International Campaign for Real History

Reports by expert witnesses were exchanged on July 30, 1999 in the Libel Action between DJC Irving v Penguin Books Ltd and Deborah Lipstadt
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LEADING the team of expert defence witnesses is Professor Richard sludgeEvans, author of the book In Defence of History. Charged with the mission of destroying Mr Irving's legitimacy as an historian, Evans has submitted a 740-page expert report, accompanied by sixteen ring-binders of documents, mostly extracted from the files voluntarily provided by Mr Irving under the process known as Discovery. The report is less impressive than it might seem, judged purely by its length and weight. A few days before the trial begins, Mr Irving invites the professor to answer some queries, based on the first fifty pages.

London, Thursday, December 30, 1999, 2:01 AM

Dear Sirs

Prof. Lipstadt

I have now commenced re-reading the Evans report, which is truly magisterial in its sweep and dive, and I trust you will not object if I ask you to pass these comments and queries on to your witness:

1. Can I take it that his assistants Wachsmann and Skelton-Robinson were both fully instructed in the implied undertaking as ordered by Master Trench particularly with respect to the diaries? Please confirm that this is so.

2. Will Professor Evans please be precise as to where I (page 16 at 1.5.8; and page 17 at 1.5.11) "on various occasions" "claimed" there was "a chain of documents [which] proved Hitler's ignorance" etc., with particular regard to the specificity of the wording he uses.

3. Please confirm that source note 6 on page 30 should actually read Hitler's War (Avon Books, New York, 1990; Focal Point, London, 1991), pages 6-7 and not as at present.

4. In regard to his remark in lines 1-2 of page 30 at 2.3.3 can Evans please check this page on my Website: http://www.fpp.co.uk/reviews/HaywardonHW.html and satisfy himself that am right? (I shall put this to him.)

5. In regard to his quotation of my Introduction on page 30 at 2.3.4, will Prof. Evans state if any other historians bothered to find, transcribe and use the Himmler telephone notes and pocket diaries before I published the extracts in 1977? (I shall put this to him).

6. With regard to his reliance on evidence obtained before and at war crimes trials, is Prof. Evans familiar with the findings of the Simpson Commission of Inquiry re US Army interrogation methods, which led to the quashing of sentences based on evidence obtained by such methods?

7. Will Professor Evans please be precise as to where I (page 36 at 2.4.3) stated that I rejected "all 'post-war oral trial evidence'", with particular regard to the specificity of the wording he uses. He has provided no source.

Accident8. Will Professor Evans please be precise as to where I (page 42 at 2.5.4) identify "our traditional enemies" either exclusively, or indeed at all, as the "Jewish community" (your witness does not mention any other communities), with particular regard to the specificity of the wording he uses. He has provided no source.

9. Incidentally the point he makes on page 48 at 2.5.14 [about my book Accident] was very ably made by A J P Taylor, and I concede that there is some force in that argument.

10. Will Professor Evans please be precise as to where I (page 49 at 2.5.17) relied on the manuscript diary which I "clums[il]y" misread? The reference is no doubt to the diary of the Governor of Gibraltar. He has provided no source.

11. Dealing with the late Professor Broszat's critique of my works (page 50 at 2.5.20, passim): is Professor Evans not aware of the profoundly personal origins of the hostility, involving [...]? I do not however propose to air these in public.

12. Dealing with Sydnor's critique of my works (page 53 at 2.5.23): Is Professor Evans not aware of my lengthy reply to Sydnor, published in a later issue of the same journal?

13. Dealing with Lukács's unprincipled critique of my works (page 59 at 2.5.32): Is Professor Evans not aware of item 108 of my Discovery, August 17, 1944: General Jacob Devers to Generals George C Marshall and Dwight D Eisenhower, signal reporting that 40 percent of prisoners taken in S France so far are Russians?

These Requests for Information are offered in the same spirit of co-operation that no doubt motivated your own such list.

Yours sincerely,

David Irving

Davenport Lyons
• attention: Mr Mark Bateman •
1 Old Burlington Street
London W1X 2NL