''David Irving v Penguin Books and Deborah Lipstadt'' is a case in

English law English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures. Principal elements of English law Although the common law has, historically, b ...

against American historian

Deborah Lipstadt Deborah Esther Lipstadt (born March 18, 1947) is an American historian, best known as author of the books '' Denying the Holocaust'' (1993), ''History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier'' (2005), ''The Eichmann Trial'' (2011), and ...

and her British publisher

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.High Court of Justice The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC ( Engl ...

by the British author

David Irving David John Cawdell Irving (born 24 March 1938) is an English author and Holocaust denier who has written on the military and political history of World War II, with a focus on Nazi Germany. His works include '' The Destruction of Dresden'' (1 ...

in 1996, asserting that Lipstadt had

libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defi ...

led him in her 1993 book '' Denying the Holocaust''. The court ruled that Irving's claim of libel relating to

Holocaust denial Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements: ...

was not valid under

English defamation law Modern libel and slander laws in many countries are originally descended from English defamation law. The history of defamation law in England is somewhat obscure; civil actions for damages seem to have been relatively frequent as far back as t ...

because Lipstadt's claim that he had deliberately distorted evidence had been shown to be

substantially true Substantial truth is a legal doctrine affecting libel and slander laws in common law jurisdictions such as the United States or the United Kingdom. United States law Under the United States law, a statement cannot be held to be actionable as slan ...

. English libel law puts the burden of proof on the defence, meaning that it was up to Lipstadt and her publisher to prove that her claims of Irving's deliberate misrepresentation of evidence to conform to his ideological viewpoints were substantially true. Lipstadt hired British lawyer

Anthony Julius Anthony Robert Julius (born 16 July 1956) is a British solicitor advocate known for being Diana, Princess of Wales' divorce lawyer and for representing Deborah Lipstadt. He is a partner at the law firm Mishcon de Reya. He holds the chair in Law ...

while Penguin hired libel experts Kevin Bays and Mark Bateman of media law firm

Davenport Lyons Davenport Lyons was a London-based law firm that entered into administration on 25 April 2014. Although most of their work concerned corporate acquisitions, in 2007 their actions against file sharers became news in the United Kingdom. This subj ...

. Richard J. Evans, an established historian, was hired by the defence to serve as an expert witness. Evans spent two years examining Irving's work, and presented evidence of Irving's misrepresentations, including evidence that Irving had knowingly used forged documents as source material. Of utmost importance was the role played by another expert witness for the defence, the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

historian

Christopher Browning Christopher Robert Browning (born May 22, 1944) is an American historian who is the professor emeritus of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). A specialist on the Holocaust, Browning is known for his work documenting ...

. Upon mutual agreement, the case was argued as a

bench trial A bench trial is a trial by judge, as opposed to a trial by jury. The term applies most appropriately to any administrative hearing in relation to a summary offense to distinguish the type of trial. Many legal systems (Roman, Islamic) use bench ...

before Mr. Justice Gray, who produced a written judgment 349 pages long in favour of the defendants, in which he detailed Irving's systematic distortion of the historical record of the Holocaust and Hitler's role therein.

History

In 1993, Free Press published Professor

's book '' Denying the Holocaust: the Growing Assault on Truth and Memory''.The book was first published in America in 1993 () by Free Press, a division of Simon and Schuster. It was republished in the United Kingdom in 1994 () by Plume, a division of Penguin – whom Irving sued. In it she described and condemned the phenomenon of

and referred to

as a prominent Holocaust denier. One of the passages Irving later objected to was: In November 1994, Lipstadt had her first direct encounter with Irving at DeKalb College in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

, while she was lecturing on Holocaust denial. Irving had listened to the lecture while sitting in the lecture hall and when it was over, did his best to disrupt Lipstadt by challenging her to a debate, waving about a large amount of money in his hands and announcing he had $1,000 to give to her or anyone who could find a written order from Hitler for the Holocaust. Lipstadt ignored Irving, despite his repeated attempts to draw her into a debate. After Lipstadt's lecture had ended, Irving announced that Lipstadt's refusal to debate him or produce a written order from Hitler for the Holocaust, despite his promise to pay $1,000 on the spot, proved that her criticism of him in '' Denying the Holocaust'' was invalid and he handed out free copies of his Göring biography to Lipstadt's students.

Libel suits

On 5 September 1996, Irving filed a libel suit concerning Lipstadt's book in English court. He named in his suit Lipstadt and

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Plume had published a British edition of her book. Irving also sued Holocaust historian Gitta Sereny for libel for an article she had written about him entitled "Spin Time for Hitler" in ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'' newspaper on 21 April 1996, although the case did not go to court. In letters of 25 and 28 October 1997, Irving threatened to sue John Lukacs for libel if he published his book, ''The Hitler of History'', without removing certain passages highly critical of Irving's work. Evans (2001), page 27 The American edition of ''The Hitler of History'' was published in 1997 with the allegedly libellous passages but because of Irving's legal threats, no British edition of ''The Hitler of History'' was published until 2001. When the latter was published, as a result of the threat of legal action by Irving, the passages containing the criticism of Irving's historical methods were expunged by the publisher, to the disappointment of many reviewers. In her book, ''Denying the Holocaust'', Lipstadt called Irving a Holocaust denier and falsifier, as well as a bigot, and wrote that he manipulated and distorted real documents. Irving claimed to have been libelled on the grounds that Lipstadt had falsely labelled him a Holocaust denier and falsely claimed that he had falsified evidence or deliberately misinterpreted it, by which false accusations his reputation as an historian was defamed. 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 in the US where the burden is on the plaintiff. He was able to file the lawsuit in England because the book was published there (before 1996, if Irving had wished to sue Lipstadt, he would have had to launch his legal action in an American court; English libel law applies only to alleged acts of libel committed in England and Wales). As explained by the trial judge, Mr Justice Gray,

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.

Legal issues

Irving's decision to file his lawsuit in the English courts gave him the upper hand by shifting the burden of proof. Under American libel law, a

public figure A public figure is a person who has achieved notoriety, prominence or fame within a society, whether through achievement, luck, action, or in some cases through no purposeful action of their own, In the context of defamation actions (libel and ...

who claims to have been libelled must prove that the statements in question are defamatory and false, and were made with

actual malice Actual malice in United States law is a legal requirement imposed upon public officials or public figures when they file suit for libel (defamatory printed communications). Compared to other individuals who are less well known to the general pu ...

or with reckless disregard for their truth or falsity. Reliance on reliable sources (even if they prove false) is a valid defence.

English libel law Modern libel and slander laws in many countries are originally descended from English defamation law. The history of defamation law in England is somewhat obscure; civil actions for damages seem to have been relatively frequent as far back as th ...

requires only that the

claimant A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the ...

show that the statements are defamatory. The burden of proof falls on the defendant to prove that the statements were

and reliance on sources is irrelevant. If the defence could not prove the defamatory content of her words to be substantially true, they would be found guilty of libel. Lipstadt feared that such a verdict would confer legitimacy upon Irving's claims and felt compelled to defend herself. Lipstadt (2005), page 31 One commentator, who had expressed the opinion that Irving "could have been ignored", later wrote "Lipstadt had no choice but to defend herself in court". To succeed with a justification defence, the defence would need to prove as substantially true all of the defamatory claims made by Lipstadt against Irving. The judge understood these claims to be,

Preparation

Defence

Deborah Lipstadt Remembering the Shoah panel

Lipstadt hired the British solicitor

to present her case. Penguin hired

libel specialists Kevin Bays and Mark Bateman. Together they briefed the libel barrister,

Richard Rampton Richard Rampton KC (born 8 January 1941) is a British libel lawyer. He has been involved in several high-profile cases including '' Irving v. Penguin Books and Lipstadt'', where he defended Deborah Lipstadt and Penguin Books against David Irvin ...

QC. Penguin also instructed Heather Rogers as junior barrister. Penguin knew that they were going to have to dig deep to defend against Irving's claims. Lipstadt's claims would need to be backed up by experts and Penguin would foot the bill, retaining Professor Richard J. Evans, historian and Professor of Modern History at

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, as their lead witness. Lipstadt (2005), page 42 As an expert witness, Evans was expected to prepare a report and to be cross-examined. Also working as expert witnesses were the American Holocaust historian

, the German historian

Peter Longerich Peter Longerich (born 1955) is a German professor of history and German historian. He is regarded by fellow historians, including Ian Kershaw, Richard Evans, Timothy Snyder, Mark Roseman and Richard Overy, as one of the leading German authori ...

, the Dutch architectural expert Robert Jan van Pelt and the Political Science Professor of the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...

. The legal strategy was to # Provide evidence that the Holocaust happened, with a specific focus on the evidence for: the existence and use of gas chambers; and a co-ordinated Nazi plan, directed by Hitler, for the extermination of Jews. The goal was not to prove the Holocaust, but to show that any reasonable and fair-minded historian would not doubt it, and that Irving must therefore not be reasonable or fair-minded. # Document Irving's political views and associations with extremist,

neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), attack ...

groups. # Examine Irving's work to see whether Irving did indeed falsify the historical record, as Lipstadt had claimed he did. Van Pelt, Browning and Longerich were assigned to the first part. Funke wrote a report for the second and Evans the third. Evans (2001), pp. 29–30 The lawyers for Lipstadt ( Mishcon de Reya) and Penguin (Davenport Lyons) worked closely, for the most part agreeing on the way to deal with the claim. One minor setback came when Penguin and their lawyers Davenport Lyons were keen that the information provided by the experts they had instructed be incorporated in an amended defence (which Heather Rogers drafted). Initially Mishcon were unpersuaded but Davenport Lyons were insistent, feeling that the amended document provided a clear statement of the strong evidence against Irving. The decision was eventually left to Richard Rampton and Heather Rogers as they would be presenting the case and both were in favour of amending; Mishcon relented. The testimony of van Pelt and Evans proved to be the most substantial. During cross-examination, Irving was unable to undermine either Evans, who had been highly critical of his scholarship, or van Pelt, whose report concentrated on the evidence that contradicted the Holocaust deniers' arguments about

Auschwitz Birkenau Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed int ...

. Evans was assisted by two postgraduates, Thomas Skelton-Robinson and Nik Wachsmann, who acted as researchers; Evans and his students took 18 months to write a 740-page report, finishing it in the summer of 1999.

Settlement offers

A short time later, Irving privately approached Penguin and offered to drop them from his lawsuit if they would pull the book from publication in the UK and destroy all of the remaining copies, publicly disavow all of Lipstadt's conclusions and make a charitable donation of £500 in the name of Irving's daughter (who was disabled). He also suggested to Penguin that they keep any terms confidential because he had no intention of settling with Lipstadt. Bays and Bateman made clear that the publisher rejected his terms. Three weeks later, Irving officially offered to settle with both parties, the terms being that the book be withdrawn from circulation, both parties apologise and (each) make a £500 donation. Lipstadt instructed her lawyers to reject the offer. Irving later claimed without evidence that Penguin wanted to settle the case (not specifying whether this applied to one of his two "offers" or both of them) and were somehow pressured by Dr. Lipstadt not to;

D. D. Guttenplan Don David Guttenplan is editor of ''The Nation''. A former London correspondent of the magazine, he wrote ''The Holocaust on Trial'', a book about the '' Irving v Penguin Books and Lipstadt'' libel case while based in the UK's capital. Early lif ...

's book outlined how Penguin dismissed Irving for several reasons, including contempt for him and dismay over the certainty that the publisher would have been called by Lipstadt's lawyers as plaintiff advocates if they had settled the lawsuit.

Trial

Testimony

Evans

Evans and his two assistants spent more than two years examining Irving's work. This research found that Irving had misrepresented historical evidence to support his prejudices. In his report and testimony, 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. His conclusions were that

Not one of rving'sbooks, 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.

Bundesarchiv Bild 183-C16768A, Hans Heinrich Lammers

During the trial, Evans was cross-examined by Irving. D.D. Guttenplan later wrote that the cross-examination of Evans by Irving contained a high degree of personal antagonism between the two men. Such was the degree of antagonism that Irving challenged Evans on very minor points, such as Evans doubting that a 1938 German plebiscite in which the Nazi regime received 98.8% of the vote was fair. A subject that much engaged Irving and Evans in a debate was a 1942 memo by the Chief of the Reich Chancellory

Hans Lammers Hans Heinrich Lammers (27 May 1879 – 4 January 1962) was a German jurist and prominent Nazi politician. From 1933 until 1945 he served as Chief of the Reich Chancellery under Adolf Hitler. During the 1948–1949 Ministries Trial, Lammers was ...

to the ''Reich'' Justice Minister

Franz Schlegelberger Louis Rudolph Franz Schlegelberger (23 October 187614 December 1970) was State Secretary in the German Reich Ministry of Justice (RMJ) who served as Justice Minister during the Third Reich. He was the highest-ranking defendant at the Judges' Tr ...

in which Lammers wrote that Hitler ordered him to put the "Jewish Question" on the "back-burner" until after the war. Evans chose to accept the interpretation of the memo put forward by

Eberhard Jäckel Eberhard Jäckel (; 29 June 1929 – 15 August 2017) was a German historian. In the 1980s he was a principal protagonist in the Historians' Dispute (''Historikerstreit'') over how to incorporate Nazi Germany and the Holocaust into German hist ...

in the 1970s; Irving chose to interpret the memo literally, and taunted Evans, saying " is a terrible problem, is it not, that we are faced with this tantalizing plate of crumbs and morsels of what should have provided the final smoking gun, and nowhere the whole way through the archives do we find even one item that we do not have to interpret or read between the lines of, but we do have in the same chain of evidence documents which... quite clearly specifically show Hitler intervening in the other sense?". In response, Evans stated "No, I do not accept that at all. It is because you want to interpret

euphemism A euphemism () is an innocuous word or expression used in place of one that is deemed offensive or suggests something unpleasant. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the user wishes ...

s as being literal and that is what the whole problem is. Every time there is an euphemism, Mr. Irving... or a camouflage piece of statement or language about

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Afric ...

, you want to treat it as the literal truth, because it serves your purpose of trying to exculpate Hitler. That is part of... the way you manipulate and distort the documents". In 2001, Evans described his impression of Irving after being cross-examined by him as "He rvingwas a bit like a dim student who didn't listen. If he didn't get the answer he wanted, he just repeated the question."

Longerich

Longerich testified to the meaning of the often euphemistic language used by German officials during the war regarding the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question", and argued that from 1941 onwards, the term "resettlement in the East" was a metaphor for deportation to the death camps. During his exchanges with Irving, Longerich insisted quite firmly that the term "resettlement" was only a euphemism for extermination and nothing more, and used the Posen speech given by

Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...

in October 1943 as a proof of the genocidal policy of the German state. Irving by contrast argued for a literal interpretation of the phrase "resettlement in the East".

Browning

During his testimony and a cross-examination by Irving, Browning countered Irving's suggestion that the last chapter of the Holocaust has yet to be written (implying there were grounds for doubting the reality of the Holocaust) by replying: "We are still discovering things about the Roman Empire. There is no last chapter in history." Browning countered Irving's argument that the lack of a written ''

Führer ( ; , spelled or ''Fuhrer'' when the umlaut is not available) is a German word meaning "leader" or " guide". As a political title, it is strongly associated with the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. Nazi Germany cultivated the ("leader princip ...

'' order proves the alleged non-occurrence of the Holocaust by arguing that, although no such order was ever written down, Hitler had almost certainly made statements to his leading subordinates indicating his wishes in regards to the Jews of Europe during the war, thus rendering the need for a written order irrelevant. Browning testified that several leading experts on Nazi Germany believe that there was no written ''Führer'' order for the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question", but no historian doubts the reality of the Holocaust. Browning went on to assert that Irving was attempting to falsely equate doubts about the existence of a written ''Führer'' order with doubts about the Holocaust. Browning used to support his thesis the example of Hitler's secret speech to his ''

Gauleiter A ''Gauleiter'' () was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a '' Gau'' or '' Reichsgau''. ''Gauleiter'' was the third-highest rank in the Nazi political leadership, subordinate only to '' Reichsleiter'' and to ...

s'' on 12 December 1941, in which Hitler strongly alluded to genocide as the "Final Solution". Browning testified that the

Madagascar Plan The Madagascar Plan was a plan to forcibly relocate the Jewish population of Europe to the island of Madagascar which was proposed by the Nazi German government. Franz Rademacher, head of the Jewish Department of the German Foreign Office, p ...

of 1940–41 was "fantastic" and "bizarre", but countered Irving's suggestion that this proves the alleged impossibility of the Holocaust by stating: "...I do think they took it seriously. It is fantastic, but of course, Auschwitz is fantastic, too". Browning testified that the Madagascar Plan was not "Hitler's pipe dream" as Irving claimed, and that "I would not call it a pipe dream, because I think, if England had surrendered, they would have tried to do it. They would have tried to implement it just as they tried to implement the Lublin reservation plan rowning_was_referring_to_the_Nisko_Plan_here.html" ;"title="Nisko_Plan.html" ;"title="rowning was referring to the Nisko Plan">rowning was referring to the Nisko Plan here">Nisko_Plan.html" ;"title="rowning was referring to the Nisko Plan">rowning was referring to the Nisko Plan hereand just as they tried and succeeded in implementing the death camp plans." Browning categorically rejected Irving's claim that there was no reliable statistical information on the size of the pre-war Jewish population in Europe or on the killing processes and argued that the only reason historians debate whether five or six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust is due to a lack of access to archives in the former Soviet Union. Likewise, Browning argued that it is possible to become soaked in human blood after shooting people at close range based on his research for his 1992 book ''Ordinary Men'' and dismissed Irving's argument that accounts of German personnel being soaked in blood were improbable because it is not possible to have a blood-soaked uniform after shooting people at close range. Browning responded to Irving's claim that because Browning had done work for the Yad Vashem centre in Jerusalem that made him an "Israeli agent" and thereby compromised his scholarly abilities by stating: "If that was the case, then since I had been at the [US] Holocaust Museum, I would also have been an agent of the American government, and since I have received scholarships in Germany, I would be an agent of the German government, so I must be a very duplicitous fellow to be able to follow these regimes." Irving seemed anxious for Browning's approval, and Browning later recalled that Irving behaved as if the two of them were on "a joint journey of exploration and discovery."

Van Pelt

Robert Jan van Pelt, an architectural historian, was engaged by the defence as an expert witness. He prepared a 700-page report, in which he examined the evidence for the existence of the

gas chambers A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or other animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. History ...

at Auschwitz. He also defended himself on cross-examination. Irving floundered against van Pelt's deep knowledge of the mechanics of Auschwitz Birkenau. Rampton and van Pelt had bonded on a trip to Auschwitz with Rogers and Bateman and they had spent hours talking through Irving's claims. Van Pelt took the three lawyers and Deborah Lipstadt around Birkenau showing them how Irving's claims were false and the mistake he had made about the physical layout. He later adapted the report he wrote into book form.

Claimant

In the trial, Irving represented himself. He called the American

Kevin B. MacDonald Kevin B. MacDonald (born January 24, 1944) is an American antisemitic conspiracy theorist, white supremacist, and retired professor of evolutionary psychology at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). In 2008, the CSULB academic sen ...

, an evolutionary psychologist, to testify on his behalf. Irving made much of the statement by the American historian

Arno J. Mayer Arno Joseph Mayer (born June 19, 1926), is an American historian who specializes in modern Europe, diplomatic history, and the Holocaust, and is currently the Dayton-Stockton Professor of History, Emeritus, at Princeton University. Early life ...

, who Irving went to pains to point out was both a Marxist and a man who would have been considered Jewish in Nazi racial theory, in his 1988 book ''Why Did the Heavens Not Darken?'', that most of the people who died at Auschwitz were the victims of disease rather than murder. In response, Peter Longerich argued that Mayer did not deny the Holocaust in his book, and that he was simply wrong about more Jews dying of "natural" as opposed to "unnatural" causes of death at Auschwitz. Irving also subpoenaed the diplomatic historian Donald Cameron Watt and the military historian

John Keegan Sir John Desmond Patrick Keegan (15 May 1934 – 2 August 2012) was an English military historian, lecturer, author and journalist. He wrote many published works on the nature of combat between prehistory and the 21st century, covering land, ...

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 Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recog ...

". In his closing statement, Irving claimed to have been a victim of an international, mostly Jewish, conspiracy for more than three decades.

Ruling

The judgment was presented on 11 April 2000, although the lawyers had received the decision 24 hours earlier. To the large crowd assembled, the judge read portions of his written judgment. The written judgment came out to 349 pages. Following an introduction and a discussion of the complaint, more than three-quarters of the written judgment is devoted to an analysis of all the evidence that was presented. Only then does the judge get to his findings on the evidence. The judge deems that "in the course of his prolonged cross-examination, Evans justified each and every one of the criticisms on which the Defendants have chosen to rely." ''Irving v Lipstadt'' (2000), Paragraph 13.10 On the issue of Auschwitz, the judge states "My conclusion is that the various categories of evidence do 'converge' in the manner suggested by the Defendants... Having considered the various arguments advanced by Irving to assail the effect of the convergent evidence relied upon by the Defendants, it is my conclusion that no objective, fair-minded historian would have serious cause to doubt that there were gas chambers at Auschwitz and that they were operated on a substantial scale to kill hundreds of thousands of Jews," ''Irving v Lipstadt'' (2000), Paragraph 13.91 and "it follows that it is my conclusion that Irving's denials of these propositions were contrary to the evidence." ''Irving v Lipstadt'' (2000), Paragraph 13.98 Furthermore, "the allegation that Irving is a racist is also established." ''Irving v Lipstadt'' (2000), Paragraph 13.106 Ultimately, the judge ruled that the defence succeeded in proving everything they claimed in trial but for two assertions: that Irving had broken an agreement with the Moscow archives and mishandled the glass plates containing Goebbels' diaries, and that he hung a portrait of Hitler above his desk. However, the judge pointed out that "the charges against Irving that have been proved to be true are of sufficient gravity", that those two claims mentioned above would "not have any material effect on Irving's reputation." The judge decided this in accordance with section 5 of the

Defamation Act 1952 The Defamation Act 1952 (15 & 16 Geo 6 & 1 Eliz 2 c 66) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. This Act implemented recommendations contained in the Report of the Porter Committee. The recommendation made by the Committee in relatio ...

, which states that a justification defence can succeed despite the failure to prove minor assertions. The judge summarised his findings as follows:

Further events

Appeal

Irving subsequently appealed to the Civil Division of the

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much ...

. On 20 July 2001, his application for appeal was denied by Lords Justices Pill, Mantell, and

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.EWCA Civ 1197
/ref>

Bankruptcy

In light of the evidence presented at the trial, a number of Irving's 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 (between one and two million pounds), which ruined him financially and forced him into

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debto ...

in 2002.

2006 arrest

In 2006, Irving pleaded

guilty Guilty or The Guilty may refer to: * Guilt (emotion), an experience that occurs when a person believes they have violated a moral standard Law *Culpability, the degree to which an agent can be held responsible for action or inaction *Guilt (law) ...

to the charge of denying the Holocaust in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, where

is a crime and where an arrest warrant was issued based on speeches he made in 1989. Irving knew that the warrant had been issued and that he was banned from Austria, but chose to go to Austria anyway. After he was arrested, Irving claimed in his plea that he changed his opinions on the Holocaust, "I said that then based on my knowledge at the time, but by 1991 when I came across the Eichmann papers, I wasn't saying that anymore and I wouldn't say that now. The Nazis did murder millions of Jews." Upon hearing of Irving's sentence, Lipstadt 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."

Reaction

Media response

The case was often referred to by the media as "history on trial." The response to the verdict was overwhelmingly positive. Some saw the case as a vindication of the UK's strict libel laws. Others noted that Justice Gray "indicated that he did not 'regard it as being a part' of his function 'as the trial judge to make findings of fact as to what did and what did not occur during the Nazi regime in Germany', but he then spent hundreds of pages arguing about his position on such issues," claiming that it was the overly-strict libel laws that forced a judge to determine historical fact. Available for fre
here
/ref> A minority of reporters who covered the case were either sympathetic to Irving (for his general career, not for his denial) or non-fans of Lipstadt (one reporter called her boring and said people would not want to hear from her when the trial was concluded); in his book on the trial, Richard J. Evans noted that some articles assumed that Lipstadt was suing Irving even though the plaintiff's name appears first in the court filing and they could have figured this out, and also that Lipstadt was accused of "trying to silence" Irving by launching a defence against Irving's own lawsuit (a lawsuit that would have ended in Lipstadt being silenced in the UK by having her book removed from circulation if Irving had won the case). In 2005,

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...

planned to cover Dr. Lipstadt's book on the trial, ''History on Trial: My Day in Court with David Irving'' via its Book TV programme, but the cable network was heavily criticized when it was revealed that they had planned to put together a de facto debate between Dr. Lipstadt and Irving, by airing a new speech by Irving that they'd arranged with him to videotape, after an older one by Lipstadt (the network claimed this was going to be done for "balance"); when Lipstadt told C-SPAN she would not appear on the show under those circumstances, C-SPAN originally told her they would air Irving's speech by itself, but C-SPAN ended up cancelling this planned programme and instead aired a special that focused on how the trial was viewed by ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

'' reporter

T. R. Reid T. R. Reid (born Thomas Roy Reid III in 1944) is an American reporter, documentary film correspondent, and author. He has also been a frequent guest on National Public Radio (NPR)'s ''Morning Edition''. Reid currently lives in Denver, Colorado. ...

and included clips of both Lipstadt and Irving.

Portrayal

In December 2000, an episode of PBS's ''

Nova A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramat ...

'', entitled "Holocaust on Trial", focused on the case. Produced concurrently with the actual trial, the programme's production staff frequently visited the courtroom. As video cameras were not allowed in the courtroom, the events in the trial were re-enacted for television. Irving was played by British actor

John Castle John Michael Frederick Castle (born 14 January 1940) is an English actor. He is best known for his film and television work, most notably playing Bill in Michelangelo Antonioni's '' Blowup'' (1966) and Geoffrey in '' The Lion in Winter'' (19 ...

. A team of historians were employed to gather the material necessary for the episode. The programme was almost completed when the verdict for the real trial was handed down. It also featured interviews with David Cesarani,

Raul Hilberg Raul Hilberg (June 2, 1926 – August 4, 2007) was a Jewish Austrian-born American political scientist and historian. He was widely considered to be the preeminent scholar on the Holocaust. Christopher R. Browning has called him the founding fath ...

Richard Breitman Richard David Breitman, born in 1947, is an American historian best known for his study of the Holocaust. Richard Breitman is an American historian who has written extensively on modern German history, the Holocaust, American immigration and refuge ...

Richard Overy Richard James Overy (born 23 December 1947) is a British historian who has published on the history of World War II and Nazi Germany. In 2007, as ''The Times'' editor of ''Complete History of the World'', he chose the 50 key dates of world his ...

and

Hugh Trevor-Roper Hugh Redwald Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton (15 January 1914 – 26 January 2003) was an English historian. He was Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford. Trevor-Roper was a polemicist and essayist on a range of ...

. The rights to adapt the story of the trial into a film were optioned by

Participant Media Participant Media, LLC is an American Film industry, film production company founded in 2004 by Jeffrey Skoll, dedicated to entertainment intended to spur social change. The company finances and co-produces film and television content, as well as ...

. A script was written by David Hare. In April 2015, it was reported that

Hilary Swank Hilary Ann Swank (born July 30, 1974) is an American actress and film producer. She first became known in 1992 for her role on the television series '' Camp Wilder'' and made her film debut with a minor role in ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (1992 ...

and Tom Wilkinson had signed on to portray Dr. Lipstadt and David Irving in a feature film about the 2000 trial. In November 2015,

Rachel Weisz Rachel Hannah Weisz (; born 7 March 1970 ) is an English actress. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Laurence Olivier Award, and a BAFTA Award. Weisz began acting in British stage and television in the ...

joined the cast of the film (replacing Swank) along with

Timothy Spall Timothy Leonard Spall (born 27 February 1957) is an English actor and presenter. He became a household name in the UK after appearing as Barry Spencer Taylor in the 1983 ITV comedy-drama series '' Auf Wiedersehen, Pet''. Spall performed in '' ...

, who would play Irving while Wilkinson would play

Bleecker Street Bleecker Street is an east–west street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is most famous today as a Greenwich Village nightclub district. The street connects a neighborhood today popular for music venues and comedy, but which ...

released the film, titled ''Denial'', in the United States in September 2016.

Footnotes

References

* ''Irving v Penguin & Lipstadt'', (2000): Judgment of Mr. Justice Gray

BAILLI A bailiff (french: bailli, ) was the king's administrative representative during the ''ancien régime'' in northern France, where the bailiff was responsible for the application of justice and control of the administration and local finances in h ...

* * * * * * *

External links

Holocaust Denial On Trial: Holocaust Denial and the 2000 Libel Trial in the U.K.
a project of The Rabbi Donald A. Tam Institute for Jewish Studies at

Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...

.
Nova Online , Holocaust on Trial
the companion website to an episode of PBS's

NOVA A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramat ...

which focused on, and featured re-enactments of the case. *, a five-page feature by Salon.com about the case. *, a special report on the case by ''The Guardian''
''Voices on Antisemitism'' Interview with Deborah Lipstadt
from th
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
* *
Expert Report by Professor Richard Evans
Holocaust denial in the United Kingdom English defamation case law Antisemitism in England Holocaust studies David Irving High Court of Justice cases 2000 in case law 2000 in British law 2000 in England Penguin Books fr:Irving v Penguin Books Ltd {{Falsification of history