In many European countries, Holocaust denial is forbidden by law; many have also established broader legislation against racial and ethnic hatred. While outright Holocaust denial can be condemned easily, distortion and trivialisation are more challenging phenomena, and their subtle forms should be recognised first. They are phenomena that are frequently expressed in ways that cannot be punished by the law or similar measures. This is particularly relevant for Central and Eastern Europe, where societies are struggling to come to terms with their own pasts and find new expressions of national collective memory. The arguments of Holocaust revisionism ‘help’ them to deal with feelings of guilt for the diversity of their roles in the Holocaust. A danger exists that the original Holocaust denial laws, which protect historical facts from being misused, are being rewritten by governments to preserve national narratives on the Holocaust.[1] Holocaust distortion can be fought through critical debates (such as the ones surrounding Jan T. Gross’s books) through developing critical thinking, and through supporting Holocaust research and researchers in the lands where it happened to investigate previously neglected issues. Education and awareness-raising campaigns similar to those led by the NEVER AGAIN Association are also of great importance. Learn more about global efforts to combat Holocaust denial and distortion on IHRA’s websites: https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/task-force-against-holocaust-denial-and-distortion [1] https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/news-archive/holocaust-denial-laws-effective-tool-or-trojan-horse, retrieved on 17.01.2022.
In 1998, the best-known Holocaust denier, David Irving sued American scholar, Deborah Lipstadt and Penguin publishing house, claiming that they had libelled him in Lipstadt’s book, Denying the Holocaust. Irving used the libel laws of the United Kingdom to file a suit for defamation. In her book, Lipstadt accused Irving of misrepresenting the evidence and called him, among other things, ‘one of the most dangerous spokespersons for Holocaust denial’. She also highlighted his links with neo-Nazi figures and organisations. David Irving's purposes were to silence criticism and to publicise his ideas more widely via the court case. Holocaust deniers appeal to freedom of speech in cases of refusal to present and discuss their ideas on an equal footing with others. As a result of the work of Lipstadt and other historians, Irving's suit was dismissed. In November 2005, David Irving was arrested when he travelled to Austria to deliver a lecture to a far-right student group. He was accused of denying the existence of gas chambers at Auschwitz during a speech he had delivered and a subsequent interview in Austria in 1989. He spent a year in prison there before being granted early release.
Photo: Professor Deborah Lipstadt, Wikimedia Commons
Photo: David Irving on trial in Vienna 2006. Wikimedia commons.
Watch a 2016 biographical movie ‘Denial’ directed by Mick Jackson and written by David Hare, based on Deborah Lipstadt's 2005 book „History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier”. It presents the Irving v Penguin Books Ltd case, in which Lipstadt, a Holocaust scholar, was sued by Holocaust denier David Irving for libel: https://bleeckerstreetmedia.com/denial
David Irving met with outrage in Poland. “Searchlight”, Great Britain, 10.2010. PDF
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