viewing footage of actual proceedings, the technique creates a minimal but somewhat distracting sense of distance from the trial. Nevertheless, Holocaust on Trial suc- 'nor more than three months earlier JIIE this year, Emory University Professor Deborah Lipstadt bat- tled with the forces of Holocaust denial in the form of a libel suit brought against her Deborah Lipstadt by British leaving court a er historian David Irving. being vindicated. Holocaust on Trial, air- ing Tuesday, Oct. 31, on PBS, drama- tizes key exchanges from the trial and interweaves interviews with historians and archival footage showing the relentless progress of the Nazis' war against the Jews. What follows is a reprint of a con- versation Lipstadt had with the pro- ducers of NOVA. NOVA: Why was David Irving suing you, and why in British court? DL: In my book, Denying The Holocaust, I made some reference to him. The book is about 300 pages long, and I would say maybe five pages deal with Irving, if that many. But I refer to him as the most dan- gerous Holocaust denier around and a Hitler partisan, someone who, moti- vated by a right-wing ideology, knows what the facts are and then twists them to conform to his ideology. In short, he is a liar. He could sue me in British courts because the book was published in Britain. NOVA: 'What do you think he was trying to get out of this suit? DL: First of all, I think he thought I wouldn't fight it. That would have been a victory for him because he then would have won. I think he was trying to get publicity and vindication. He wanted me to apologize to him. tvIN 10/27 2000 96 NOVA: What do you make of Irving's reputation for being a metic- ulous researcher in Nazi archives? DL: Until this trial no one had fol- lowed his footnotes, so no one really knew. ceeds admirably. From the opening frames, it tells a riveting story about the frightening passion of a man whose "scholarship" derives from his cloaked bigotry. As we watch the actor playing Irving make his case from the stand, he comes across as a distin- guished professor: confident, digni- fied; well spoken; proud; sometimes witty, sometimes snide. However, as we begin to learn more about his undisputed right-wing con- nections, Irving's agenda is revealed to us in a videotaped speech included in the documentary. We have access to the real Irving as he recounts a response he once made to a Jewish man who challenged him. Irving sardonically quips, "You are disliked, your people. You have been disliked for 3,000 years. You have been disliked so much that you have been hounded from country to country from pogrom to purge, from purge back to pogrom, and yet you never ask yourselves why you are disliked .... It never occurs to you to look in a mirror and say, 'Why am I disliked? What is it the rest of humanity doesn't like about libel? What constitutes historical proof? the Jewish people?'" AUDREY BECKER Whose interpretation of history should Irving concludes his anecdote by Special to the Jewish News be legitimized? How can we distinguish describing the reaction of the Jewish between scholarship and propaganda? man who had posed the challenge. "He hen Deborah Lipstadt The legal proceedings were unusual went berserk. He said, 'Are you trying published her book on several levels: to say that we are responsible for Denying the Holocaust: Because the action was brought Auschwitz ourselves?'" The Growing Assault on against a British publisher, the trial was Irving pauses with a rhetorical in 1994, her Truth and Memory held in London under British libel law flourish. "I said, Well, the short remarks about English historian David — that in contrast to U.S. libel law pre- answer is yes." Irving prompted what would sumes the defendant guilty As followers of the trial already know, become one of the most "Holocaus t on Trial" until proven innocent. To be Lipstadt was ultimately and unambigu- controversial trials of recent intersperse s archival acquitted, Lipstadt and ously vindicated by Justice Charles Gray. years. footage wi th the trial Penguin Books Ltd. had to He firmly concluded the accuracy of her After the publication of re-enac tment. prove the validity of her claims and publicly discredited the once- Lipstadt's book, Irving, who claims that Irving had respected Irving. had been known by many as manipulated, distorted and mistranslat- The fact of Gray's verdict is crucial in a reputable scholar of Hitler, the Third ed the historical record. itself. The process of adjudicating truth Reich and the Nazi archives, launched a Next, Lipstadt, who occupies the is unquestionably fraught with danger, a solo libel action against Lipstadt and her Dorot Chair in Modern Jewish and fundamental danger that makes publisher, Penguin Books Ltd. Holocaust Studies at Emory University Holocaust on Trial a significant television On Tuesday, Oct. 31, PBS will air in Atlanta, refused to debate with Irving document. ❑ NOVA's Holocaust on Trial, a new docu- on the grounds that doing so would mentary about this politically charged mean, to some degree, legitimizing his case. Directed by Leslie Woodhead, the NOVA's Holocaust on Trial airs 9 work. In the documentary, we only get a hour-long program offers a fascinating p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 31, on PBS brief glimpse of Lipstadt, but she doesn't look at this unusual legal proceeding. (WTVS-Channel 56 in Detroit). speak in her own defense. In one sense, In the abstract, it is not just the Deborah Lipstadt will speak 7:30 it's like a courtroom drama with no pro- Holocaust that is on trial but the very p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 5, at Temple tagonist. understanding of what constitutes histo- Israel in a talk co-sponsored by the Finally, because there were no cameras ry and the historical record. Jewish Community Center and in the courtroom, Holocaust on Trial While the documentary explicitly tells Anti-Defamation League. For more makes use of staged reenactments. While the story of the lawsuit, it also raises information, call (248) 661-5725. the reenactments are tasteful, to numerous implicit questions: What is American audiences accustomed to the relationship between free speech and NOVA re-enacts the courtroom drama that tested the evidence for the most heinous crime in Jewish history.