Holocaust Deniers Can't Be Ignored: History: As Victims and Witnesses of World War II Die Off, Revisionist Views of the Nazi Horrors Could Gain Broader Acceptance

Authors

Kenneth Lasson, University of Baltimore School of LawFollow

Document Type

Editorial

Publication Date

4-2-2000

Abstract

On trial in an English courtroom, where British historian David Irving has sued American professor Deborah Lipstadt for defamation, is not only the scholars' reputations but history itself. Irving claims that he was libeled by Lipstadt's 1993 book, "Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory," in which she called him "one of the most dangerous of the `revisionists'" because, "familiar with historical evidence, he bends it until it conforms with his ideological leanings and political agenda." But under British law, the burden of proof in defamation is squarely on the defendant, thus making it necessary for Lipstadt and her English publisher to demonstrate that Irving deliberately lied. As bizarre as it may seem, they must prove that the Holocaust actually happened.

Comments

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2000-04-02/topic/0004080811_1_david-irving-holocaust-lipstadt/2

Recommended Citation

Holocaust Deniers Can't Be Ignored: History: As Victims and Witnesses of World War II Die Off, Revisionist Views of the Nazi Horrors Could Gain Broader Acceptance, The Baltimore Sun, April 2, 2000