David Irving announces book tour, tells 'Guardian' that Jews are architects of their own misfortune.
By JONNY PAUL, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENTirving 248 88(photo credit: )
David Irving, the discredited British historian and Holocaust denier, has announced that he is to launch a comeback with a publicity tour of UK cities and a series of new books.
Described by a high court judge as a Holocaust denier and a racist, Irving was imprisoned in Austria for three years in February 2006 on Holocaust denial charges after a judge ruled that two speeches he made in 1989 breached Austrian law. He questioned the existence of extermination camps in his speeches and dismissed the gas chambers at Auschwitz as a "fairy tale".
"I have kept a low profile for several months because I have had to sort out where to live and to address my financial situation, but now I am ready to start again" Irving told The Guardian newspaper on Saturday.
Irving was released last December following a successful appeal, less than halfway through his sentence, with a judge saying his crime was committed a long time ago and that Irving had since undergone an "impeccable conversion."
However, Irving says his views on the Holocaust have crystallized rather than changed. He says that the Jews were responsible for what happened to them during the Second World War and that the "Jewish problem" was responsible for nearly all the wars of the past 100 years.
"The Jews are the architects of their own misfortune, but that is the short version A-Z," he said in the Guardian article.
"The judgment against Irving in the High Court in April, 2000 and the judge's comments after a lengthy examination of the evidence irreparably
damaged any claims he may have had to have been a serious historian," said Jon Benjamin, chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews. "He is free to speak in this country, within the bounds of the law, but can he really be treated as a reputable authority? Any road show would be more of a freak show."
"In 2000, a British High Court Judge branded David Irving a 'falsifier of history' and a 'racist'," Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said. "I can not imagine there is any real interest in
Irving's "speaker tour" and I can not understand why anyone would sympathize with his spurious views."
She added: "We must not tolerate Holocaust denial in whatever guise it may unfold and the best vehicle for challenging it is through educating and informing future generations about the lessons of the Holocaust. It is with
the British Government's support, that the Trust is reaching thousands of school students every year, ensuring that they recognize the dangers and potential effects of prejudice and racism today."
Irving was due to address a meeting in Coventry last Friday. The event was disrupted by protesters. He plans to speak in Halifax and Birmingham as well as at several unnamed universities.
