Armenian Genocide: op-ed by Deborah Lipstadt and Peter Balakian

An op-ed written by my friend Peter Balakian and me appears in this week's New York Jewish Week

Turkey Must Acknowledge its Past
by Peter Balakian and Deborah Lipstadt

Turkey’s ambassador to Israel, Namik Tan, told The Jerusalem Post (Aug. 27) that Israel must force the ADL to retract its acknowledgement of the Armenian genocide, that failure to do this would be a stab in the heart of the Turkish people and that the Turkish people do not distinguish between Israeli Jews and Diaspora Jews on this issue. Tan also said that recognizing the Armenian genocide will mean that “my ancestors have done something inconceivable,” and it will set off “a campaign against Turkey and the Turkish people.” Though he subsequently tempered his language, this was a very harsh attack with overtones of classic views of Jewish power.

Turkey has told Israel and various Jewish organizations that if they favor a congressional resolution acknowledging the genocide it will not bode well for Israel’s relationship with Turkey or for Turkish Jews.

It is true that Turkey is the only Muslim nation willing to maintain a close diplomatic relationship with Israel and remains the only Muslim country that allows a small Jewish community to live in relative freedom.

We know that Turkey is pressured by internal factions and by other Muslim nations to sever ties with Israel. And it is also clear how fragile and tenuous, despite seeming quite comfortable, Jewish life in Turkey is.

Nevertheless, it is equally crucial that historical denial of genocide be addressed in an uncompromising fashion. While historians are taught to be skeptical, it is absurd to be skeptical or neutral about events of the magnitude of the Armenian genocide and the Holocaust, which are attested to by reams of documents and material evidence as well as testimonies by victims, perpetrators and bystanders.

Neutrality or skepticism in the case of these two tragedies constitutes denial, which is the final stage of genocide in that it seeks to demonize the victims and rehabilitate the perpetrators.

The broad and international record on the Armenian genocide has been created by an international body of dispassionate scholarship for decades, and notably, affirmed by The International Association of Genocide Scholars in repeated statements that note that this history is not controversial anywhere in the world but in Turkey.

Raphael Lemkin, the noted legal scholar who lost 49 members of his family in the Holocaust, invented the concept of genocide, in part, on the basis of what happened to the Armenians in 1915.

The main actor here, however, is Turkey. It is time for Turkey to end its nine-decade campaign to erase the Armenian genocide. It is time to stop bullying and attempting to coerce states and organizations that engage history honestly. Such a campaign is immoral.

By passing the resolution (H.R. 106) before it, Congress must make it clear to Turkey that, even as we welcome its alliance with the United States in so many arenas, the time for this denial is over.

Turkey’s calls for a commission of historians to resolve this issue are disingenuous, especially for a country that has a law that makes it a crime to “insult Turkishness,” under which scholars and publishers who have spoken about the Armenian genocide have been prosecuted and even killed.

It is wrong and unbecoming for the Jewish community to participate in what can best be described as a charade, i.e. the notion that the jury of historians is “still out” on this issue. Imagine if Germany had taken a similar stance with the Holocaust. While hindsight may be 20/20, it is regrettable that the Jewish community telegraphed a message to Turkey that this is a matter of debate and negotiation.

We understand Turkey’s difficulty in acknowledging these dark episodes in its past. However, acknowledging this crime would, rather than spawn a campaign against Turkey, as ambassador Tan claims, prompt applause from the international community.

It will be a sign that Turkey can critique its past honestly. The most effective way for a country to resolve its criminal past is to acknowledge the criminal act, try to make some form of recompense and become a force in trying to prevent the repetition of such events.

Germany has, with varying degrees of success, achieved that. It is time for Turkey to do the same with the Armenian genocide. And it is time to stop threatening a small vulnerable Jewish community or the one other parliamentary democracy in the Middle East for acknowledging historical truth.

The time has come for the U.S. Congress to join more than 20 other countries, the Vatican, the European Parliament and other world organizations, in affirming the Armenian genocide. Given that H.R. 106 is a nonbinding resolution with no “teeth in it,” the hysteria over the resolution has reached a point of absurdity. It is time for Turkey to acknowledge the moral perspective of other countries, and time to move on.

Peter Balakian is professor of the humanities at Colgate University and the author of The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America’s Response, which won the Raphael Lemkin Prize. Deborah Lipstadt is professor of Holocaust studies at Emory University and author of History on Trial: My Day in Court with David Irving, which won the National Jewish Book Award.

Iranian TV shows acccurate series on the Holocaust: Go figure....

AP reports that Iranian TV has been broadcasting a mini-series on the Holocaust. It does NOT deny it. The show tells the story of an Iranian diplomat who, while based in Paris, helps Jews escape the Holocaust.

This would be noteworthy in and of itself given President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's energetic Holocaust denial.

What makes it even more mind boggling is that the government produced the series and it is airing it on state-run television.

According to the AP reporter the

series titled "Zero Degree Turn" is clearly sympathetic to the Jews' plight during World War II. It shows men, women and children with yellow stars on their clothes being taken forcibly out of their homes and loaded into trucks by Nazi soldiers.

The series is based on a real Iranian diplomat who distributed 500 Iranian passports to Jews seeking refuge during the 1940s.

There is speculation that the show represents an attempt, according to the AP report,

by Iran's leadership to moderate its image as anti-Semitic and to underline a distinction that Iranian officials often make — that their conflict is with Israel, not with the Jewish people.

In order for the series to be broadcast it had to have the imprimatur of Iran's clerics since state broadcaster is under the control of the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khomenei, who has final say in all matters inside Iran.

Finally, the AP notes that the series breaks "another taboo in Iran: For the first time, many actresses appear without the state-mandated Islamic dress code." Apparently, the producers wanted a realistic portrayal of 1940s Paris and headscarves and chadors would not have cut it

Go figure....

Of course, the next thing that might happen would be an announcement by Ahmadinejad himself denying that such a mini-series is being aired.

Deborah Lipstadt: "spineless" and "wimpy"

A few months ago I posted and then deleted a review by Debbie Schlussel of A Mighty Heart. I decided it was too vituperative in tone. I explained my mistake.

Well it seems Ms. Schlussel did not like my action [that's understandable] and sent me an email [which due to a bureaucratic snafu I did not receive until this a.m.] expressing her opinion about my action.

I thought it was worth sharing with readers of this blog:

From: Debbie Schlussel [mailto:debbieschlussel@worldnet.att.net]
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 5:29 PM
To: hdot@emory.edu
Subject: To DEBORAH LIPSTADT . . .

Dear Dr. Lipstadt:

I don’t read your site, but got a google alert on my name and saw what you posted about my movie review. Prior to this, as a granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, I had been a fan of your work, but you’ve change my mind completely all on your own. I can now see why those who share the views of the David Irvings of the world are so successful, whereas our side is losing. They have backbone, and you are spineless. Thanks for enlightening me. I’d ask why those to whose whims you bow so easily were so upset with the “tone” of my review, which was perfectly fine. But frankly, I don’t care. I care much more to know why you are so wimpy. Then again, we cannot always find reason in illogic. Now I know why C-SPAN was so successful in mistreating you. You probably willingly took it. Or apparently, they very easily changed your mind, based on “tone.”

Regards,

Debbie Schlussel

I have been called many things but never have I been called "spineless" and "wimpy" or been accused of having "willingly took it." Next time Ms. Schlussel is sued in the UK for libel by a Holocaust denier and engages in a 6+ year legal battle, I hope she lets me know so I can support her.

Life is an unending string of surprises.

And a Shana Tova to you too Ms. Schlussel.

Antisemitism in the UK and beyond

Denis MacShane's article in the Washington Post has left me thinking.

Why the complacency about the rise of antisemitism in the UK and in parts of Europe beyond that which has been documented by a UK Parliamentary report? Could it be that those who might normally be expected to speak out are, in fact, the source of much of this sentiment, which comes in the guise of attacks on Israel and its supporters?

And why the complacency about Cambridge University Press' folding to Saudi pressure? Could it be that those who generally are most forceful about academic freedom dislike what the authors of Alms for Jihad have to say and the fingers they legitimately point?

On some level I am as much concerned by the silence as I am by the perpetrators of antisemitism and terror. Maybe this resonates with me because so much of my work on the Holocaust deals with bystanders.

Ultimately I find bystanders as, if not more, infuriating than perpetrators.

More scenes from the bush: no comment necessary

Pictures are compliments of my bush buddy Brad with the awesome lens

A UK Parliamentary perspective on current antisemitism

There is a very powerful article in the Washington Post by Denis McShane who chaired the UK Parliamentary committee on the new antisemitism in the UK. Below are excerpts from it:

By Denis MacShaneTuesday, September 4, 2007; A17

Hatred of Jews has reached new heights in Europe and many points south and east of the old continent. Last year I chaired a blue-ribbon committee of British parliamentarians, including former ministers and a party leader, that examined the problem of anti-Semitism in Britain.

None of us are Jewish or active in the unending debates on the Israeli-Palestinian question. Our report showed a pattern of fear among a small number of British citizens -- there are around 300,000 Jews in Britain, of whom about a third are observant -- that is not acceptable in a modern democracy. Synagogues attacked. Jewish schoolboys jostled on public transportation. Rabbis punched and knifed. British Jews feeling compelled to raise millions to provide private security for their weddings and community events. On campuses, militant anti-Jewish students fueled by Islamist or far-left hate seeking to prevent Jewish students from expressing their opinions.

More worrisome was what we described as anti-Jewish discourse, a mood and tone whenever Jews are discussed, whether in the media, at universities, among the liberal media elite or at dinner parties of modish London. To express any support for Israel or any feeling for the right of a Jewish state to exist produces denunciation, even contempt.

Our report sent a shock wave through the British government.

[....]
To Britain's credit, the Blair administration produced a formal government response setting out tough new guidelines for the police to investigate anti-Semitic attacks and for universities to stop anti-Jewish ideology from taking root on campuses. Britain's Foreign Office has been told to protest to Arab states that allow anti-Jewish broadcasts.

We made clear that criticism of actions of Israeli politicians was not off-limits. On the contrary, we noted that some of the strongest criticisms of Israeli policy come from Israeli campuses, journalists and political activists, and from the Jewish intellectual elite of many countries.

[....]
Tony Blair's successor as British prime minister, Gordon Brown, recently said in London that he stood with Israel "in bad times as well as good times," and one of the remarkable turnarounds of the new Labor leadership that governs Britain is a strong support for Israel and its commitment to combating anti-Semitism.

The problem is worse in other European countries.

[....]
Europe is reawakening its old demons, but today there is a difference. The old anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism have morphed into something more dangerous. Anti-Semitism today is officially sanctioned state ideology and is being turned into a mobilizing and organizing force to recruit thousands in a new crusade -- the word is chosen deliberately -- to eradicate Jewishness from the region whence it came and to weaken and undermine all the humanist values of rule of law, tolerance and respect for core rights such as free expression that Jews have fought for over time.

[....]
We are at the beginning of a long intellectual and ideological struggle. It is not about Jews or Israel. It is about everything democrats have long fought for: the truth without fear, no matter one's religion or political beliefs. The new anti-Semitism threatens all of humanity. The Jew-haters must not pass.

Libel Tourism: How two authors got skewered by Cambridge University Press and a Saudi Sheikh

There is a compelling piece on the History News Network by Robert O. Collins, emeritus professor of history at UC Santa Barbara, who co-authored with J. Millard Burr Alms for Jihad: Charity and Terrorism in the Islamic World, the book which was trashed by Cambridge University Press because Sheikh Khalid bin Mahfouz accused it of defaming him.

[This is the book about which I alerted readers of this blog to buy before Cambridge pulled it. Sure enough it disappeared from book sellers lists shortly thereafter.]

This, of course, all happened in the UK.

Cambridge University Press decided within a matter of weeks -- if that long -- to fold, abandon the authors, and acquiesce to the Sheikh's charges. During the negotiations with the Sheikh the authors "naively assumed that, as authors, we were automatically a party to any settlement." Of course, had they had a lawyer she/he would have told them that because they were not named in the case by the Sheikh they had no say.

As Professor Collins says, Cambrige abject[ly] surrender[ed].

Mahfouz probably chose not to include them in the suit because he knew that they would then have recourse to turn to the American courts, as Rachel Ehrenfeld is now doing, and challenge the decision of the UK court.

Why has there not been an outcry among academics? Don't they see this as an abridgement of the academic freedom they hold so dear? Why haven't they called attention to the systematic way in which the Saudis are closing down any and all criticism of them?

Why hasn't the media covered this extensively? After all, this development has the potential of affecting them as much as publishers and authors.

Why such silence on this clear issue of free speech?

Some additional pics from the African bush

A lion on the Madikwe reserve. [This is a 7 year old male who is in the process of usurping the place of an alpha male who has been the leader of the pack [pride] for 14 years. We saw the older guy and another 14 year old alpha male and it was clear that they know they are on the way out. Our ranger predicts that it will end with a knock down drag out fight which the old guys will lose.]





A jackal on the reserve. They eat whatever they can get their hands on, including the waste discarded by other animals.










A kudu.







[Pictures compliments of my bush buddy Brad Worsham who had a dynamite lens.

Return from the South African bush

As readers of this blog know I almost assiduously stay on topic [antisemitism, Holocaust denial, etc.] and don't burden people with details of my own activities except as they are related to these topics.

I find blogs which do this generally tedious and self-indulgent.

Well here goes a major exception. I just returned from a trip to South Africa where I was giving a lecture. I tacked on about 5 days most of which I spent, thanks to the arrangements made by some South African friends, in the South African bush at the Madikwe Safari Resort, a place run by an impressive company CC Africa. The bush was amazing: elephants, rhinos, zebras, impalas, wild dogs, hyenas, jackals, birds [amazing], and so much more. And the place was unbelievable: luxurious with an amazing staff that made you feel at home and so welcome.


CC Africa was founded in 1991 and is a pioneer in sustainable ecotourism, conservation development and community empowerment. It works with surrounding villages to make sure they benefit from increased tourism to the area. They help fund a foundation, the Africa Foundation, a not for profit rural development organization which conducts all sorts of projects directed at working with African villages.

One of the projects it runs is called WildChild. For each WildChild bracelet [the kind Lance Armstrong popularized] sold an extra student from the neighboring communities experiences a CC Africa conservation lesson and safari ride on the neighboring reserve.


I bought a bunch especially after being told by one of the managers of the camp that his son, who lives in a nearby village, has NEVER seen a lion except on television until he came on one of these safaris. It's a great project and the bracelets can be bought on line.

I can't praise it enough. It's a win-win situation: a first rate experience that's sensitive to the physical and social environment.

It's been a long time since I took a vacation. This one was well worth waiting for.

[Two lions sashaying off to dinner.]

Fantasy Land: Former American Senator says 9/11 Arab terrorists were in cahoots with the Zionists

Former Sentator James Abourezk said on Hizbullah TV that the Arabs who blew up the WTC and the Pentagon were cooperating with the Zionists. No comment is really necessary except that never have I been so happy someone was a former senator.

For the full transcript of his lunacies see Memri Special dispatch no. 1708

Interviewer: "Here I need to ask you something, which is growing and escalating in the Western world, and particularly in the U.S., which is this immense wave of anti-Arab, anti-Muslim sentiment, lumping all Arabs together as 'terrorists.' This was clearly manifested in movies and TV series, like 24. Why? Why now? Is it just after 9/11?"

"The Arabs Who Were Involved in 9/11 Cooperated With the Zionists"

James Abourezk: "No, it's after the Soviet Union collapsed. The Zionists were looking around for another enemy to have, because to them the Soviet Union was an enemy because they wouldn't allow Jewish emigration. So they used that as an organizing tool, basically, and when the Soviet Union collapsed, there was no more organizing about the Soviet Union. So they looked around, and they said: Well, the Muslims. Let's find the Arabs and the Muslims, and make them the boogeyman. And that's what they did."

Interviewer: "But why did this sentiment of hatred increase after 9/11?"

James Abourezk: "Well, because the Arabs who were involved in 9/11 cooperated with the Zionists, actually. It was a cooperation. They gave them the perfect excuse to denounce all Arabs. It's a racist sort of thing, really racist - you know, picking out these 19 or 20 terrorists - they were terrorists - and saying all the Arabs are like them. So, you know, people in America don't really look at it that deeply, and they accept what the government and the press are saying."[...]

David Irving on Aussie TV: What went wrong?

Seems that Australia's biggest pay TV station aired a biography of Hitler based on David Irving's work. The station was alerted after the first segment and pulled the show with deepest apologies.

A couple of questions come to mind:
1. Either someone had to have known what this show was all about and chose it deliberately, putting one over on the higher ups in the station

2. Or, and I favor this theory since the first one is a bit too conspiratorial for my tastes, this is how denial stuff makes it into the mainstream. It's what I have been saying since I wrote Denying the Holocaust, it camouflages itself as respectable scholarly literature and/or documentaries and people who don't have a background fall for it.

Now that is far more scary than a conspiracy.

Well, I am in South Africa in the bush and am off to see some [more] lions, elephants, zebras and the like.... Away from the other stuff that takes up most of my time... what a momentary relief.

Armenian Genocide: Turkey's Ambassador to Israel raises the ante

Yet another post about the Armenian Genocide. In a compelling and frightening interview given to the Jerusalem Post, Turkey's Ambassador to Israel has made it crystal clear that he expects Israel to "deliver" the ADL and other Jewish organization on the Armenian Genocide issue.

Turkey expects Israel and the organization to ensure that the US Congress does not pass the resolution characterizing as genocide the massacre of Armenians during World War I.

The Ambassador said:

"Israel should not let the [US] Jewish community change its position. This is our expectation and this is highly important, highly important.... If you want to touch and hurt the hearts of the people in Turkey, this is the issue... This is the No. 1 issue. You cannot easily explain to them any change in this."

He also told the Post that "in the eyes of the Turkish people, Tan said, his country's strategic relationship with Israel was not with Israel alone, but with the whole Jewish world. 'They [the Turkish people] cannot make that differentiation,'"

This is simply mind boggling. Let me enumerate what leaves me speechless here:
1. Turkey resolute fight against acknowledging the genocide. Doesn't Turkey realize that the world is upset less by the genocide [it's used to those things] than by Turkey's denial. [It's weird but true.]

2. Turkey's assumption that Israel can determine whether the resolution passes or not.

3. How in Turkey's mind Israel says jump and American Jews will jump. It just does not work that way. [I hate to disappoint the antisemites who see as all organized in one giant conspiracy but it just ain't so]

4. While Turkey threatened to cut off French investments in Turkey when it passed a law outlawing Armenian genocide denial, it did not raise the stakes the way it is doing now.

And, as I have said before, who says history does not have contemporary relevance???

Armenian Genocide: Turkey pressures Israel to pressure ADL

Seems that, according to the JTA, the Turks are pressuing Israel to get the ADL to reverse its reversal on the Armenian genocide. I hope that this will not happen.

It would be nice if the Turks recognized that the best way for them to deal with this is to admit that it happened and declare this fight over. Oh, could they learn from Germany's behavior.

Armenian Genocide: Statement by Scholars

A few years ago, in the face of the Turkish government's efforts to set up chairs at American universities -- such as it did at Princeton for Heath Lowry -- a group of scholars signed a statement regarding the Armenian genocide.

It's worth reading.

Armenian genocide: Ambassador John Evans [who lost his job because he spoke of the genocide] makes statement

I heard from my new friend, Ambassador John Evans, who was fired by the State Department from his position as American Ambassador to Armenia because he referred to the Armenian genocide.

Ambassador Evans has issued the following statement regarding the ADL and American Jewish Committee's change of position regarding the Armenian genocide.

The American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League have done the right thing to describe the 1915 massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire using the historically accurate term, which is "genocide." And AJC Director David Harris is also right to say that "engagement, not avoidance, is the best strategy." Treating the issue of the Armenian Genocide as a taboo does not get us -- Armenians, Turks or Americans -- anywhere, but only perpetuates a long-standing stalemate and generates further bitterness. The issue needs to be faced squarely and honestly for the good of all, and for the future stability of the region.

John M. Evans
U.S. Ambassador to Armenia
2004-2006

Hats off to him for doing so.

Armenian genocide: ADL reverses its stand

So this morning I posted something about the ADL-Watertown, Ma.- Armenian controversy. I posted it in great sadness because I thought the position taken by the ADL was so wrong.

And a few hours later, the JTA reports that, in a sign that people and organizations sometimes still do the right thing, the ADL has issued a statement acknowledging that what was done to the Armenians constitutes a genocide and there is no need for historians to determine that fact.

The organization still opposes a resolution, a position with which I disagree. On that reasonable people can take different positions. On the tragedy that was perpetrated against the Armenians there is far less room for that.

This was the right thing to do and it is only too bad that it had to happen in the first place.

BTW, I am not suggesting that my posting is what changed Abe Foxman's mind. My guess is that it was, in the main, his conversation with Elie Wiesel and the chorus of criticisms that came from so many people in the field, myself included.

The statement, which was issued by Abe Foxman, says:

In light of the heated controversy that has surrounded the Turkish-Armenian issue in recent weeks, and because of our concern for the unity of the Jewish community at a time of increased threats against the Jewish people, ADL has decided to revisit the tragedy that befell the Armenians.

We have never negated but have always described the painful events of 1915-1918 perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire against the Armenians as massacres and atrocities. On reflection, we have come to share the view of Henry Morgenthau, Sr. that the consequences of those actions were indeed tantamount to genocide. If the word genocide had existed then, they would have called it genocide.

Who says history belongs to the past?: Armenian genocide, the ADL, and Watertown, Mass.

I have been a bit slow in posting about a controversy that is roiling Watertown Mass. and parts beyond. Seems that ADL wanted to bring its highly praised program "No Room for Hate" to Watertown. [For more background see the JTA article by Ben Harris.]

Watertown is also the home to a very large Armenian population and they are understandably upset -- to put it mildly -- about the Congress' failure to pass a bill which recognizes the Armenian genocide.

Not surprisingly, Turkey is vehemently opposed to this resolution. And, as I have discussed before, some of the leading American Jewish organizations are not supporting it either. They seem to be echoing the Turkish argument that this is a matter for the historians not the politicians.

It hurts to see the Jewish organizations take this stance. My guess -- and it's really more than a guess -- that the Turks have made it quite clear that if they value Turkey's relationship with Israel and the well being of the Turkish Jewish community they should not support the bill. There is also growing concern in the Jewish community that, as Turkey becomes more overtly Muslim, Turkish Jews and the relationship with Israel will suffer. So many folks are on edge.]

[I had a small encounter of this nature a couple of years ago in Australia when I was there for Limmud. I was scheduled to participate in a panel on genocide denial. The other presenter was Professor Ronald Grigor Suny of the University of Chicago. He was to present on Armenian genocide denial. Both the Limmud organizers and the Armenian community were excited about this event. The Turkish consulate in Sydney tried to quietly shut the program down with some heavy handed insinuations to the organizers about "Turkey's support of Israel" and questions such as, "has Israel's policy towards Turkey changed?" The Limmud organizers did not bend.]

I regret the fact that Watertown will not bring the ADL program but I understand their decision. Some people in the Jewish community have argued that the program is so valuable bring it anyway. Separate the two issues.

Yet in the Jewish community there have been those who have refused to do this when it concerns antisemitism. Ironically, it was the ADL which turned down an alliance with Russell Simmons, who has spoken out forcefully against antisemitism, because of his support of Louis Farrakhan, an avowed antisemite.

Regarding the Armenian genocide, in a less than fortuitous choice of phrasing, Abe Foxman, National Director of the ADL, told the JTA:

"This is not an issue where we take a position one way or the other. This is an issue that needs to be resolved by the parties, not by us. We are neither historians nor arbiters."

When asked by the JTA to comment on the Armenian genocide, I said:

"It's not a matter of debate. There is an overwhelming consensus among historians that work in this area that there is no question that this is a genocide. You can't deny this history."

The issue has been further complicated by the recent firing of the ADL Boston office director for his criticism of the ADL national office for its position on the Armenian genocide. He called the stance of the national office "morally indefensible."

I hope the ADL leadership can sit down with the Armenian community and listen to them on this issue. A good start would be to read this week's op-ed by Alan Dershowitz and Massachusetts State Representative Ruth Kaprielian.

If you want to feel the Armenian community's reaction just change "Armenian genocide" to "Holocaust" in the some of the statements which have been made. We would have been -- and rightfully so -- livid.

Can we expect anything else from the Armenians?

Of course, as Jews and Armenians go at each other the Turks sit by and watch [after having played their hand behind the scene.]

What a tragedy.

David Irving's Reality Check [2]: There is a judgment against me in the UK

David Irving gets weirder and weirder. Now he is telling people that there is a judgment against me and that if I showed up in the UK I would be jailed. As he recently wrote to a correspondent:

Professor Lipstadt knows very well why she does not give advance notice of her public appearances in England. If you cannot work it out, then ask her the reason. She knows (hint: there's a cell in Holloway waiting for her; or perhaps it should be Pentonville - one can never be too sure nowadays). If you don't believe it, invite her to give me formal notice when she next plans to visit. She won't.

Problem is that I have been in the UK numerous times. All my visits have been well publicized -- maybe just not on the websites Irving frequents -- and miracle of miracles no one has come to arrest or detain me.....

The fact is that there is no judgment of any sort against me. Moreover, David Irving is lucky I chose NOT to pursue him for the funds it cost to mount my defense.

David Irving's own reality: Deborah Lipstadt snuck into London

A friend spotted the following post on Irving's website:

Deborah Lipstadt sneaked into London and spoke Monday at the ICA | David Irving urged a warm welcome to the scholar

I guess that goes to prove that Irving has not been reading my blog where I announced that I was coming or the ICA website which had a post on the evening for at least a month beforehand

That man lives in his own reality world... but I knew that already.

Springtime for Hitler (2): Some (more sober) thoughts on the previous post

While the mother's comments about teaching students to not "judge" Hitler were pretty mind boggling, one should certainly not assume that this is actually what is happening. We don't know if she heard this first hand from the teacher or from her son or was simply trying to cover up an embarrassing moment.

Then again given the idiocy that goes on in so many schools, it's possible that it is, as Brits would say, spot on.