⚠️ Historical Documentation Notice
Historical Documentation Notice

This document is part of a historical archive and is presented for scholarly research and educational purposes.

The content reflects historical perspectives and should be understood within its historical context.

John Gilchrist wrote December 5, 2005 to
Amnesty International:

I HAVE just learnt that Mr. David Irving, a renowned Historian has been arrested in Austria for nothing more than expressing historical opinion at a meeting of students. I have no method of communicating with this person or any knowledge whether he is being adequately represented.
Can you tell me what steps you are taking to secure his release?

John
Gilchrist

Amnesty International replied after a week, December 12, 2005

THANK you for your email concerning Amnesty
International’s position on David Irving’s arrest.

Amnesty International’s position on the issue of ‘Holocaust denial’ is based on international human rights standards.

The
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) states, in Article 19, that everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression, but that certain restrictions may be placed on that right if they are necessary for the respect of the rights of others; Article 20 states that any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law.

In line with this and other international human rights standards, Amnesty International works for the right to free expression and adopts as prisoners of conscience people who are imprisoned for exercising their right to freedom of expression, however it will not adopt as prisoners of conscience people who are imprisoned for using hate speech to deliberately or recklessly incite acts of violence, discrimination, or hostility against another group.

The language used to advocate hatred is not always explicit or direct. Sometimes it uses euphemisms which, over the years, become well known, such as denying the occurrence of the Holocaust and thereby alleging that the extensive documentation of the Holocaust is fraudulent and that its victims are lying.

Since Jews, Roma, gay persons, and disabled persons were the principal victims of the Holocaust and are still subject to discrimination, this can constitute advocacy of hatred and an incitement to discrimination and hostility against those groups.

In line with its normal practice, when applying the policy to individual cases, AI [Amnesty
International] considers each case on its own merit. In cases where it determines that an individual who has been imprisoned for denying the Holocaust has, in effect, advocated hatred as described above, AI would not adopt them as prisoners of conscience. This is the reason why we will not adopt David Irving as a prisoner of conscience.

Marie-Anne
Ventoura Supporter Care Team Amnesty International UK Tel: 020 7033 1777 Amnesty International UK The Human Rights Action Centre
17-25 New Inn Yard London EC2A 3EA

John Gilchrist then wrote to Amnesty
International:

I MUST say that I am rather disturbed by your insensitivity towards this man’s plight. Not the response I would have expected from an organisation reputedly dedicated to helping people who are the victims of conscience.

I am not aware of the allegations of racial hatred you are directing towards Mr. Irving. To my knowledge, having read several of Mr.
Irving’s books, he does not mention anything about “Holocaust denial”, nor has he ever written a book on that subject.

His books diarize in great detail the events of the second world war – warts and all; something that other historians either fail to report or are too lazy to research.

I think any reasonable person will agree that the truth, however unpopular, is far more important than lies, which distort history and offer no real hope of peace in this unstable world. Palestine and Iraq for example are the main ones that come to mind.

If in your opinion Mr. Irving has committed a crime then why hasn’t he been arrested, in the USA or indeed his own country the UK? Aren’t your actions rather reminiscent of past dictators in judging a person solely by his reputation?

I am not too young to remember the ‘Soviet Gulags’ for which so many innocent people found their way for no other crime than to express opinions contrary to the ruling elite; and were allowed to rot for precisely the same reasons you are condemning Mr. Irving. Perhaps I am witnessing for once the true face of your organisation.

John
Gilchrist

ITEMS FROM OUR DOSSIER
ON THE ARREST, TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT OF DAVID
IRVING

  • How it all began: Volksstimme, Nov 8, 1989: Sperrfeuer
    gegen Irving – Zwei weitere Auftritte inzwischen
    verboten | and the communist Volksstimme: Nur
    noch vor 80 treuen konnte der neonazinahe
    „Historiker’ Montag nacht in Wien reden (German)
    – the next day the arrest warrant was issued.
  • Nov 8, 1989: After a communist-inspired riot in
    Vienna the socialist government issued an Arrest Warrant
    against David Irving at the behest of the
    Dokumentationsachiv des österreichischen

    Widerstands
    (i.e., Dr Erika Weinzierl).

  • Nov 24. 1989: Mr
    Irving thanks his Austrian lawyer Dr Herbert
    Schaller
  • June 22, 1992: Those nice folks next door: Flashback
    – the
    Austrian ambassador in London answers a demand from the
    Board of Deputies of British Jews, promises to arrest Mr
    Irving
  • Mar 10, 1994: the Austrian Government tells
    Australia that an Arrest Warrant was issued against
    Mr Irving

    on Nov 8, 1989 | [ and original
    German text]

  • Oct 2001: David
    Irvine, son of the Lord Chancellor Lord Irvine, is
    arrested in Vienna in mistake for the British
    writer

Mr
Irving’s arrest on Nov 11, 2005

[Irving in Court]Show
Trial in Vienna, Feb 20, 2006

  • Feb 22, 2006: The
    Irish Times says the imprisonment of David Irving
    displays European hypocrisy towards Jews. “I have
    read most of David Irving’s works. He is a brilliant
    researcher, is partly mad, and is clearly bad.

    But those
    who say he denies the Nazi programme of genocide of Jews
    simply haven’t read his writings.”

  • Mr Irving’s autobiography, continued: The
    show trial in Vienna
  • Radical’s Diary: The
    trial
  • Daily
    Telegraph interviews Mr Irving’s brother, Feb 2006,
    and gets its leg pulled
  • Gillian
    Reynolds comments on the BBC Radio Four broadcast on
    the 2000 Lipstadt trial (rebroadcast on the occasion of
    the Vienna trial)

  • href=”http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/02/21/blberlin21.xml&view=BLOGDETAIL&grid=P30&blog=berlin&#8221>Kate
    Connolly, right, The Daily Telegraph’s Berlin
    correspondent.

    Read her web diary, Feb 21, 2006, the day
    after the Irving trial in Vienna: “The interesting tale
    of David Irving” and the scores of supporting letters
    she received

  • David
    Irving zu drei Jahren Haft verurteilt     – Bildvorschau
    (20. Februar 2006)
  • My
    perfect place to hang Irving kvells Giles Coren in The
    Times | and David Irving’s answer

IMPRISONMENT
2005-2006 awaiting appeal

Mr
Irving’s appeal court victory on Dec 20, 2006

[press conference]PRESS
CONFERENCE, London, Dec 22, 2006 and aftermath

Source Information
Original Publication: 2005-12-05
Digital Archive: Focal Point Publications
Accessed: June 3, 2026