Release date: Feb. 20, 2006
Contact: Elaine Justice at 404-727-0643 or elaine.justice@emory.edu

Emory's Lipstadt Comments on Holocaust Denier's Jailing

Emory University's Deborah Lipstadt says that Holocaust denier David Irving again has "brought his house of cards down on himself" when he pleaded guilty to Holocaust denial in an Austrian court and received a three-year sentence.

Lipstadt was sued in 2000 for libel in Great Britain by Irving over her book, "Denying the Holocaust," in which she labeled him a Holocaust denier. She won her case resoundingly in the widely publicized trial that left Irving's reputation in tatters.

Although not in favor of free-speech restrictions, Lipstadt says that Austria and Germany are special cases when it comes to Holocaust denial laws. "Their history — plus the fact that places such as Austria have not really come to a full reckoning with that past — gives denial as well as the use of Nazi-like symbols, such as the swastika, a special resonance."

Nevertheless, Lipstadt says she is not pleased by Irving's guilty plea or the sentence, which she thinks makes him a sympathetic figure to his neo-Nazi supporters. "I don't think for a minute that [his supporters] will now say, 'Eureka, I have seen the light and now that Irving says there were gas chambers I believe it too.' Rather they will say, 'Irving had no choice. He was forced to do this.'"

"Then when Irving returns to the UK and recants — as I believe he will — they will say, 'Exactly as we said.'"

Read more on Lipstadt's reaction to the verdict.

Emory University is known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate college of arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities. For nearly two decades Emory has been named one of the country's top 25 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools, the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, the state's largest and most comprehensive health care system.

Subscribe to News@Emory RSS feeds for automatic updates of the latest news at Emory.

Back