David Irving |
Documents on the International Campaign for Real History
First posted Saturday, December 3, 2011
© Focal Point 2011
We hold no brief for Assange, who leaked hundreds of our hacked emails and addresses on his site in 2009; but this is a free speech issue.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Key West (USA)BREAKFAST with the gang at the Banana Café. I wonder how Jessica's eighteenth birthday party went. As for Jae, I think she emailed me three days ago, in terms not sparing of my feelings:
Your website is set up in a very outdated fashion and any idiot could have easily found that directory, even inadvertently. Maybe you should think about getting your site redesigned. People often complain about how hard it is to navigate your site.Ouch. I accordingly spend much of the day redesigning the home page of fpp.co.uk: "Responding to (perhaps well deserved) criticism from Jae," I inform my friends, "I have today drafted a new landing page, which is simpler and more iconic. Any feedback?"
Then I write to her. "When you're back in circulation, would you please post this message on my Facebook fan page:
I have today instructed my excellent German lawyer to start a major six-month campaign against German and Austrian publishers under their Press Law. "My patience is exhausted." I want friends to keep their eyes open for any German newspaper that smears me. We will now start court action against every such journalist. The Hollywood guys who bankrolled Deborah Lipstadt over her 13 million dollar London court costs had better take out their checkbooks again.
I RESUME work drafting Himmler finally again, the first pages I have written since Budapest.
I reply to a lengthy medical comment from John Jae, an Australian doctor (and "Goebbels" proof-reader) in Australia, who advises caution against surgery. "Unfortunately," I write, "the X-rays show that the damage is more than can be handled by pain-killers and cortisone injections (which were given me in the Vienna prison for a while)."
Monday, December 5, 2011
Key West (USA)A WEBSITE reader writes that he is glad that the report of Gabriela's death in a road accident has proved, in the words of Mark Twain, an exaggeration. (It was spread no doubt by Gabriela Márquez herself, below, seen after a San Francisco function):
It was nice to learn that Gabriela isn't a femme fatale. I agree, adding: "Except that she took me for a $680 air ticket to LAX from Bogotá, 'via Miami please,' and didn't show up for the job. Not the first time she did that kind of thing. It's in the female microchip, South American Windows version."
I am just too soft-hearted with my female assistants.
Somebody sends me this link: "British High Court allows WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to appeal against extradition to Sweden"
I post it on my newsletter, adding: " -- We hold no brief for Assange, who leaked hundreds of our hacked emails and addresses on his site in 2009; but this is a free speech issue."
I am mildly worried . . . I have not heard from her since Friday morning. I know she was unwell after eating some bad deviled eggs. A lot depends on her. She is difficult to manage; a real thoroughbred.Thank goodness my own daughters grew up different. I write to the fifth and youngest: "Happy birthday, Jessica. Is the school holding a holiday in celebration? You deserve it. Except that you did not answer my query about how your Party went. And when is Oxford? I need to know these things. So I can stick pins in models of all your rivals. (Much voodoo practised here.) - Daddy."
I suppose that now some smart-Alick barrister will pick that up as a racist remark.
She replies at once:
Party went splendidly, had an absolute whale of a time. . . Oxford interview is tomorrow . . . Sounds quite fun. How are you? How is Jae?"Jae," I confess, "has fallen silent on me since Friday. Either she is ill (ate bad eggs) or I am in the doghouse. She sent you a nice present; she told me what. I think her paunchy and very ordinary Australian friend is soaking up all her attention."
The Manchester hospital now informs me: "After the surgery you will not be allowed to fly for three months." That is a desperate discovery. Three months?
Reinhard G asks, "Are you aware of this inventory of Opis 500?" -- Reinhard Heydrich files still kept in the Moscow secret archives. "And may I see the new Goebbels preface?"
I give him the link to the preface, and reply: "Interesting: those files appear to be identical with the ones of which I have obtained twenty microfilms (35mm) privately while in Washington DC."
The answer is reassuring: "I arranged a brief visit with her yesterday in which she appeared to be in relatively good spirits. . . I can confirm that her car's been repaired and that she's alive and well."
Which leaves the troublesome and over-arching question unanswered. I speculate out loud to Hugo, who has also written asking about her: "Jae is busy burning boats and bridges, and I don't know who is behind it."
He is full of mischief: "Surely you know who is behind it?" and he suggests a name.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Key West (USA)AT seven-thirty a.m. I send a text to daughter Jessica in Oxford: "I'll be thinking of you all day, Jessica." (She starts her much-feared Oxford Interviews today.) "Keep me informed. No partying!" Oh, the agonising delights of fatherhood. When I was thirty-five, I already had four daughters at the French Lycée in London.
I email this message to Indiana about our bookstore and Facebook page -- Jae runs both, and most capably. "Unable to work on Himmler today. So I did something on my website front page which you might like to mention on the next Facebook update please:
Our gift to historians and German readers: On Dec 8, 1970, while researching for his Hitler biography, David Irving visited the widow of Walther Hewel; Hewel was liaison officer for Joachim von Ribbentrop at Hitler's headquarters. Among other items she loaned Mr Irving exclusively Hewel's 1939 notes, and his lengthy private handwritten diary for 1941, of highest historical importance.But answer comes there nary a word. It is becoming mildly perplexing.
At 1:15 p.m I turn to daughter Jessica: "I guess today's Interviews are over. I have been on hot coals. Tell me what has happened so far. Brief report. And: -- meet any millionaire-aristocratic-princely-White-nonsmoker heterosexuals yet? Didja get Jae's present yet?" (I know that Jae has sent her a $100-dollar gift certificate for Top Shop.)
She answers from her Blackberry, whatever that is: "No interviews until tomorrow and Thursday. . . Everyone is Chinese or extremely geeky."
I advise her not to discount the Asians: "Chinese are clever; avoid the geeky ones. That was ...'s undoing."
"Stupid"? -- That's tough talking, ma'am. But it's her happiness at stake, not mine, and I never lose sight of that.
Meanwhile my German lawyer sends me a temporising response from the Plön court, about the costs in the recent case, which our opponents settled favourably out of court and therefore have to pay. "Danke," I reply, "und zur Kenntnis genommen. Hoffentlich steigt die andere Sache am 14. Dezember auch noch plangemäß und wird nicht noch einmal verschoben?"
He replies: "Bisher habe ich bzgl. des vor dem LG Kiel anhängigen Verfahrens nichts weiter gehört, auch nicht von der Gegenseite. Ich gehe daher davon aus, dass der Termin wie geplant stattfindet."
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Key West (USA)THE hospital in England has suddenly moved with lightning speed: "Good Morning Mr Irving,
Your Surgery will take place on January 12. Great. A new bionic leg. But then three months "confined to barracks" in London.
Somebody has spotted something worrying on Amazon, the Internet megastore. My book sales there have stopped. "Amazon just withdrew sale of your hardcover book (Hitler's War, 2001) for $39.99 -- direct from Focal Point. They are selling it now for $80. Why? How can I get a copy for the lower price? It is a VERY interesting book. This is from someone who lived in Berlin to 1945."
I have no idea of the answer: Jae handles all Amazon sales for me. Then B. texts me from London: "Jessica up at Oxford as I am sure you know!" So she's watching, spellbound,too.
Jessica reports: "Just had first interview, went aite [Internet: alright] apart from some tense silences.
- 'Why do we have to die?', And 'if globalisation is causing cultural dilution, will there ever be a point where cultures diverge drastically?'
My room is amazing; its absolutely massive. . . The food is great. Hope you are well."
Then she reports other questions asked of her today, in these famous Oxford Interviews:
- 'Why did kamikaze pilots wear helmets?'
- 'What is a piece of music?'
- 'If you change five notes in a song is it still the same song?'
- 'Give me the exact quote in Othello which contains the word 'star''
- 'How would I conduct an anthropological study into wedding cakes?'
I forward it to Jae: "Thought you might be interested in this update from Jessica, who is at Oxford doing The Interviews. I know she would love to hear from you. She thinks the world of you."
Hello, everyone. Jaenelle here. It's time for me to take my life down a new path and I will be leaving Focal Point Publications, effective immediately. I have enjoyed engaging with all of you on this page and I wish you all the very best. It has been my pleasure these past three and a half years to answer your inquiries and mail your book orders. I have had many opportunities to meet a lot of you in person, which I have greatly enjoyed.Those of you who have placed book orders prior to December 7th . . . will be taken care of by the end of this week. After that, I cannot say. . . You can continue to do business with me through my new venture, LighthouseLiterature.com.
I hope to meet many of you again someday and I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
I am at a loss to explain this behaviour. She knows I am going under the knife soon. Do we even know when she is planning to leave for Australia? I obviously cannot replace her until I return to the USA in March.
I tell Hugo: "She has broken every promise," but immediately regret such bitter language.
A Canadian writes from Nova Scotia: "Just a thought, but would you entertain the idea of setting up a pre-payment option for your Himmler biography? This would permit your supporters the opportunity to reserve a copy -- with a dedication from you -- and of course allow you to access needed funds to produce it. I have been a reader and purchaser of your books since in high school in the early 1970s, and they are all treasures in my library."
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Key West (USA)DESPITE everything, I am totally indebted to Jae for her hard work in rebuilding my bookstore since it was hacked and wrecked in 2009. Today I shall post a photo celebration of the three years she has been with us, the twenty best photos of her.
As a ramshackle start, I get a Facebook account, so that I can post some important news on my own fan-page -- the items about instructing my excellent German lawyer to prepare action against German and Austrian newspapers under their Press Law, and about the Walther Hewel Diary which I have posted on my FPP website as a gift.
Finally responding to the sad announcement by Jae, I post this:
David Irving says: "Very sorry to find that Jae's leaving for Australia. I'll post some photos on my website today to console her many fans here in the bleak northern hemisphere."She has been so good to us.
Just had another interview at another college, went quite well. I was quite proud of myself when I instantly got that gonorrhea rates dropped in 1985 onwards drastically due to the emergence of HIV and new fears about sexually transmitted diseases.
They also asked if humans are still evolving, to which I argued that due to increasing prevalence and development of technology and social empathy even malign mutations were becoming neutralised leading to non-directional evolution. Finally they asked me my thoughts on the increasing reliance on antibiotics and whether placebos would be as effective - I fear I may have come across rather bigoted here as I expressed my annoyance at people asking for antibiotics for coughs at huge cost to NHS and in danger of increasing resistance. "They're not ill! They're not!"I forward it to Jae, attempting to write in American slang rather than Oxford English, so that she can understand: "Am I proud of her, or what?" It comes out sounding a bit like Jerry Springer.
I begin to understand how my mother must have felt, all those years ago in 1963, when she found that her youngest son had written a book that was a bestseller.
"Dear Jae," I finally write to her. "As you can guess I am devastated, and when the turbulence has died down we must talk. You are indispensable to me and have been since August 2008. I am wishing you all the very best for your adventure Down Under. I have updated your page on the website to include a picture gallery. I would not like anybody to think that our times together have been anything but the happiest."
Her friends tell me that they have not heard from her either. "I'm surprised she would leave you in the lurch," writes one.
I reject that notion. I reply: "Jaenelle was the perfect colleague."
Jae's farewell message however stays visible.
It is very late before I can sit down with Albert at Bobalou's for supper. I am not hungry, and have nothing but a glass of water. (I have left all my cash in the cottage anyway.) Albert takes an hour to eat. He drinks two-thirds of a bottle of red wine, and sings lustily in the car on the way back -- and chatters endlessly on the phone as he drives with the other hand; in Britain that is a felony. I don't drink, and I am not a happy passenger.
Getting into my own bookstore with some difficulty, I see that Jae has sent very full replies to our customers right up to the end: e.g. to John -- in Australia about a delay in shipment.
That's because you asked for them to be signed, which I couldn't do for you until I saw David [in Washington DC] on November 16th. I then had a three-day drive back home (where all my shipping supplies are!). They will ship priority mail, so you should receive them pretty quickly, I would imagine. Sorry for the wait. In the future if you want signed books, it's generally a good idea to contact me before placing an order to see if I have any on hand, as sometimes I don't. This time I was able to meet with David to get them signed, but most of the time that doesn't work out. . . Also, thanks for the work you are doing on proofreading Goebbels. David mentioned your name specifically as being one of the most helpful people on that project. :-)"In the future?" What future? She has quit.
Some people still wonder why small businesses hesitate to hire women of a certain age.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Key West (USA)ALBERT has written a puzzled letter to Jae, whom he also knows.
I thank him: "I shall probably have to shut down the bookstore for three months. . . She was on the very best of terms with me on November 16 . . . I cannot even speculate on the causes of her volte face. Not my fault. See you at breakfast."
Jae replies to him quite shortly: "I'll be in Australia and I haven't even found someone to run my own bookstore while I am away. . . David's a big boy. I'm sure he'll figure something out."
She should go down a storm in Australia, where the niceties of etiquette and language are not highly prized. "Wealth is no substitute for character," I remind her in a text message.
Never mind. I am by nature a forgiving, non-confrontational soul; ask anybody. And the male memory tends over time to forget all but the sunlit uplands of one's life -- leaving the tenebrious shadows to the female brain to brood upon.
Just covering all bases, I send out "thank you did you get your order" messages to all our bookstore customers of the last four weeks:
Jaenelle Antas has suddenly left my Irving Books bookstore, as you know, for a new life. She has met a nice Australian guy, a dance-teacher. . . Picking up the pieces, I am just checking first that you received your bookstore order okay. . .Meanwhile we all wish Jae the very best in her new life Down Under. It will be difficult but not, we hope, impossible, to replace her. You can reach her direct at j.r.antas@gmail.com.
Obviously this is not Jae's doing. A customer sends me a letter he received from her -- it seems that she has also circularised our customers (because then more of them send me copies):
I will be leaving Focal Point Publications, effective immediately. I cannot say how the bookstore will run after my departure or if it will run at all. . .That's helpful. One worried customer asks, "Could you please confirm Focal point will still sell your books, as I have spread information about your fantastic work and the place where people may find your books."
I reply: "Yes, a lot of folks have asked me about that message. I will still be writing and selling my books for years to come, I hope. We all wish her only the best for the future."
Another customer writes me direct to show me a very recent exchange, in which Jae wrote to her,
David attempted to rejigger his site, with less than stellar results. Ouch again. I reply: "She's very sarcastic sometimes! She did not offer me much constructive advice, but a (male) friend in Ireland did, and I 'rejiggered' the site, or at least my home page. I am very fond of her, but sometimes she needs to watch her tongue, God bless her. Have a nice weekend."
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Key West -West Palm Beach (USA)No work done yesterday on Himmler at all, yet again.
Hi Snowdrop [our name for Jae]: our bookstore, on which you worked so hard, seems to be dead, and the Facebook page has been sabotaged. I know these things are not intended by you. You were central to us these last three years . . . but now the tentpole has collapsed and everything has come down.Breakfast at Harpoon Harry's.
Another of our Wolf's Lair guests writes me about his bookstore order. I explain: "Jae has quit. She is going to marry G., the Australian -- remember him? -- who impressed her . . . in Poland and since then. I remain very fond and protective of her."
His reply comes in overnight: "I am always on your side, because you are a hero. You are too much a gentleman." So that's alright then.
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