Atlanta Journal- Constitution October 21, 1992

"Nazi, Nazi," pickets disrupt speech

By Rebecca Nash
STAFF WRITER

ABOUT 30 protesters representing Jewish organizations and labor unions in the Atlanta area picketed a speech in Smyrna by revisionist historian David Irving, who denies that the Germans exterminated Jews in gas chambers at World War II death camps.

Members of local groups picketing the speech at the Smyrna Community Center were organized by Daniel Levitas, head of the Center for Democratic Renewal, which monitors neo-Nazis and white supremacists. The pickets carried signs and shouted "Say no to Nazis" and "Nazi bigots go away" as Smyrna Police Chief Stanley Hook and a dozen uniformed officers and plain clothes detectives watched.

Although police escorted some protesters from the building when they disrupted Mr. Irving's talk, no arrests were made.

Mr. Levitas photographed the speaker and members of the audience despite protests by Mr. Irving and Sam Dickson, a Marietta lawyer and chairman of the Atlanta Committee for Historic Review, which sponsored the talk.

Picture: "Police escort protester Gary Maurer out of the meeting hall in Smyrna where revisionist historian David Irving was expounding on his contention that the Germans never exterminated Jews [sic] in World War II."

Sarah Anne Minkin, a 16-year-old protester who attends Riverwood High School, said she made a trip with Jewish organizations earlier this year to Poland where she visited Auschwitz and other camps where Jews were imprisoned.

"There's no way for me not to be here," she said.

Mr. Irving's speech was interrupted four times by shouts of "Nazi, Nazi" and "Shame, Shame." One audience member yelled at the protesters, and police quickly escorted those disrupting the speech out of the room.

Mr. Irving told an audience of about 100, including some protesters who paid $6 for a ticket, that no documents have turned up proving Hitler carried out a systematic extermination of Jews. The appearance by Mr. Irving, who is banned from Canada ^[1] and Germany because of his views, was booked at the community center by city employees who knew nothing about him, Smyrna officials said.

Mr. Dickson thanked the audience for braving the "harassment" of the protesters. Several audience members, including a "skinhead" dressed in black, declined to give their names to a reporter.

A story in the Marietta Daily Journal, October 21, 1992 amplifies:

"Demonstrators from ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), the Center for Democratic Rrenewal and the AFL-CIO [trades union] made their presence felt outside and inside the community center ... At one point, Irving turned the podium over to a demonstrator, Daniel Levitas, executive director of the Center for Democratic Renewal." [However:] "Levitas called Irving several names while in front of the audience before police could remove him."

See witness statement by Daniel Levitas

Notes:

1. Curious. The ban was imposed on November 13, 1992. At this time, October 20, there had been no public reference to the agitation in Canada for such a ban.