ron Rosenbaum]], when Rosenbaum questioned Irving about a memoir that had come into Irving's possession that was alleged to have been written by [[Adolf Eichmann]] in the 1950s. The precise authenticity of the ''Eichmann Memoirs'' is in doubt, but parts of the book, according to the German Federal Archives, appeared to be genuine. Irving had received the alleged memoir during a visit to [[Argentina]] in 1991 and was quite proud of his find. In ''The Eichmann Memoirs'', Eichmann claimed to have heard from Himmler that Hitler had given a verbal order authorizing the Holocaust, thereby contradicting Irving's claim in ''Hitler’s War'' that Hitler was unaware of the Holocaust. Irving's response to the claim that Hitler ordered the Holocaust in ''The Eichmann Memoirs'' was to claim that Eichmann wrote his memoirs in 1956 at the time of the [[Suez War]], and was fearful that [[Cairo]], [[Egypt]] might fall to [[Israel]]. Irving's reasoning is that if Cairo was taken by the Israeli Defence Forces, then the Israelis might discover the "[[Ratlines (history)|rat-line]]", as undercover smuggling networks for Nazis were known, that had allowed Eichmann to escape to Argentina, and that therefore Eichmann had written his memoirs as a potential defence in the event of being captured by the Israelis. In this way, Irving argued that ''The Eichmann Memoirs'' were genuine but that the claim that Hitler ordered the Holocaust was false—only made to reduce Eichmann's responsibility for the Holocaust. Also in the same interview, Irving claimed to want to be accepted as a scholar by other historians and bemoaned having to associate with what he called the lunatic [[anti-Semitic]] fringe groups; he claimed he would disassociate himself from these as soon as he was accepted by the historians' community. In October 2007 Irving threatened to sue ''[[The Jewish Chronicle]]'' for describing him as a "holocaust denier". The Jewish Chronicle responded by printing their solicitor's name and address on its front page.<ref> JC Reporters, [http://www.thejc.com/home.aspx?AId=56166&ATypeId=1&search=true2&srchstr=david%20irving&srchtxt=1&srchhead=1&srchauthor=1&srchsandp=1&scsrch=0 David Irving: Call me a denier and I'll sue the JC], ''[[The Jewish Chronicle]]'', [[2007-11-18]], Retrieved on [[2007-12-24]].</ref> ==Racism== Irving has expressed racist sentiments, both publicly and privately. Several of these were cited by the judge's decision in Irving's lawsuit against Penguin Books and Deborah Lipstadt.<ref name="vs">[[s:David Irving vs Penguin Books and Deborah Lipstadt|David Irving vs Penguin Books and Deborah Lipstadt]]</ref> For instance, in his diary entry for [[September 17]], 1994, Irving wrote about a ditty he composed for his young daughter "when halfbreed children are wheeled past": <blockquote> I am a Baby [[Aryan]]<br> Not Jewish or [[Sectarian]]<br> I have no plans to marry an<br> [[Great ape|Ape]] or [[Rastafarian]]. </blockquote><!--this was in the judge's decision, as were the below--> [[Christopher Hitchens]] writes that after having dinner in his [[New York City|New York]] apartment, Irving sang the rhyme to his daughter once they were alone in the building's elevator.<ref>[[Christopher Hitchens|Hitchens, Christopher]]. "Churchill Take a Fall", ''[[The Atlantic Monthly]]'', April 2002.</ref> In one interview cited in the lawsuit he also stated that he would be "willing to put [his] signature" to the "fact" that "a great deal of control over the world is exercised by Jews".<ref name="vs" /> And from a speech in 1992, given to the [[Clarendon Club]]: <blockquote> I am not anti-coloured, take it from me; nothing pleases me more than when I arrive at an airport, or a station, or a seaport, and I see a coloured family there—the black father, the black wife and the black children… When I see these families arriving at the airport I am happy, and when I see them leaving at London airport I am happy. But if there is one thing that gets up my nose, I must admit, it is this—the way… the thing is when I am down in [[Torquay]] and I switch on my television and I see one of them reading our news to us. It is our news and they’re reading it to me. If I was a [[chauvinist]] I would say I object even to seeing women reading our news to us… But now we have women reading our news to us. If they could perhaps have their own news which they were reading to us, I suppose, it would be very interesting. For the time being, for a transitional period I'd be prepared to accept that the [[BBC]] should have a [[Black tie|dinner-jacket]]ed gentleman reading the important news to us, following by a lady reading all the less important news, followed by [[Trevor McDonald]] giving us all the latest news about the muggings and the drug busts…<ref>[http://www.fpp.co.uk/speeches/speech190992.html David Irving's Talk to the Clarendon Club]</ref> </blockquote> In 2007, ''[[The Guardian]]'' reported that Irving said, "The Jews are the architects of their own misfortune, but that is the short version A–Z. Between A–Z there are then 24 other characters in intervening steps".<ref>Taylor, Matthew. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/secondworldwar/story/0,,2179841,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront "Discredited Irving plans comeback tour." ''[[Guardian Unlimited]]''. 29 September 2007. 15 January 2008.</ref> ==Libel suit== {{wikisource|David Irving v. Penguin Books and Deborah Lipstadt}} In September 1996, Irving filed a libel suit against Deborah Lipstadt and her British publisher Penguin Books for publishing a British edition of Lipstadt's book, ''Denying the Holocaust'', which had first been published in the United States in 1993. At the same time, Irving also sued [[Gitta Sereny]] for libel for an article she had written about him in ''The Guardian'' newspaper although, as of 2007, [[Gitta Sereny#David Irving libel case|the claim]] has yet to be heard in a court. In 1997, Irving threatened to sue John Lukacs for libel if he published a British edition of his book, ''The Hitler of History'', but perhaps because Irving already had two libel suits going at that time, he did not follow through with this threat. In her book, ''Denying the Holocaust'', Lipstadt called Irving a Holocaust denier, falsifier, and bigot, and said that he manipulated and distorted real documents. Irving claimed to have been libeled under the grounds that Lipstadt had called him a Holocaust denier when in his opinion there was no Holocaust to deny as well as suggestions that Irving had falsified evidence or deliberately misinterpreted it. Though the author was American, Irving filed his suit in the English High Court, where the [[burden of proof]] in libel cases is on the defendant, unlike the U.S. where the burden is on the plaintiff. He was also able to file the lawsuit in the UK because the book was published there. As explained by the trial judge, [[Charles Gray (British judge)|Mr Justice Gray]]: <blockquote>4.7 ... the burden of proving the defence of justification rests upon the publishers. Defamatory words are presumed under English law to be untrue. It is not incumbent on defendants to prove the truth of every detail of the defamatory words published: what has to be proved is the substantial truth of the defamatory imputations published about the claimant. As it is sometimes expressed, what must be proved is the truth of the sting of the defamatory charges made.</blockquote> Irving approached Penguin and offered to drop them from his lawsuit if they would pull the book from publication in the UK, deny all of Lipstadt's conclusions and make a charitable donation in the name of Irving's daughter (who is disabled); he made clear he would not settle the lawsuit with Professor Lipstadt if Penguin settled with him. The publisher rejected his terms and the case went to trial.<ref>{{cite book | last = Guttenplan | first = D.D. | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The Holocaust on Trial | publisher = W.W. Norton & Company | date = 2001 | location = New York | pages = 103-4 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-39302044-4}}</ref> ===Defence=== Lipstadt and Penguin hired the British solicitor [[Anthony Julius]] to present her case and Irving briefed the libel barrister, [[Richard Rampton]] [[Queen's Counsel|QC]]. They also retained Professor [[Richard J. Evans]], historian and Professor of Modern History at [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge University]], as an expert witness. Also working as an assistant expert witness was the American Holocaust historian [[Christopher Browning]]. Evans and his two assistants spent more than two years examining Irving's work, while gathering evidence to support the claim that Irving had misrepresented evidence to support his prejudice. Evans suggested that in his view, Irving had knowingly used forged documents as sources, and that for this reason, Irving could not be regarded as a historian. Evans' report was the most comprehensive, in-depth examination of Irving's work: <blockquote>Not one of <nowiki>[Irving's]</nowiki> books, speeches or articles, not one paragraph, not one sentence in any of them, can be taken on trust as an accurate representation of its historical subject. All of them are completely worthless as history, because Irving cannot be trusted anywhere, in any of them, to give a reliable account of what he is talking or writing about. ... if we mean by historian someone who is concerned to discover the truth about the past, and to give as accurate a representation of it as possible, then Irving is not a historian.<ref>[http://www.holocaustdenialontrial.org/evidence/evans006.asp Holocaust Denial On Trial]</ref></blockquote> ===Claimant=== In the trial, Irving represented himself. He called the American [[Kevin B. MacDonald]], an [[evolutionary psychology|evolutionary psychologist]], to testify on his behalf. Irving also subpoenaed the diplomatic historian D.C. Watt and the military historian [[John Keegan]] to testify in his case against Lipstadt; both men had refused an earlier offer to testify for Irving on their own and appeared to be very reluctant on the stand. Rather than focus on the defence's evidence against him, or on whether or not Lipstadt had defamed him, Irving seemed to focus mainly on his "right to [[free speech]]". In his closing statement, Irving claimed to have been a victim of an international, mostly Jewish, conspiracy for more than three decades. At one point on [[15 March]] [[2000]], during the course of Irving's closing argument, he referred to the Judge as 'Mein Führer' (page 193 of the transcript). <!-- Interesting. So what, is he insane? Or was he mocking the court --> ===Ruling=== [[Image:Irving trial02.jpg|thumb|Irving unsuccessfully represented himself and his work during the trial. The Court found that Lipstadt did not libel Irving when she called him a Holocaust denier in her book.]] In presenting his ruling, Mr. Justice Gray concluded (Paragraph 13.167) that he found the following claims against Irving to be '[[substantial truth|substantially true]]': <blockquote>Irving has for his own ideological reasons persistently and deliberately misrepresented and manipulated historical evidence; that for the same reasons he has portrayed Hitler in an unwarrantedly favourable light, principally in relation to his attitude towards and responsibility for the treatment of the Jews; that he is an active Holocaust denier; that he is anti-Semitic and racist, and that he associates with right-wing extremists who promote neo-Nazism.</blockquote> Irving lost subsequent attempts at appeal, the appeal finally being rejected by [[Stephen Sedley (British judge)|Lord Justice Sedley]]. A 2001 episode of [[PBS]]'s ''[[NOVA (TV series)|NOVA]]'' (titled "Holocaust on Trial") focused on the case, and showed re-enactments of events in the courtroom. Irving was played by British actor [[John Castle]]. ===Aftermath=== Not only did Irving lose the case, but in light of the evidence presented at the trial a number of his works that had previously escaped serious scrutiny were brought to public attention. He was also liable to pay all of the substantial costs of the trial, which ruined him financially and subsequently forced him into [[bankruptcy]] in 2002. ==Criticism by historians== Irving was once highly regarded for his expert knowledge of German military archives. Much of his scholarship was disputed by historians to the point that his standing as a historian was challenged from his earliest publications.<ref name="DI_author"> In 1969, after David Irving's support for Rolf Hochhuth, the German playwright who accused Winston Churchill of murdering the Polish wartime leader General Sikorski, ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' issued a memo to all its correspondents. It said: "It is incorrect to describe David Irving as a historian. In future we should describe him as an author." Ingram, Richard. [http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article347567.ece. "Irving was the author of his own downfall"], ''The Independent'', [[February 25]], [[2006]]. The same point was made during Irving vs. (1) Lipstadt and (2) Penguin Books: "It may seem an absurd semantic dispute to deny the appellation of ‘historian’ to someone who has written two dozen books or more about historical subjects. But if we mean by historian someone who is concerned to discover the truth about the past, and to give as accurate a representation of it as possible, then Irving is not a historian. Those in the know, indeed, are accustomed to avoid the term altogether when referring to him and use some circumlocution such as ‘historical writer’ instead. Irving is essentially an ideologue who uses history for his own political purposes; he is not primarily concerned with discovering and interpreting what happened in the past, he is concerned merely to give a selective and tendentious account of it in order to further his own ideological ends in the present. The true historian’s primary concern, however, is with the past. That is why, in the end, Irving is not a historian." Irving vs. (1) Lipstadt and (2) Penguin Books, [http://www.holocaustdenialontrial.org/evidence/evans006.asp "Expert Witness Report by Richard J. Evans FBA, Professor of Modern History, University of Cambridge"], 2000, Chapter 6. During Irving's criminal trial in Austria, State Prosecutor Michael Klackl said: "He's not a historian, he's a falsifier of history." Traynor, Ian. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/farright/story/0,,1714403,00.html "Irving jailed for denying Holocaust"], ''The Guardian'', [[February 21]], [[2006]].</ref> Contentious in large part for advancing interpretations of the war considered favourable to the German side and for association with far-right groups that advanced these views, by 1988 he began advocating the view that the Holocaust did not take place as a systematic and deliberate genocide, and quickly grew to be one of the most prominent advocates of Holocaust denial, costing him what scholarly reputation he had outside those circles. In a review of Irving's 1988 book ''Churchill's War'', [[David Cannadine]], the director of the Institute of Historical Research, University of London, criticised Irving's "double standard on evidence", accusing Irving of "demanding absolute documentary proof to convict the Germans (as when he sought to show that Hitler was not responsible for the Holocaust), while relying on circumstantial evidence to condemn the British (as in his account of the Allied [[bombing of Dresden]])."<ref name="skeptics">[http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/Holocaust/skeptics.html Taking a Holocaust Skeptic Seriously]</ref> Prominent British historian Sir John Keegan wrote in 1996 in his book ''The Battle for History'', "Some controversies are entirely bogus, like David Irving's contention that Hitler's subordinates kept from him the facts of the Final Solution, the extermination of the Jews…" During the libel trial, Keegan—who had been subpoenaed by Irving to appear as a witness—lambasted Irving by saying: "I continue to think it perverse of you to propose that Hitler could not have known until as late as October 1943 what was going on with the Jewish people" and, when asked if it was perverse to say that Hitler did not know about the Final Solution, answered "that it defies common sense".<ref>[http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/i/irving.david/ftp.py?people/i/irving.david/libel.suit/transcripts/day016.01 Day 16 of David Irving vs Penguin Books and Deborah Lipstadt]</ref> In an [[April 20]] [[1996]] review in ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' of ''Goebbels: Mastermind of the Third Reich'', Keegan wrote that Irving "knows more than anyone alive about the German side of the Second World War", and claimed that ''Hitler's War'' was "indispensable to anyone seeking to understand the war in the round".<ref name="skeptics"/> In an article in ''The Daily Telegraph'' of [[12 April]] [[2000]], Keegan spoke of his experience of the trial, writing that Irving had an "all-consuming knowledge of a vast body of material" and exhibited "many of the qualities of the most creative historians", that his skill as an archivist could not be contested, and that he was "certainly never dull". However, according to Keegan, "like many who seek to shock, he may not really believe what he says and probably feels astounded when taken seriously".<ref>[http://portal.telegraph.co.uk/htmlContent.jhtml?html=/archive/2000/04/12/nirv512.html The trial of David Irving - and my part in his downfall]</ref> In the 1990s, Irving featured on his web-site a translation of a letter by the prominent German historian [[Hans Mommsen]], praising Irving's skill as a researcher. Mommsen, who had written the letter in 1977, unsuccessfully attempted to have it removed, but did succeed in forcing Irving to feature a second letter from him written in 1998 in which Mommsen completely disavowed his 1977 letter. In a six-page essay in ''[[The New York Review of Books]]'', [[Gordon A. Craig]], a leading scholar of German history at [[Stanford University]], noted Irving's claims that the Holocaust never took place and that [[Auschwitz]] was merely "a labor camp with an unfortunately high death rate".<ref>Craig, Gordon "The Devil in the Details" pages 8-14 from ''New York Review of Books'', [[September 19]], [[1996]]</ref> Though "such obtuse and quickly discredited views" may be "offensive to large numbers of people", Craig argued that Irving's work is "the best study we have of the German side of the Second World War" and that "we dare not" disregard his views. Craig called Irving a "useful irritant”; a ''[[Devil's Advocate|devil's advocate]]'' historian who promoted what Craig considered to be a twisted and wrong-headed view of history, with a great deal of élan, but his advocacy of these views forced historians to make a fruitful [[epistemological]] examination about the current state of knowledge about the [[Third Reich]]. ==Persona non grata== [[Image:Irving deported canada1992.jpg|thumb|Irving as he was deported from Canada in 1992]] After Irving denied the Holocaust in two 1989 speeches given in Austria, the Austrian government issued an arrest warrant against him and barred him from entering the country. This case came up again in 2005 when Irving was arrested and brought to trial (see next section).<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/farright/story/0,,1714403,00.html Irving jailed for denying Holocaust | World news | The Guardian<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> In early 1992 a German court found him guilty of Holocaust denial under the ''Auschwitzlüge'' section of the law against ''[[Volksverhetzung]]'' (a failed appeal by Irving would see the fine rise from 10,000 DM to 30,000 DM), and he was subsequently barred from entering Germany.<ref name=ADLIrving> "In early 1992, German authorities fined him 10,000 marks (about $6,000) after he violated a federal law against public expression of the "Auschwitz Lie". Appealing the fine, an unrepentant Irving declared, "there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz, I will not change my opinion." (His fine was subsequently tripled.) In 1993, he was banned from the country. His criminal convictions in Germany led Canadian authorities to deny him entrance as well; he was deported from Canada in 1992 after he admitted having lied to a Canadian customs official." [http://www.adl.org/holocaust/irving.asp David Irving: Propagandists' Poster Boy], [[Anti-Defamation League]]. Retrieved April 18, 2007.</ref> Other governments followed suit, including [[Austria]], [[Italy]] and Canada,<ref>Duff, Oliver. [http://news.independent.co.uk/people/profiles/article346741.ece " David Irving: An anti-Semitic racist who has suffered financial ruin"], ''The Independent'', [[21 February]], 2006.</ref> where he was arrested in November 1992 and deported back to the United Kingdom.<ref name=ADLIrving/> In an administrative hearing surrounding those events, he was found by the hearing office to have engaged in a "total fabrication" in telling a story of an exit from and return to Canada which would, for technical reasons, have made the original deportation order invalid. He was also barred from entering [[Australia]] in 1992, a ban he made four unsuccessful legal attempts to overturn. On [[April 27]], 1993 Irving was ordered to attend court to be examined on charges relating to the ''[[Loi Gayssot]]'' in France. The law, however, does not permit extradition and Irving simply refused to travel to France. Then, in February 1994, Irving spent ten days of a three month sentence in London's [[Pentonville prison]] for contempt of court following a legal wrangling over publishing rights. Irving's legal troubles continued as a [[Mannheim]] court indicted him for defaming the dead; because of this action, he would be fined 20,000 DM in mid-1997. Early in September 2004, [[Michael Cullen]], the [[Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand|deputy prime minister]] of [[New Zealand]], announced that Irving would not be permitted to visit the country, where he had been invited by the National Press Club to give a series of lectures under the heading "The Problems of Writing about World War II in a Free Society". The National Press Club defended its invitation of Irving, saying that it amounted not to an endorsement of his views, but rather an opportunity to question him. The intended visit provoked an outcry among Jewish groups, who were not appeased by Irving's promise not to speak about the Holocaust. Irving had visited New Zealand twice before in the 1980s. His intended 2004 visit was refused on the grounds that he had been convicted of offences by a German court, and that at various times had been deported from, and/or refused entry to, Canada, the United States, Italy, and South Africa. "Mr. Irving is not permitted to enter New Zealand under the Immigration Act because people who have been deported from another country are refused entry", government spokeswoman Katherine O'Sullivan had told ''[[The Press]]'' earlier. Irving rejected the ban and attempted to board a [[Qantas]] flight for New Zealand from [[Los Angeles]] on [[17 September]] [[2004]]. He was not allowed on board. "As far as I'm concerned, the legal battle now begins", he was quoted as saying. ==Arrest and imprisonment in Austria== On [[November 11]], [[2005]], the Austrian police in the southern state of [[Styria]], acting under a 1989 [[arrest warrant|warrant]], arrested Irving. Four days later, he was charged by state prosecutors with the speech crime of "trivialising the Holocaust". His application for bail was denied on the grounds that he would flee or repeat the offence. He remained in jail awaiting trial. On [[20 February]], [[2006]] Irving pleaded guilty to the charge of "trivialising, grossly playing down and denying the Holocaust". === Sentencing === Before Irving's sentencing hearing, he stated through his lawyer that he had changed his views and his ways. At the trial, Judge Liebtreu quoted numerous statements of Irving's, including "there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz" and "it makes no sense to transport people from [[Jewish Amsterdam#The Holocaust|Amsterdam]], Vienna and Brussels 500 kilometres to Auschwitz simply to liquidate them when it can be more easily done 8 km from the city where they live". Irving informed Judge Liebtreu that he "regretted the formulation". Towards the end of the hearing, Irving again publicly recanted, saying that "I've changed my views. I spoke then about Auschwitz and gas chambers based on my knowledge at the time, but by 1991 when I came across the Eichmann papers, I wasn't saying that any more and I wouldn't say that now. The Nazis did murder millions of Jews. ..I made a mistake by saying there were no gas chambers, I am absolutely without doubt that the Holocaust took place. I apologise to those few I might have offended though I remain very proud of the 30 books I have written." However, Irving continued to insist that Hitler knew nothing of the [[death camps]], and that "The figure of six million killed Jews is just a symbolic number". In an uncompromising summary, Michael Klackl, the prosecuting attorney, stated: <blockquote>David Irving only uses words, but these words are used by right-wing extremists to give them an ideological position. Mr Irving might have said he has changed his views, but that has all been a show for you. Theatrical exhibition to save himself from the maximum sentence. He has played a role for you today. The thread of anti-Semitism runs through him.<ref>[http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article346727.ece Irving gets three years' jail in Austria for Holocaust denial - Europe, News - Independent.co.uk<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref></blockquote> The judge, Peter Liebtreu, summarized: <blockquote>He showed no signs that he attempted to change his views after the arrest warrant was issued 16 years ago in Austria. ... He served as an example for the right wing for decades. He is comparable to a prostitute who hasn't changed her ways. ... Irving is a falsifier of history and anything but a proper historian. In the world of David Irving there were no gas chambers and no plan to murder the Jews. He's continued to deny the fact that the Holocaust was genocide orchestrated from the highest ranks of the Nazi state.<ref>[http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=266392006 Scotsman.com News<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref></blockquote> At the end of the one-day hearing, Irving was sentenced to three years' imprisonment in accordance with the Austrian Federal Law on the prohibition of National Socialist activities (officially ''Verbotsgesetz'', "Prohibition Statute") for having denied the existence of gas chambers in National Socialist concentration camps in several lectures held in Austria in 1989. Irving sat motionless as Liebtreu asked Irving if he had understood the sentence, to which Irving replied "I'm not sure I do" before being bundled out of the court by Austrian police. Later, Irving declared himself shocked by the severity of the sentence. He reportedly had already purchased a plane ticket home to London, believing the court would "not be stupid enough" to lock him up.<ref>[http://www.arts.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;?xml=/news/2006/02/21/wirving121.xml Irving clutches Hitler book in court]</ref> After the sentencing, Liebtreu told the audience that "The court did not consider the defendant to have genuinely changed his mind. The regret he showed was considered to be mere lip service to the law". On [[28 February]], Irving once again questioned the Holocaust, asking "Given the ruthless efficiency of the Germans, if there was an extermination programme to kill all the Jews, how come so many survived?" He claimed that the number of people gassed in [[Auschwitz]] was relatively small, and that his earlier claims that there had been no gassing at all had been a "methodological error". According to Irving, "You could say that millions died, but not at Auschwitz".<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/02/28/uirving.xml&sSheet=/portal/2006/02/28/ixportaltop.html Irving goes on denying Holocaust]</ref> Within hours, the Austrian government reacted by barring Irving from further communication with the media. === Time in prison === Irving stated that he would use time spent in prison to write his memoirs, entitled ''Irving's War''.{{Fact|date=January 2008}} Deborah Lipstadt, upon hearing of Irving's sentence to three years' imprisonment, said, "I am not happy when [[censorship]] wins, and I don't believe in winning battles via censorship… The way of fighting Holocaust deniers is with history and with truth".<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4733820.stm Holocaust denier Irving is jailed]</ref> Indeed, many feared that Irving could become a [[martyr]] for far-right [[activist]]s, and the issue also raised a debate on what grounds freedom of speech could be denied in democratic countries.{{Fact|date=January 2008}} Concerning the Austrian 'Prohibition Statute,' the Austrian Federal Ministry for Foreign Affairs insisted that it conforms with international law and international human rights standards, and that it is not contrary to [[European Convention on Human Rights#Article 10 - right to freedom of expression|Article 10]] of the [[European Convention on Human Rights]] 1950, that being a statute "...necessary in a democratic society (inter alia)... for the prevention of disorder or crime,... [and]... for the protection of the rights of others". Should Irving have wished to determine whether the Austrian authorities were correct on this point and not an excessive and illegal intrusion on the right of freedom of expression, he would have had to appeal to the [[European Court of Human Rights]].{{Fact|date=January 2008}} === Release === Both Irving, hoping to have the verdict overturned, and the Austrian prosecutor, calling for a longer sentence, served appeals on [[April 22]], [[2006]]. From [[September 1]] to [[September 4]], the Austrian [[Supreme Court]] considered Irving's appeal but ultimately ruled against him.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5313504.stm Holocaust denier verdict upheld] - BBC News</ref> The appeal over the length of sentence was heard and concluded on [[December 20]]. The court replaced two-thirds of Irving's jail sentence with probation. Since he had already served the balance of his sentence in jail, he was released from prison, and was deported to the United Kingdom.<ref>[http://www.salon.com/wire/ap/archive.html?wire=D8M4MFA00.html Holocaust Denier Freed, Gets Probation] - Salon</ref><ref>[http://uk.news.yahoo.com/20122006/325/irving-wins-appeal-holocaust-denial.html Irving wins appeal on Holocaust denial]</ref><ref>[http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/12/20/austria.irving.ap/index.html Holocaust denier freed from prison] - CNN</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6196073.stm "Holocaust denier to be released], BBC News, [[December 20]], [[2006]].</ref> Upon Irving's arrival in the UK he reaffirmed his position, stating that he felt "no need any longer to show remorse" for his Holocaust views.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/12/21/uk.irving.ap/index.html Holocaust denier: 'No need to show remorse']</ref> On [[21 December]] [[2006]], Irving was technically "expelled" from Austria; he was banned from ever returning to the country again.<ref>[http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2288055,00.html Convicted Holocaust Denier Irving Expelled from Austria | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 22.12.2006<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> === Controversy === His imprisonment caused some controversy and has been criticized on the grounds of free speech issues. The German historian [[Hans-Ulrich Wehler]] supported Irving’s imprisonment under the grounds that “The denial of such an unimaginable murder of millions, one third of whom were children under the age of 14, cannot simply be accepted as something protected by the freedom of speech”.<ref>{{cite web | last = Wehler | first = Hans-Ulrich | authorlink = Hans-Ulrich Wehler | coauthors = | title = Pity for this man is out of place | work = | publisher = Spiegel |date=February 2006| url = http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,402404,00.html | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-05-29 }}</ref>. By contrast Deborah Lipstadt argued that Irving should not be imprisoned for expressing views that she finds odious and wrong.<ref>{{cite web | last = Lipstadt | first = Deborah | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Irving, Let the Guy Go Home | work = | publisher = BBC |date=November 05 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4578534.stm | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-03-23 }}</ref> Others have stated that "nothing could be more fatal to our rights to speak and to write than for us to deny others the right to deny our dearest beliefs".<ref>{{cite web | last = Glass | first = Charles | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Free Speech Is For Everyone- Even David Irving | work = | publisher = The Independent - UK |date=November 05 | url = http://www.rense.com/general69/crank.htm | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-03-23 }}</ref> Opponents of Irving’s imprisonment argue that free speech should be applied to everyone regardless of their viewpoints and that it is a slippery slope to imprison someone due to the lack of factual accuracy or unpopularity of their opinions.<ref>{{cite web | last = Shermer | first = Michael | authorlink = Michael Shermer | coauthors = | title = Free speech, even if it hurts | work = | publisher = La Times |date=February 2006| url = http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-shermer22feb22,0,2752813.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-03-23 }}</ref> It has also been argued that by imprisoning Irving the Austrian courts made a martyr out of Irving and did more damage than good, and that it would have been better to simply "let him go home and let him continue talking to six people in a basement," and "let him fade into obscurity where he belongs".<ref>{{cite web | last = O'Neill | first = Brendan | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = 'Irving? Let the guy go home' | work = | publisher = BBC news |date=January 06 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4578534.stm | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-03-23 }}</ref> ==Post-release== Irving appeared in Hungary in 2007, where on [[15 March]] he took part in and gave a speech for a far-right nationalist rally.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6453183.stm - BBC News</ref> On [[18 May]] [[2007]], he was expelled from the 52nd Warsaw International Book Fair in Poland because books he brought there were deemed by the organizers as promoting Nazism and anti-Semitism, which is in violation of Polish law.<ref>[http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/18/europe/EU-GEN-Poland-Irving.php British writer David Irving asked to leave Polish book fair - International Herald Tribune<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Irving and [[British National Party|BNP]] leader [[Nick Griffin]] were invited to speak at a forum on free speech at the [[Oxford Union]] on [[26 November]] 2007, along with [[Anne Atkins]] and [[Evan Harris]].<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/7112480.stm - BBC News</ref> The debate took place after Oxford Union members voted in favour of it<ref>{{cite web | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/7110758.stm |title=BNP to speak to Oxford students | accessdate=2007-12-04}}</ref>, but was disrupted by protesters.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/7114343.stm - BBC News</ref> ==Bibliography== :: ''Note: Most of Irving's books are available in [[Portable Document Format|PDF]] as free downloads at his web site.'' ===Books=== * ''[[The Destruction of Dresden]]'' (1963) ISBN 0-7057-0030-5 * ''The Mare's Nest'' (1964) * ''The Virus House'' (1967) * ''The Destruction of Convoy PQ17'' (1967) * ''Accident — The Death of General Sikorski'' (1967) ISBN 0-7183-0420-9 * ''Breach of Security'' (1968) ISBN 0-7183-0101-3 * ''The Rise and Fall of the Luftwaffe'' (1973), a biography of [[Erhard Milch]] ISBN 0-316-43238-5 * ''[[Hitler's War]]'' (1977) * ''The Trail of the Fox'' (1977), a biography of [[Erwin Rommel]] ISBN 0-525-22200-6 * ''The War Path'' (1978) ISBN 0-670-74971-0 * ''The War Between the Generals'' (1981) * ''Uprising!'' (1981), ISBN 0-949667-91-9 * ''The Secret Diaries of Hitler’s Doctor'' (1983) ISBN 0-02-558250-X * ''The German Atomic Bomb: The History of Nuclear Research in Nazi Germany'' (1983) ISBN 0-306-80198-1 * ''Der Morgenthau Plan 1944-45'' (in [[German language|German]] only) (1986) * ''War Between the Generals'' (1986) ISBN 0-86553-069-6 * ''Hess, the Missing Years'' (1987) Macmillan, ISBN 0-333-45179-1 * ''Churchill's War'' (1987) ISBN 0-947117-56-3 * ''Destruction of Convoy PQ-17'' (1968), reprint (1989) ISBN 0-312-91152-1 * ''Göring'' (1989), biography of [[Hermann Göring]] ISBN 0-688-06606-2 * ''Das Reich hört mit'' (in German only) (1989) * ''Hitler's War'' (1991), revised edition, incorporating ''The War Path'' * ''Apocalypse 1945, The Destruction of Dresden'', updated and revised edition, (1995) * ''Der unbekannte Dr. Goebbels'' (in German only) (1995) * ''Goebbels — Mastermind of the Third Reich'' (1996) ISBN 1-872197-13-2 * ''Nuremberg: The Last Battle'' (1996) ISBN 1-872197-16-7 * ''Churchill's War Volume II: Triumph in Adversity'' (1997) ISBN 1-872197-15-9 * ''Rommel: The Trail of the Fox'', Wordsworth Military Library; Limited edition (1999) ISBN 1-84022-205-0 * ''Hitler's War and the War Path'' (2002) ISBN 1-872197-10-8 ===Translations=== * ''The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Keitel'' (1965) * ''The Memoirs of General Gehlen'' (1972) ===Monographs=== * ''The Night the Dams Burst'' (1973) * ''Von Guernica bis Vietnam'' (in German only) (1982) * ''Die deutsche Ostgrenze'' (in German only) (1990) ===Collected articles in German=== * ''Und Deutschlands Städte starben nicht'' (1963) * ''Nürnberg: Die letzte Schlacht'' (1979) * ''Wie krank war Hitler wirklich?'' (1980) ==Notes== {{reflist|2}} ==References== *''Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory'' by [[Deborah E. Lipstadt]], New York : Free Press; Toronto : Maxwell Macmillan Canada; New York ; Oxford : Maxwell Macmillan International, 1993, ISBN 0-02-919235-8. *"The Devil in the Details" by [[Gordon A. Craig]] pages 8-14 from ''New York Review of Books'', [[September 19]], [[1996]] *''Lying About Hitler: History, Holocaust, and the David Irving Trial'' by [[Richard J. Evans]], New York : Basic Books, 2001, ISBN 0-465-02152-2: The author was a major expert witness at the trial, and this book presents both his view of the trial, and much of his expert witness report, including his research on the Dresden death count. *''The Holocaust on Trial'' by D. D. Guttenplan, New York: Norton, 2001, ISBN 0-393-02044-4. *''David Irving's Hitler : a faulty history dissected, two essays'' by [[Eberhard Jäckel]]; translation and comments by H. David Kirk; with a foreword by [[Robert Fulford]], Port Angeles, Wash. : Ben-Simon Publications, 1993. ISBN 0-914539-08-6 *''The Case for Auschwitz: Evidence from the Irving Trial'' by Robert Jan Van Pelt, Bloomington, IN : Indiana University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-253-34016-0: Van Pelt was another expert witness at the trial, focussing on Auschwitz. *''Selling Hitler : The Story Of The Hitler Diaries'' by [[Robert Harris (novelist)|Robert Harris]], London : Faber and Faber, 1986 ISBN 0-571-14726-7. *''Denying History: Who Says Holocaust Never Happened and Why Do They Say It'' by Michael Shermer & Alex Grobman; foreword by Arthur Hertzberg, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000, ISBN 0-520-21612-1. *“Two Alibies for the Inhumanities: A. R. Butz, "''The Hoax of the Twentieth Century''" and David Irving, "''Hitler's War''"” by Bradley Smith pages 327-335 from ''German Studies Review'', Volume 1, Issue # 3. October 1978. *[http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/i/irving.david/press/Electric_Telegraph.961109 Ann Tusa review, ''Guilty of Falsifying History'', of Irving's Nurenburg: The last Battle"] *''The Hitler of History'' by [[John Lukacs]], New York : A. A. Knopf, 1997, ISBN 0-679-44649-4. *''History on Trial: My Day in Court with David Irving'' by Deborah E. Lipstadt, New York : Ecco, 2005, ISBN 0-06-059376-8. *"David Irving: The Big Oops" pages 221-236 from ''Explaining Hitler : the search for the origins of his evil'' by [[Ron Rosenbaum]] New York : Random House, 1998. ISBN 0-679-43151-9 *"Hitler and the Genesis of the 'Final Solution': An Assessment of David Irving's Theses" pages 73-125 from ''Yad Vashem Studies'' by [[Martin Broszat]], Volume 13, 1979; reprinted pages 390-429 in ''Aspects of the Third Reich'' edited by H.W. Koch, London: Macmillan, 1985, ISBN 0-333-35272-6; originally published as "Hitler und die Genesis der "Endlösung". Aus Anlaß der Thesen von David Irving", pages 739-775 from ''Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte'', Volume 25, 1977. *"The Selling of Adolf Hitler: David Irving's Hitler's War" pages 169-99 from ''Central European History'' by Charles W. Sydnor, Jr, Issue # 2, Volume 12, June 1979. * Felix Müller - Das Verbotsgesetz im Spannungsverhältnis zur Meinungsfreiheit. Eine verfassungsrechtliche Untersuchung; Verlag Österreich, 2005, 238 Seiten, br., ISBN 3-7046-4685-7 *Schiedel, Heribert. ''Irving sitzt in Österreich'' in ''Jungle World'', [[23 November]] 2005. ISSN 1613-0766 *''[[Wikisource:David Irving vs Penguin Books and Deborah Lipstadt]]'' ==See also== *[[Historical revisionism (political)|Historical revisionism]] *[[Freedom of speech]] *[[Holocaust denial]] *[[Faurisson affair]] *[[Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.|Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. (documentary by Errol Morris)]] ==External links== {{sisterlinks}} *[http://www.fpp.co.uk/ David Irving's web site] *[http://www.codoh.com/irving/irving.html David Irving Archive] from [http://www.codoh.com codoh.com] *[http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/i/irving-david/ Collection of Irving materials] from [http://www.nizkor.org nizkor.org] *[http://www.holocaust-history.org/irving-david/ Collection of Irving materials] from [http://www.holocaust-history.org/ holocaust-history.org] *[http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/irving.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=2&item=Irving David Irving file] (from the Anti-Defamation League) *[http://www.tau.ac.il/Anti-Semitism/irving.html From Revisionism to Holocaust Denial - David Irving as a Case Study] by [[Roni Stauber]] *[http://www.davidirving.8m.com/ David Irving & Revisionism] *[http://www.posner.com/articles/irving_sunday_observer.htm "The World According to David Irving"] by [[Gerald Posner]], ''The Sunday Observer'' (London), [[19 March]] [[2000]] *[http://webjcli.ncl.ac.uk/1997/issue4/butler4.html Holocaust Denial in England] *[http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051125/wl_canada_nm/canada_irving_austria_col_1 Irving Awaits Trial in Jail] ([[25 November]] [[2005]]) *[http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/12/02/wrevis02.xml Nazi historian Irving finds his books in Austrian jail library] [[2 December]] [[2005]] *[http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/i/irving-david/dawidowicz/dawidowicz-on-irving.html "This Wicked Man Hitler" Dawidowicz on David Irving] by [[Lucy Dawidowicz]] *[http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/02/20/austria.irving.trial.ap/index.html Holocaust denier: 3-year jail term] *[http://fmueller.net/diss-zsfg_en.html Felix Mueller - The Nazi Prohibition Act in Relation to Freedom of Speech - Legal Background to the Irving Trial in Austria - February/March 2006] *[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4578534.stm 'Irving? Let the guy go home'] by [[Deborah Lipstadt]] *[http://www.robertfulford.com/IrvingHolocaustDenial.html David Irving and Holocaust Denial] by [[Robert Fulford]] *[http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewPrint&articleId=4473 "Springtime for Hitler—and the History Channel"] - about the [[History Channel]] hiring Irving as historian for a documentary about World War II, by [[Mark Greif]] in [[The American Prospect]], ([[November 6]], 1999) *[http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,402404,00.html "Pity for this Man is Out of Place"] by [[Hans-Ulrich Wehler]] ===Irving v. Penguin Books Limited and Deborah E. Lipstadt trial=== *[http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2000/115.html Judgement by the Hon. Mr. Justice Gray] in Irving v. Penguin Books Limited, Deborah E. Lipstadt [2000] EWHC QB 115 ([[11 April]], [[2000]]), published as ''The Irving Judgment'' by Penguin, ISBN 0-14-029899-1 *[http://www.fpp.co.uk/Legal/Penguin/index.html David Irving vs Penguin & Deborah Lipstadt Trial] - a collection of materials at Irving's web site *[http://www.holocaustdenialontrial.org/ Holocaust Denial on Trial] by [[Emory University]] *[http://www.holocaustdenialontrial.org/evidence/evanscontent.asp Expert Witness Report by Richard J. Evans] Complete text of Professor Evans' lengthy report on Irving's work in a number of areas *[http://www.guardian.co.uk/irving/ The Irving-Lipstadt case, special report from the Guardian newspaper] *[http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/04/europe/EU_GEN_Austria_Holocaust_Denial.php International Herald Tribune Article] {{DEFAULTSORT:Irving, David}} [[Category:English biographers]] [[Category:English journalists]] [[Category:Nazi era scholars and writers]] [[Category:Holocaust deniers]] [[Category:Alumni of Imperial College London]] [[Category:People from Essex]] [[Category:1938 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Historical revisionism (political)]] [[Category:British people imprisoned abroad]] [[Category:Prisoners and detainees of Austria]] [[ca:David Irving]] [[cs:David Irving]] [[cy:David Irving]] [[da:David Irving]] [[de:David Irving]] [[es:David Irving]] [[fr:David Irving]] [[hsb:David Irving]] [[he:דייוויד אירווינג]] [[it:David Irving]] [[jv:David Irving]] [[nl:David Irving]] [[ja:デイヴィッド・アーヴィング]] [[no:David Irving]] [[pl:David Irving]] [[pt:David Irving]] [[ru:Ирвинг, Дэвид]] [[sk:David Irving]] [[sr:Дејвид Ирвинг]] [[fi:David Irving]] [[sv:David Irving]] [[uk:Ірвінг Девід]] [[ur:ڈیوڈ ارونگ]]