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David Katz replied on February 3,
1998:
THANK YOU for your E-mail concerning a letter that I submitted to Nizkor nearly a year ago. In response to your denial I submit the following: Dear Mr Irving, beside the obvious umbrage that you have taken to me referring to you using the nigger word, I am pleased to see that you have not really disputed the rest of my account of your promotional speech in Johannesburg.
Pray sir what else in my account deserves the label of “highly inaccurate”. Prior to your speech I had read your work on Hitler’s War. I was looking forward to listening to your speech as I had found your books on
Hitler’s war to be thought provoking and stimulating.
Somewhat naively I had no clue as to what was in store for me that evening. As you will have no doubt guessed from my surname I am Jewish.
Your anti-Semitic diatribe together with your association with Mr Derby-Lewis took me totally by surprise. I regret that I did not challenge you that night as I should have done. The large majority of the people who were present there were known members of the
Afrikaner extreme right or close English friends of Mr
Derby-Lewis. These people had no hesitation in applauding your venomous anti-Jewish vitriol.
I have no doubt that you will be able to rake up a number of those present to back up your rather cowardly denial. I alas am not as fortunate, as
I attended your speech alone that night. The things that were said by you about Jews that night in front of a highly appreciative audience, were extremely tasteless to say the least.
I squirmed on my seat as one hundred and fifty of your cronies laughed at your brilliant wit as you proceeded to tear into the Jews, and the holocaust. That you are tasteless and tactless when it comes to race relations is now a fact that has been recorded all over the world. I am surprised that you have not given me “the some of my best friends are Jews” line.
Your personal assistants’ racial origin will not rescue you from the truth that you uttered racist remarks against Blacks and Jews in Johannesburg in 1987. Lastly Sir you are no friend of mine. Yours faithfully,
David Katz Johannesburg