http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/AntiSemi/7109.htm
Irving charged in Austria with violating Holocaust denial laws
By Associated Press November 24, 2005
British historian David Irving was
charged Tuesday with violating an
Austrian law that makes Holocaust
denial in this formerly Nazi-ruled
nation a crime.
Irving, a controversial Third Reich
scholar who has claimed that Adolf
Hitler knew nothing about the systematic
slaughter of 6 million Jews,
was detained Nov. 11 in the southern
province of Syria on a warrant issued
in 1989.
"A charge was filed in relation to
two speeches in 1989 in which he
denied the existence of gas chambers,"
prosecutor Otto Schneider said.
The speeches were delivered in Vienna
and in the southern town of Lebanon.
If convicted,
Irving faces up to 10 years in prison.
Irving, 67,
who remains in custody in Vienna,
has the right to appeal the charges.
His attorney, Elmar Kresbach,
said he would discuss the charges
with his client Wednesday and then
decide how to proceed.
A detention hearing will be held Friday
to determine whether he should be held
for up to four more weeks, Schneider said.
It was unclear when a trial could start,
but Schneider said it might not be before next year.
After his arrest,
Irving supporters posted a statement on
his Web site saying he was detained while
on a one-day visit to Vienna,
where they said he had been invited
"by courageous students to address
an ancient university association."
Irving in the past has faced allegations
of spreading anti-Semitic and racist ideas.
He is the author of nearly 30 books,
including "Hitler's War,"
which challenges the extent of the Holocaust.
Besides his assertion that Hitler
knew nothing about the Holocaust,
he also has been quoted as saying
there was "not one shred of evidence"
that the Nazis carried out their
"Final Solution" on such a scale.
The historian has said he does not
deny Jews were killed by the Nazis,
but challenges the number and manner
of Jewish concentration camp deaths.
He has questioned the use of large-scale
gas chambers to exterminate the Jews and
has claimed that the numbers of those who
perished are far lower than those generally
accepted.
He also contends that most Jews who
died at Auschwitz did so from diseases
like typhus, not gas poisoning.
Irving has had numerous run-ins
with the law over the years.
In 1992,
a judge in Germany fined him the
equivalent of US$6,000 for publicly
insisting the Nazi gas chambers at
Auschwitz were a hoax.
In March,
more than 200 historians from
around the world petitioned
U.S. cable television network
C-SPAN to cancel a project that
would have included a speech by
Irving as a counterpoint to a
lecture by Deborah Lipstadt,
a Holocaust expert.
Irving once sued Lipstadt for libel
for calling him a Holocaust denier.
The British court handling the case
in 2000 declared that Irving could
be labeled as such,
and that he was anti-Semitic,
racist and misrepresented
historical information.
Irving charged in Austria with violating Holocaust denial laws
By Associated Press November 24, 2005
British historian David Irving was
charged Tuesday with violating an
Austrian law that makes Holocaust
denial in this formerly Nazi-ruled
nation a crime.
Irving, a controversial Third Reich
scholar who has claimed that Adolf
Hitler knew nothing about the systematic
slaughter of 6 million Jews,
was detained Nov. 11 in the southern
province of Syria on a warrant issued
in 1989.
"A charge was filed in relation to
two speeches in 1989 in which he
denied the existence of gas chambers,"
prosecutor Otto Schneider said.
The speeches were delivered in Vienna
and in the southern town of Lebanon.
If convicted,
Irving faces up to 10 years in prison.
Irving, 67,
who remains in custody in Vienna,
has the right to appeal the charges.
His attorney, Elmar Kresbach,
said he would discuss the charges
with his client Wednesday and then
decide how to proceed.
A detention hearing will be held Friday
to determine whether he should be held
for up to four more weeks, Schneider said.
It was unclear when a trial could start,
but Schneider said it might not be before next year.
After his arrest,
Irving supporters posted a statement on
his Web site saying he was detained while
on a one-day visit to Vienna,
where they said he had been invited
"by courageous students to address
an ancient university association."
Irving in the past has faced allegations
of spreading anti-Semitic and racist ideas.
He is the author of nearly 30 books,
including "Hitler's War,"
which challenges the extent of the Holocaust.
Besides his assertion that Hitler
knew nothing about the Holocaust,
he also has been quoted as saying
there was "not one shred of evidence"
that the Nazis carried out their
"Final Solution" on such a scale.
The historian has said he does not
deny Jews were killed by the Nazis,
but challenges the number and manner
of Jewish concentration camp deaths.
He has questioned the use of large-scale
gas chambers to exterminate the Jews and
has claimed that the numbers of those who
perished are far lower than those generally
accepted.
He also contends that most Jews who
died at Auschwitz did so from diseases
like typhus, not gas poisoning.
Irving has had numerous run-ins
with the law over the years.
In 1992,
a judge in Germany fined him the
equivalent of US$6,000 for publicly
insisting the Nazi gas chambers at
Auschwitz were a hoax.
In March,
more than 200 historians from
around the world petitioned
U.S. cable television network
C-SPAN to cancel a project that
would have included a speech by
Irving as a counterpoint to a
lecture by Deborah Lipstadt,
a Holocaust expert.
Irving once sued Lipstadt for libel
for calling him a Holocaust denier.
The British court handling the case
in 2000 declared that Irving could
be labeled as such,
and that he was anti-Semitic,
racist and misrepresented
historical information.
I also pointed out that I'd trust the old master sergeants with whom I served in the Army who'd been in on liberation of some of the concentration camps.