Introduction

In 2005, David Irving was invited to speak to a student-led university group. On his one-day visit to Vienna, Austria, he was arrested for Holocaust denial—his charges included speeches he gave in Leoben and Vienna. Pleading guilty, he was sentenced to three years in prison but only served one-third of the three years. Three years after the arrest, Max Blumenthal, an American blogger and author who wrote for The New York Times and Los Angeles Times, held an interview on July 16, 2008. The interview was held in New York City, starring one of the most prominent Holocaust deniers known in history. The YouTube video, “Max Blumenthal Interviews Holocaust Denier David Irving” published by Southern Poverty Law Center, talks about David Irving’s opinion on the Holocaust: “I know what I can do to instantly change my opinions, I’m not going to do it,” (0:18 David Irving). His claims are centered on defending Hitler and the Nazis while speaking of the gas chambers used as a “fairytale”. 

1. Who is David Irving?

The video opens with David Irving speaking into a microphone saying: “I know I am disliked as a historian, I know I am hated by some people,” (0:11 David Irving). The video goes on and shows David Irving holding a meeting in the basement of a church, gathering people to speak about the Holocaust and his time in prison. He states that Hitler was anti-Semitic before the Holocaust and World War II began. As Blumenthal went on to document others’ opinions, one man by the name of Michael Santamauro said gas chambers were not used in the Holocaust. Another man said the Jewish Holocaust was a phony. David Irving was born in Essex, England on March 24, 1938, 6 months before the German–Czechoslovak War (undeclared) which then led to the beginning of World War ll. He later attended Imperial College, as well as University College in London. He studied Economics and Physics, which led him to his 2-year associate degree in Physics. After college, he went on to write his now-famous book, Hilter’s War, published in 1977 (see fig. 1). The book is from Hitler’s point-of-view, going into depth about the events during the Holocaust that also includes a twist on his opinion; that the Holocaust did happen, but the deaths were “made up” or a “fairytale”. The purpose of the book was to explain how historians “slandered” Hitler, who was just trying to increase Germany’s prosperity. Irving thought of Hitler as an “intelligent politician” and blamed Allied leaders for the Soviet Union’s attack, which began the events of the Holocaust. After publishing Hitler’s War, he was named “The most prominent Holocaust denier in history,” (0:39 Max Blumenthal). David Irving knew the facts and background but still twisted his opinion. 

      Fig. 1. David Irving’s books on Max Blumenthal Interviews David Irving (0:32). 

At the 5-minute mark of the video, we see Max Blumenthal interviewing David Irving again (see fig. 2) Max Blumenthal asks about Christopher Hitchens, who wrote an article about David Irving’s claims, saying they were “old mate-ish” (5:06 David Irving). He also says how David Irving has never claimed the Holocaust was a hoax (disclaimer: he very much did). While he was in prison, Christopher Hitchens, a British journalist, dedicated a page of his article to defend him. Irving thinks of Hitchens as a nice man and a good friend. Irving says he is still in contact with him today, as of 2008. Blumenthal asks Irving if he is a Holocaust denier, and Irving responds with: “No, good Lord no. If anyone reads my books […] they will see the facts.” (5:57 David Irving), but Blumenthal wasn’t going to take that for an answer. As he continued to pressure Irving, it led to Irving showing the “true Holocaust denier” he was. He restated what Irving had said previously: “More people died on the backseat of Senator Kenney’s car at Chappaquiddick than ever died in a gas chamber at Auschwitz.” (6:07 David Irving). Again, Irving knew the Holocaust happened but didn’t believe the deaths that took place. He thought of the total amount of deaths as an exaggeration.

Fig. 2. Blumenthal and Irving, spoken opinion on Holocaust deaths, on Max Blumenthal Interviews David Irving (5:54). 

1. Deborah Lipstadt debunks David Irving

As of 2022, Deborah E. Lipstadt is the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti Semitism, confirmed by Congress. Her career includes as an author, historian, and academic. Deborah Lispadt is known for overcoming Holocaust denial and proving the false claims of the Holocaust wrong with her academic research. Lipstadt says, “The Holocaust […] being the best-documented genocide in the world? Who could believe it didn’t happen?” (0:19 Deborah Lipstadt). She published her famous book Denying the Holocaust in 1993, which went over how many people deny the Holocaust; saying whether it never happened, gas chambers weren’t used, the 1.1 million Jews at Auschwitz didn’t die, etc. David Irving was mentioned in her book, explaining how he said there was not a use of gas chambers. With her debunking the claim from Irving, he saw it as a threat and sent her a letter in 1995. Lipstadt opened the letter and read: “David Irving was bringing a libel suit against me in the United Kingdom for calling him a Holocaust denier.” (6:12 Deborah Lipstadt). At first, he didn’t take the letter seriously.

The trial of Irving bringing a libel suit against Lipstadt began on April 11, 2000, at the High Court of Justice. The trial was led by Anthony Julius, a solicitor for the court. It went on for 32 days and Lipstadt was proven of not libeling Irving with no jury involved in the case and a 355-page proof. It was also proven that Irving was a Holocaust denier and a racist due to the comments he made during his trial, including the times he said, “[the] final solution [that] will wipe out not only blacks and homosexuals but a large part of the drug addicts,” (7:03 David Irving). Obviously, there was no living evidence that could back up Irving’s claims about the deaths during the Holocaust, but they also didn’t include Holocaust survivors. The court didn’t want the survivors to feel pressured to prove the Holocaust was real, they needed real researched facts. Based on academic research regarding the Holocaust, we know for a fact that 6 million Jews died during World War II and it was not “made up” by Jews who wanted money from Germany.

1. David Irving’s arrest

The court case that ran for 32 days ended with Lipstadt being proven of not libeling Irving. Irving was then left with having to pay £2m for the case but went bankrupt in the process. He then was sentenced to 3 years in prison in Austria for antisemitism, which is a legal offense in that country

1. Yes, there were gas chambers in Auschwitz. 

Leading up to Irving’s arrest, he held 2 speeches in Austria; one of them being to a group of college kids. Supposedly, Irving was on a day trip to Vienna when he gave the speeches. He had stated how the gas chambers used in Auschwitz were a “fairytale” and that the Holocaust itself was a myth. November 8th, 1989 came and Irving was arrested in the name of Vienna Court for antisemitism. In the interview with Max Blumenthal, Irving refuses to use the word “Holocaust”, thinking it’s an “odious commercial term” (David Irving 6:40). Irving goes on to talk about the term “Holocaust” being used by agencies to make money. It is “American commercialism at its worst” (7:00 David Irving). 

Going back to Deborah Lipstadt, she explains how Irving said there was no such use of gas chambers in Auschwitz. “There was no plan to murder the Jews, there were no gas chambers, there were no mass shootings,” (8:47 Deborah Lipstadt). Even though Lipstadt thought it was ridiculous she was going on trial with one who thought such inadeqate things regarding the Holocaust, without her defending herself and proving Irving’s statements wrong he would have gotten away with the racial and unrealistic comments and the Holocaust would be proven as false. 

Conclusion In all, proving and debunking these claims with historical evidence is crucial to show the truth behind Holocaust denial. It has been proven that David Irving is a prominent Holocaust denier and unfortunately isn’t afraid to show it. The Holocaust is one of the most documented genocides in history, yet people still have the nerve to say the murder count was never that high, gas chambers weren’t involved in Auschwitz, the Holocaust itself was a “fairytale”, etc. Without Deborah Lipstadt standing up for herself in Irving v. Penguin Books, David Irving would’ve gotten away with such selfish and inhuman behavior. In all honesty, who could believe the Holocaust never happened?