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A review by agapsch
History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier by Deborah E. Lipstadt
4.0
David Irving is the Donald Trump of the early 2000s
Deborah Lipstadt’s memoir Holocaust on Trial details her court case with David Irving, who sued her for libel because she referred to him as a Holocaust denier in her earlier book. Due to the fact that Irving sued her in Britain, her team essentially had to prove to the judge that Irving was a sloppy and inaccurate historian, and Lipstadt’s portrayal of him in her book was true. A common misconception of this trial is that the defense had to prove the Holocaust happened. Irving acknowledge the occurrence of the Holocaust to some extent, so the defense actually had to prove people (Irving in particular) will distort evidence and call it History, in an attempt to evoke a certain narrative.
Irving is a standard Holocaust denier and Hitler apologist. Throughout his career, he consistently falsified evidence (by mistranslating or other means) to promote the agenda of making the Holocaust appear to be a ploy by ‘Greedy Jews’. Irving was revealed to be incredibly racist during the trial (one example being the nursery rhyme he sang to his young child, about how she should not participate in miscegenation). For these reasons, it was incredibly frustrating to read parts of Irving’s testimony. He said some very racist things, including hurtful words to actual survivors of the Holocaust.
I found really moving how many people wanted to participate in this trial. Lipstadt wrote about several friends, colleges, and even complete strangers who offered their help in some way. Everyone really saw it as a way to continue the fight against the Holocaust and Antisemitism. Because so many neo-fascists now see it as vogue to deny the Holocaust, it is incredibly important to keep up public knowledge of it, and to call out those that will use it for their neo-Nazi agenda.
This was second of the books about the Holocaust that I read on vacation (the first being Lilac Girls), and I certainly preferred it much more than Lilac Girls. I read parts of this memoir in my Holocaust discussion class this past semester, and I wanted to know the entire story. While it is not a standard vacation read (and it is a bit dry at parts), it is overall very readable and a great story on publicly confronting those that deny the Holocaust.
Deborah Lipstadt’s memoir Holocaust on Trial details her court case with David Irving, who sued her for libel because she referred to him as a Holocaust denier in her earlier book. Due to the fact that Irving sued her in Britain, her team essentially had to prove to the judge that Irving was a sloppy and inaccurate historian, and Lipstadt’s portrayal of him in her book was true. A common misconception of this trial is that the defense had to prove the Holocaust happened. Irving acknowledge the occurrence of the Holocaust to some extent, so the defense actually had to prove people (Irving in particular) will distort evidence and call it History, in an attempt to evoke a certain narrative.
Irving is a standard Holocaust denier and Hitler apologist. Throughout his career, he consistently falsified evidence (by mistranslating or other means) to promote the agenda of making the Holocaust appear to be a ploy by ‘Greedy Jews’. Irving was revealed to be incredibly racist during the trial (one example being the nursery rhyme he sang to his young child, about how she should not participate in miscegenation). For these reasons, it was incredibly frustrating to read parts of Irving’s testimony. He said some very racist things, including hurtful words to actual survivors of the Holocaust.
I found really moving how many people wanted to participate in this trial. Lipstadt wrote about several friends, colleges, and even complete strangers who offered their help in some way. Everyone really saw it as a way to continue the fight against the Holocaust and Antisemitism. Because so many neo-fascists now see it as vogue to deny the Holocaust, it is incredibly important to keep up public knowledge of it, and to call out those that will use it for their neo-Nazi agenda.
This was second of the books about the Holocaust that I read on vacation (the first being Lilac Girls), and I certainly preferred it much more than Lilac Girls. I read parts of this memoir in my Holocaust discussion class this past semester, and I wanted to know the entire story. While it is not a standard vacation read (and it is a bit dry at parts), it is overall very readable and a great story on publicly confronting those that deny the Holocaust.