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Real History and the Jewish Holocaust controversy some traditional enemies of Free Speech: Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of B’nai Brith, USA Australian B’nai Brith Anti-Defamation Commission Board of Deputies of British Jews Canadian Jewish Congress Canadian League of Human Rights of the B’nai Brith Coalition for Human Dignity, Oregon Community Security Trust of Board of Deputies Jewish Telegraph Agency Searchlight and Gerald Gable Surfwatch Internet censorship Alphabetical site index

(text) [ H-Net Humanities & Social Sciences OnLine ] Lipstadt case: Historians fear “Evil may triumph over good.” Reply-To: H-NET List for History of the Holocaust < [email protected] > Sender: H-NET List for History of the Holocaust < [email protected] > Author: Robert Benjamin Date: Sunday, June 27, 1999 In a message dated June 26, 1999 Clare Spark writes: I gather that David Irving does not even have a Ph.D.

If he can be considered “an historian” what does that make my Ph.D. worth as evidence of credibility and reliability? Which is not to say that journalists cannot write “history,” or that accredited historians have not lied, but that Lipstadt has a right to point out Irving’s lack of professional credentials. I don’t have a Ph.D either, but, if I wanted to become a professional historian, I don’t think I would need one in order to have credibility.

What I WOULD need is something more important that Irving and all Holocaust deniers lack: intellectual integrity in dealing with evidence that contradicts one’s personal biases. Robert Benjamin Sunday, June 27, 1999 I SHARE Clare Spark ‘s dismay about Irving being accorded any legitimacy as an historian , and especially about the possibility that his suit against Deborah Lipstadt might be successful. “I gather that David Irving does not even have a Ph.D.”

The problem here is that a number of serious historians have been similarly uncredentialed — Allan Nevins , the star of Columbia University’s history department in the 1950s comes to mind as an example. So the PhD isn’t a reliable guide to who is, or is not, a historian. The fact that Irving has written histories of the German military in WWII that major figures in military history say have to be taken seriously furthers muddies the water here.

All the PhD in history really means is that its holder is eligible to compete for a university position teaching history — and even there it isn’t always required. So, all I can say is that given the draconian and lopsided nature of British libel law, Lipstadt should have been more precise and simply said that in his Holocaust denial and some other realms, Irving is a terrible historian. That is undeniably true and would have kept her off this nasty hook.

Now, I fear, all we can look forward to my be a travesty of justice in the British courts as evil triumphs over good once more. STAN NADEL , Summer ’99 * Email: [email protected] * [email protected] * Web Site: http://www.swosu.edu/~nadels/ * Summer ’99 Phones: [any time] (580) 445-8263 (cell) [sometimes] (212) 254-9454 [H-Net Humanities & Social Sciences OnLine] Send comments and questions to H-Net Webstaff