David Irving, Holocaust Denier, Tours Nazi Sites In Poland

WARSAW, Poland — Prosecutors in Poland say a British historian who denies the Holocaust is touring World War II sites including former Nazi death camps.

Author David Irving is leading a group on a visit to the camps and other World War II sites but is not releasing his exact itinerary.

Poland's National Remembrance Institute said Wednesday that its prosecutors know where Irving is.

The institute's spokesman Andrzej Arseniuk said prosecutors are watching his public statements for any violations of the law that forbids the denial of the Holocaust. Violations are prosecuted and can lead to prison terms of up to three years.

Irving was convicted under a similar law in Austria in 2006 and served 13 months in prison.

Comments

[dashingdan]

12:02 AM on 11/04/2010

What we know about the Holocaust is due to German records. The videos, numbers, names, etc. are all from German records. If they don't deny it, why do other people deny?

[cweinbl]

06:56 PM on 09/27/2010

Captured German war records prove that millions of innocent Jews were systematically exterminated by Nazi Germany. Virtually every PhD in the world will stake their career on these known Holocaust FACTS. Yet, Holocaust deniers ply their mendacious poison everywhere, especially with young people on the Internet. We must repel the broken ethics of our ancestors, or risk a dreadful repeat of past transgressions. We must show the world that religious persecution is wrong; and that tolerance is our progeny's only hope. Thus can we reveal the true horror of genocide and promote the triumphant spirit of humankind.

Charles Weinblatt
Author, Jacob’s Courage
http://jacobscourage.wordpress.com/

[AndrewInToronto]

01:28 PM on 10/11/2010

Not only religious persecution but cultural intolerance as well must be exposed, particularly in the above context. To deny the Holocaust is repellent enough; to turn a blind-eye to the intentional murder of tens of millions of civilians in Poland, the Soviet Union, and so on not on religious or political grounds but because they were "inferior" is even more dangerous.

[BlackWidowPilot]

03:37 PM on 09/26/2010

"ergon,"

I challenge you to prove empirically that I oppose Herr Irving's right to free speech.

I also challenge you to prove I have "conflated American interests with Israeli interests."

Better still, provide some empirical proof that Israel controls our government as you just asserted below.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

Proud Son of a WW2 US Marine

[gawd]

01:19 AM on 09/26/2010

I can't understand why anyone would be a denier. But I am glad I don't live in Europe. I value free speech, even for speech I disagree with.

[cweinbl]

06:14 PM on 10/11/2010

Our society is not sufficiently mature for free speech. We do not yet deserve it.

As a Holocaust researcher and published author, I daily am reminded that humans misuse free speech. They lie to vulnerable young minds with bigotry and intolerance. As long as large numbers of those vulnerable minds accept Holocaust denial, then we do not yet deserve free speech.

Members of my family were murdered because they were Jewish. Virtually all professional historians will stake their career upon known Holocaust facts. Yet, anti-Semites are successfully able to twist the minds of young people with their denial of known history. The memory of my lost ancestors cries out for justice. Yet, in place of justice, there are lies, deceit and historical fabrication. Perhaps one day, humanity will be ready for free speech. Until then, the honest among us must regulate speech.

Millions of innocent Jewish men, women and children were systematically exterminated by Nazi Germany. Yet, millions of people today refute this truth with lies, prejudice and bigotry. They teach the next generation to hate Jews. We cannot stop this by allowing it to continue.

Only when we learn to value the differences among us will we truly be able to admire the human spirit. Until then, we remain a crass, vile, hate-spewing culture, desperate to condemn all those who are different. I see and value our differences. Holocaust deniers hate me as a Jew.

Charles Weinblatt
Author, Jacob’s Courage
http://jacobscourage.wordpress.com/

[Checquoline]

02:08 PM on 09/24/2010

This man KNOWS it was real. He just wants to create a following and get his 15 minutes of fame. I hope he slips and gets arrested. He is evil.

[Occam123]

02:59 PM on 09/24/2010

Irving is not looking for his 15 minutes of fame. He is a convicted ( in both sense of the word)  Nazi supporter.

By some unexplained reason  ( probably sublimation of  something personal)  Irving went from -legitimate  historical research ( his book on Rommel is quite good)  to  outright Nazi adoration and support.
Of course, as any Nazi  supporter, he adopted antisemitism as a matter of course. 

[american-dolt]

06:08 PM on 09/25/2010

And you think he went from "Legitimate Historical Researcher" to Anti-Semite?

I think he is still Legitimate and I don't hate Jews, I see something wrong with History.

I see things wrong with US History (official story) I think most of recorded History is a Farce.

It makes me Sick someone is Imprisoned for Denying what they think is correct.

[Cali Saracen]

09:17 PM on 09/23/2010

What a crack pot

[exF14RIO]

10:45 AM on 09/27/2010

Some folks just like to start trouble and are argumentative... but this argument is hurtful, and proves Irving isn't a credible analyst or commentator, but he IS an a**...

[MilesToGo]

06:41 PM on 09/23/2010

That media and news sources give this man any attention confirms how dysfunctional they are.

[Forester]

05:52 PM on 09/23/2010

Their next trip to The Kentucky Creation Museum is already sold out!

[mulegino]

06:14 PM on 09/23/2010

It's interesting that you would bring up creationism as that calls to mind the Scopes Trial. Now, what do you think the motivation of the prosecution in the Scopes trial was- was Scopes prosecuted and convicted for teaching mere facts of biology, or because what he taught would involve the implicit denial of a widely held belief and therefore offend the great majority of his community?

[Forester]

06:24 PM on 09/23/2010

As I'm sure you know, the "motivation of the prosecution" in The State of Tennessee vs. Scopes, was to bring business to Dayton, TN. Nothing was really resolved in that trial except to confirm that big trials are good for business and political careers in backwater towns.

[mulegino]

02:43 PM on 09/23/2010

I had almost lost sight of the fact that Irving is not a "denier" at all- he is a skeptic, or a doubter. If he had gone to jail in Iran for offending the sensibilities of the regime, he would be a martyr. It is ironic that in Europe, the birthplace of both Cartesian doubt and Enlightenment skepticism, it can be a crime to express skepticism and doubt. Well, some skepticism and doubt anyway-it's not like Europe gets uptight about millions of murdered Russian Orthodox Christians, or Kulaks. Come to Europe- you can offend Christianity or Islam-hey you can even get rich, famous and cause riots with your cartoons-because that kind of "offensive" stuff is free speech and artistic expression, which they both have and don't have in the new Fortress Europa.

[Ergon]

04:20 PM on 09/23/2010

Careful-ironical commentary is about to be outlawed in this brave new world.

[mulegino]

05:00 PM on 09/23/2010

I agree, not only ironical comment. How long will it be until the new Europe rehabilitates the Index? Of course, the modern heresy does not involve matters relating to sacred dogmas involving a transcendent Deity- rather, it consists in the failure to recognize that the sacred has been immanentized in an historical event, before which all histories of the past must be minimalized and all future generations must acknowledge as incomparably sacred.

[Occam123]

07:56 PM on 09/23/2010

E-groan, posted: this  comment:  "The alleged gas chambers were post war Stalinist reconstructions. "

'Nough said about this crusty botch of nature!

[AdamX]

04:51 PM on 09/23/2010

He is NOT a skeptic or a doubter. The evidence is overwhelming. He is a denier and a Jew hater. You bend over backwards to show that he is a "skeptic". Next you will be telling us that someone who claims that water is not wet is merely a skeptic.

[mulegino]

05:18 PM on 09/23/2010

What, precisely, is Irvin denying? A numerical figure? The existence of a direct order?

[american-dolt]

06:10 PM on 09/25/2010

My word that is ugly talk... like a spoiled child.

[Saco A]

01:25 PM on 09/23/2010

In the Israeli press it was published he is charging 2,650 US Dollar per person in his group. My grandfather (a Holocaust survivor) would have said: everyone has to live on something...

[bdaved]

02:05 PM on 09/23/2010

That's with the earlybird discount. Otherwise it's $2900, double occupancy. And the tour sold out.

[roshni]

12:23 PM on 09/23/2010

I would watch this guy carefully. It's not beyond him to defile some of these sites.

[Occam123]

11:41 AM on 09/23/2010

Now back to reality.

Those afflicted with  Judeophobia  often try to portray anti-Holocaust laws as some kind  of  evil plan of exclusivity which Jews use to control Europe and benefit Israel. there are at least 50 posts here projecting this sentiment.
This is hogwash.
Now back to reality.
Facts:  Germany and Austria--birthplace of Nazism-- anti- Holocaust denial laws form a part of comprehensive set of  laws  to prevent glorification of Nazi past.    There’s nothing exclusive about the Holocaust denial laws in those two countries.
Laws
In  Austria this set of law is called- Verbotsgesetz.
In Germany it forms essential part of  post WW2 Grundgesetz:
Content:
There laws PROHIBIT:  neo-Nazi parties; promoting Nazi ideology, downplaying Nazi crimes,  displaying swastikas, giving Nazi salute, even airing Nazi  song , "Horst Wessel."   
Example of seriousness of these laws:
Some years ago a leader of a rock band, Michael Regener,  whose lyrics contained  pro-Nazi propaganda was convicted and sentenced to  3 years in jail. His  sentence was upheld by German Supreme court.  This is EXACTLY the same sentence  Irving got from the Austrian court. Deservedly so.

Conclusion:
We’re  concerned about  our Nazi past and possibility of neo-nazi future.  Americans are not….Fine.
To each his own.
But, don’t  project your sensibilities onto us.

[mulegino]

12:07 PM on 09/23/2010

'What are you in for?' said Winston.

'Thoughtcrime!' said Parsons, almost blubbering...
for going off the rails just once?'

'Are you guilty?' said Winston.

'Of course I'm guilty!' cried Parsons with a servile glance at the
telescreen. 'You don't think the Party would arrest an innocent man,
do you?'

Orwell 1984

How ironic! This is not the Third Reich, the USSR, or even Iran. This is the Europe of today, where books-books! are forbidden and speech not only controlled, but punished with a prison cell! The prosaic presentation of facts and figures is under the the control of the thought Inquisition!

[Occam123]

01:21 PM on 09/23/2010

Re-read my last sentence. Think about it.  Take your time. Wish you happy New Year  celebration. :-)

[roshni]

12:24 PM on 09/23/2010

Well said.

[MiamiBoy]

11:26 AM on 09/23/2010

They should keep one of the ovens or poison gas chambers functioning so that when Holocaust deniers do visit they can at least experience what they are denying first hand

[Aaron Aarons]

03:03 PM on 09/28/2010

I don't think there's any disagreement by Irving, et al., about the fact that the bodies of dead concentration camp inmates were cremated. Rather, they argue about how many Jews and others died, and how they died. Also, they don't deny that gas chambers existed, but argue that they weren't used for killing people but for delousing clothes. The latter was certainly true at the concentration camps INSIDE Germany, where no serious historian claims there were gas chambers for killing people.

[Uproar]

10:33 AM on 09/23/2010

Mel Gibson was in Poland?

[michael429]

10:25 AM on 09/23/2010

Every mainstream media outlook is guilty of genocide denial by refusing to cover the events in Darfur, minimizing the atrocities in Rwanda and Bosnia in the 90s and countless other horrific historical acts of "ethnic cleansing."....teaching the history of the Holocaust is required in Germany...with all of our free speech rights our schools do not teach the history of American genocide against Native Americans or the wholesale slaughter of the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean....the result is that we have a less educated and less tolerant population that is prone to the misstatements and outright lies that the propagandists of Fox and talk radio squeal constantly....so i guess my point is, that my reflexive reaction that free speech rights should apply to all individuals everywhere including idiots like the Holocaust denier, the Nutball preacher who would burn Koran's and jerks like New Gingrich who make statements that the Mr. Obama is genetically unfit to be president.....i can't get too worked up about attacking a country like Austria, Poland or Germany that sees this kind of rhetoric as the equivalent of yelling "Fire" in a crowded theater....

[roshni]

12:25 PM on 09/23/2010

I like what you have to say, but punctuation is your friend. Your post is a little difficult to read.

[michael429]

05:01 PM on 09/23/2010

Apologies for the typos...i write while on a train or bus and it shows....

[Ndundu]

04:44 PM on 09/23/2010

In Namibia, an "extermination order" was issued by Genl. von Trotha in 1904 against the Ovaherero nation, resulting in the death of 75% of the nation, many in concentration camps. This was a direct forerunner of later events. Is it being taught?

[roshni]

10:59 PM on 09/23/2010

Namibia has quite a history involving the Bantustan policies. It is very thought provoking.

[Ergon]

09:54 PM on 09/24/2010

King Leopold of Belgium killed up to 10 million Congolese http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Leopold%27s_Ghost