We
look ahead to one of the literary events of the
year, the first book in six years from David
Irving. London, Friday, October 3, 2008 Diary
by Hugh Muir AS
AN active Holocaust denier is apprehended at
Heathrow, we look ahead to one of the literary
events of the year, the first book in six years
from David Irving. We
receive an advance copy and some glossy publicity
about our favourite historian. No reviews are
possible until October 19, but we can tell you that
Banged Up - his account of 14 months spent
in an Austrian jail for Holocaust denial -- is
everything one might expect from him. If you have
tears to shed, now's the time.
Just as engaging is the
publicity material that features a photograph of Mr
Justice Gray, who presided over the
libel trial involving Irving and the US historian
Professor Deborah Lipstadt in 2000. Irving
lost, but in a lengthy judgment the judge said many
things, and the writer quotes a few of them. "As a military historian Irving has much to
commend him," the judge said. "He is beyond
question able and intelligent ... his knowledge of
world war two is unparalleled." But Mr Justice Gray said much else in his
judgment that is not reproduced here. It was
"incontrovertible" that Irving qualified as a
Holocaust denier, the judge concluded. "Not only
has he denied the existence of gas
chambers at Auschwitz and asserted that no Jew
was gassed there, he has done so on frequent
occasions and sometimes in the most offensive
terms." There were in fact soundbites galore.
"Irving has repeatedly crossed the divide between
legitimate criticism and prejudiced vilification of
the Jewish race and people". And "the picture of
Irving which emerges from the evidence of his
extra-curricular activities reveals him to be a
rightwing pro-Nazi polemicist". Perhaps the most
relevant quote addressed Irving's political agenda,
"which, it is legitimate to infer, disposes him,
where he deems it necessary, to manipulate the
historical record in order to make it conform with
his political beliefs". Or perhaps My Lord, to flog
a book?
-
'Holocaust
denier' Dr Frederick Toben (right) held at
London's
Heathrow
- Australian Revisionist arrested on stopover -
taken off US plane to Dubai
|
The
Times (London):
Extradition
bid raises fears of 'thought crime'
offences|
Aussie
to face kangaroo
courts
| accused
of "anti-semitism": Toben
faces extradition
hearing
| The
Age
| The
Guardian
-
-
Publicity
for Banged Up:
leaflet
(pdf)
|