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David Irving



         


David John Cawdell Irving (born March 24, 1938) is one of the most accomplished and successful proponents of Holocaust and historical revisionism. He is a non-academic self-taught historian who for a time was a leading British author on World War II.

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Early life and Dresden book

Irving first gained his notoriety as a student of the Imperial College in London, where he wrote for the student newspaper and served as the editor of the London University Carnival Committee?s journal, Carnival Times. Here Irving wrote of such allegation as that "the national press is owned by Jews", and contributed to a variety of extremist features, including racist cartoons, a defense of South African apartheid, and an appreciative look at Nazi Germany ; as a result Irving was removed from his editorial duties.

Irving soon dropped out of college and went to Germany where he worked in a steel mill in the Ruhr and learned German. After this Irving wrote his first book, The Destruction of Dresden (1963), which examined the Allied bombing of Dresden during the final months of World War II. By the 1960s, a debate about the morality of the carpet bombing of German cities and civilian population had already begun, especially in the UK. Hence, the public was receptive to Irving's persuasively written book, illustrated with graphic pictures. The book became an international bestseller.

In the first edition of the book Irving's figures for deaths in Dresden, which he initially reported as estimated authoritatively at 135,000, and which he himself estimated at between 100,000 and 250,000, were an order of magnitude higher than anyone else's. Nonetheless, these figures became widely accepted and were repeated in many standard references and encyclopedias. Over the next three decades later editions of the book gradually modified that figure downwards to a range of 50,000-100,000, but during that time Irving also made a number of public statements indicating that 100,000 or more Germans had been killed. It was not until the hearing of Irving's libel suit against Deborah Lipstadt in 2000 that the figures were discredited. See the Dresden bombing article for more information on casualty figures, estimated at closer to 40,000.

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Successful biographer

After the Dresden book, Irving shifted to writing biographies, demonstrating a flair for writing. His books typically attempted to find positive aspects of Nazi officials, although not openly endorsing them. A good example of Irving's writing style is the biography of Hermann Göring. The book tends to ignore Göring's role in the Holocaust and his theft of art treasures, and instead gives a wealth of information about Göring's jovial personality and brighter aspects, such as his outlawing of vivisection and promotion of reforestation. Various incidents are presented as proof that he disapproved of the persecution of Jews and other Nazi crimes.

During this period Irving's credentials as a British historian of generally democratic views were only rarely challenged. Irving was particularly noted for his mastery of the voluminous and confused German war records, and aging formerly mid-ranked Nazis (who saw a potential friend in Irving) donated diaries and other material, which enabled Irving to claim he was a serious historian, publishing original material. Though Irving's biographical works were generally ignored by academics, and often criticized as inaccurate when reviewed by specialists, his flow of language and a wealth of entertaining anecdotes led generalists to write favorable reviews in the popular press, and many of his works sold well.

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Holocaust denial and his libel suit

In the late 1980s Irving began lecturing to far right wing groups, and making statements which moved him from murky to clearly revisionist territory; for example, he denied that Nazis systematically exterminated Jews in gas chambers during World War II and claimed that The Diary of Anne Frank was mostly a post-war forgery by her surviving father. In 1998 Irving launched a libel suit against Deborah Lipstadt, and her publisher Penguin Books, who identified him as a Holocaust denier, falsifier, and bigot. Though the author and publisher were American, Irving launched his suit in the United Kingdom, where the burden of proof is on the defendant, and not, as in most Western jurisdictions, on the plaintiff. Nevertheless Irving lost the suit (and subsequent attempts at appeal) and was liable to pay the substantial costs of the trial.

Justice Gray, the trial judge, praised Irving's "thorough and painstaking research into the archives" and commended his discovery and disclosure of many historical documents. He also noted Irving's intelligence and thorough knowledge of World War II history. However, he concluded that "Irving has for his own ideological reasons persistently and deliberately misrepresented and manipulated historical evidence; that for the same reasons he has portrayed Hitler in an unwarrantedly favourable light, principally in relation to his attitude towards and responsibility for the treatment of the Jews; that he is an active Holocaust denier; that he is anti-semitic and racist and that he associates with right wing extremists who promote neo-Nazism." In light of the evidence presented at the trial, a number of his works which had heretofore escaped serious scrutiny were shown to be irredeemably flawed, and Irving's reputation as a historian was destroyed. At one point in the trial, Irving, apparently inadvertently, referred to the judge as "Mein Führer" instead of the more usual "My Lord".

Irving's strongest, and perhaps only remaining supporter amongst historians is the respected British historian Sir John Keegan. During the trial Keegan stated "I continue to think it perverse of you to propose that Hitler could not have known until as late as October 1943 what was going on to the Jewish people." and later stated that Irving's view "defies common sense" and "defies reason." However, after the trial Keegan praised Irving for his understanding of Hitler's military strategy, and in an April 12, 2000 article in the Daily Telegraph stated that Irving had an "all-consuming knowledge of a vast body of material" and "many of the qualities of the most creative historians", that his skill as an archivist could not be contested, that he was "certainly never dull."

Among the Holocaust deniers, Irving is perhaps the only one who for some time managed to keep up the reputation of a serious, if controversial, historian. Irving is considered an icon to many in the Holocaust denial camp, but fights an increasingly lonely battle.

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Banned from New Zealand

Early in September 2004, Michael Cullen, the Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand, announced that Irving would not be permitted to visit the country, where he had been invited by the National Press Club to give a series of lectures under the heading, "The Problems of Writing about World War II in a Free Society." The National Press Club had defended its invitation of Irving, saying that it amounted not to an endorsement of his views, but rather an opportunity to question him. The intended visit provoked an outcry among Jewish groups, who were not appeased by his promise not to speak about the Holocaust.

Irving had visited New Zealand twice before, in the 1980s. His intended 2004 visit was refused on the grounds that he had been convicted of offenses in another country (he was found guilty by a German court of violating laws prohibiting the denial of Nazi extermination of Jews), and that at various times he had been deported from, and/or refused entry to, Canada, the United States, Italy, and South Africa. He had also been banned from entering Australia since 1992, and had unsuccessfully fought four legal attempts to overturn the ban. "Mr Irving is not permitted to enter New Zealand under the Immigration Act because people who have been deported from another country are refused entry," government spokeswoman Katherine O'Sullivan had told the Press earlier.

Irving rejected the ban and attempted to board a Qantas flight for New Zealand from Los Angeles on 17 September 2004. He was not allowed onboard. "As far as I'm concerned, the legal battle now begins," he was quoted as saying.

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Irving bibliography

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About Irving

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