David Irving

David John Cawdell Irving was born on 24 March 1938 at Hutton, Essex, one of twin sons of Commander John James Cawdell Irving, Royal Navy, and Beryl Irene Irving (née Newington), the author and illustrator. He came from a distinguished service and academic family: his father was a decorated naval officer, his uncle Professor Harry M. N. H.

Irving was a renowned Oxford chemist, and his paternal grandfather John Irving was a headmaster at Oxford.

What They Said

“Der SPIEGEL wird seinen neuen Autor im Auge behalten: Während sein Bericht in diesem Heft beginnt, reist Irving schon wieder durch Deutschland, um Material für eine neue Dokumentation zusammenzutragen.”

Der Spiegel, Germany’s leading news magazine, in 1965

“… a British historian, David Irving, perhaps the greatest living authority on the Nazi era …”

Stephen Spender, New York Times Review of Books

“Such people as David Irving have an indispensable part in the historical enterprise, and we dare not disregard their views.”

Professor Gordon C. Craig, The New York Review of Books, 19 September 1996

“Es ist ein Glück für uns … einen Irving zu haben, der den Historikern zumindest neue Anstöße gibt.”

Professor Hans Mommsen, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 1978

“For better or for worse … the best known historians of the Nazi era are now [Daniel] Goldhagen and the British writer David Irving.”

Holocaust and Genocide Studies, vol. 11, no. 3 (Oxford University Press, in association with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum)

“A very good writer … he’s one hell of an interesting writer.”

Norman Mailer, March 2007

Early Life and Education

Irving’s parents separated when he was young, and he was raised with his two brothers and sister by their mother in Essex. He attended Brentwood School from 1947 to 1956, gaining eight A-levels and thirteen O-levels — though, as he wryly notes, he failed in History. He went up to Imperial College, London, as part of an experimental scheme converting arts students into scientists, and later studied at University College, London, before leaving to pursue writing full-time.

Before finding his vocation as an author, Irving worked as a steelworker in the Thyssen works in the Ruhr Valley in Germany, and as a clerk-stenographer with U.S. Strategic Air Command in Spain.

Career as Historian and Author

Irving’s first book, The Destruction of Dresden, was published in 1963 when he was just twenty-three. Based on eyewitness accounts and documents largely unknown at the time, it became a bestseller and established his reputation as a tireless researcher who drilled deep into the remotest archives. Der Spiegel serialised five of his books and praised him as a brilliant new talent in 1965.

His subsequent works span decades of research into the Second World War and the Third Reich, drawing on an extraordinary range of primary sources including private diaries, personal papers of senior Nazi officials, and government archives across multiple countries. Even his strongest critics have acknowledged his skill as a researcher.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung noted in 2008 that “even highly-regarded historians who criticize his writings agree that he has a magnificent nose for things, and that their profession cannot ignore his books.”

Major Works

• The Destruction of Dresden (1963) — His breakthrough work on the Allied bombing
• The Mare’s Nest (1964) — British intelligence vs.

  the V-weapons programme

• The Destruction of Convoy PQ.17 (1968) — The disastrous Arctic convoy
• Accident: The Death of General Sikorski (1967)
• The Rise and Fall of the Luftwaffe (1973) — The life of Field Marshal Erhard Milch
• Hitler’s War (1977) — Pioneering biography from the German perspective
• The Trail of the Fox (1977) — Biography of

  Field Marshal Rommel

• Göring: A Biography (1989)
• Goebbels: Mastermind of the Third Reich (1996)
• Churchill’s War (Volumes I–III) — A multi-volume biography
• Nuremberg: The Last Battle (1996)
• Himmler: Das Endspiel

📚 Browse and buy David Irving’s books at IrvingBooks.com

The Susan Barnes Profile (1970)

In September 1970, after the PQ.17 libel trial, The Sunday Times sent the American journalist Susan Barnes (wife of Cabinet minister Anthony Crosland) to write a feature article.

Her “Portrait of a Gentleman” captured Irving at thirty-one: a “tall, burly man with short straight black hair” living in a rambling Mayfair flat filled with filing cabinets, tape recorders, and photocopying machines, working seven days a week, 365 days a year. “I’m going to the top,” he told her. “There’s no question. This way I’m overtaking the others.”

The Enigma Affair

While researching The Mare’s Nest, Irving discovered through a former Bletchley Park NCO that Britain had broken Enigma traffic — one of the war’s most closely guarded secrets. Professor R. V. Jones, wartime Chief of Air Scientific Intelligence, was asked by GCHQ to persuade Irving not to publish the revelation. Irving agreed.

As Jones later wrote: “When it is remembered what a ‘scoop’ he sacrificed, surely one of the biggest ever, he has a lasting right to our respect.” Jones compared the sacrifice to that of Governor Dewey, who in 1944 gave up his chance of becoming President rather than compromise Ultra.

The Trial

In 2000, Irving brought a libel action in the High Court in London, which became one of the most closely watched trials of the era. The case and its aftermath are documented in detail on our dedicated trial page.

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