1
1 . Based on the acclaimed book Denial : Holocaust History on Trial , Denial ( 2016 ) recounts Deborah E . Lipstadt ’ s ( Academy Award ® winner Rachel Weisz ) legal battle for historical truth against David Irving ( BAFTA nominee Timothy Spall ), who accused her of libel when she declared him a Holocaust denier
I used the services of two of my research students , who were paid at an hourly rate by the defence , as indeed I was myself . Preparation for the trial began in 1997 , and with the aid of a sabbatical as I moved from my professorship in London to a new post in Cambridge , and with the help of my researchers , I completed an independent 740-page report in July 1999 . In it , I found Lipstadt ’ s charges against Irving fully justified ; I was cross-examined for 28 hours by Irving in court , and successfully defended my report throughout .
The judge ruled against Irving and Lipstadt was vindicated . Irving had bent the evidence to fit his prejudices , manipulating and falsifying historical material to support his Holocaust denial , that is , his belief that only a small number of Jews were killed in World War II , not six million , the commonly accepted figure ; that there was no plan or programme to kill them , they were just casualties of war ; that Hitler did not know about the Holocaust , or alternatively , if he did know , he tried to stop it ; that gas chambers were not used to murder Jews ; and that the evidence for the Holocaust was invented by Jews after the war . Costs were awarded against Irving , though he then declared himself bankrupt so did not have to pay them . Irving asked for leave to appeal , but in a separate hearing before three judges his request was denied .
Deep VIEW
7