London, November 24, 1989

Wanted: David Irving

From OTTO KARRACH
Vienna

A Viennese court has issued a warrant for the arrest of the British revisionist historian, Mr David Irving, because of alleged neo-Nazi activities.

The main aim of the court warrant is to prevent him from entering the country.

Mr Irving, who propounds the theory that there were no gas chambers during the Holocaust, and claims that he has evidence to back up his theory, had been invited for a lecture tour by Mr Otto Scrinzi, an extreme Right-wing candidate in the last Presidential elections, at which Dr Kurt Waldheim was elected.

Previous lectures by Mr Irving had been banned by the authorities but he succeeded in speaking at a "private" meeting in a Vienna pub.

A "JC" reporter adds: Mr Irving said he regarded the warrant as "bluff designed to intimidate me. I see no reason not to go to Austria again. I shall probably go in the near future."

He asked the State Prosecutor to charge Mr Peter Grosz, head of the Jewish community in Vienna, for organising protests against him, he added.