Holocaust denier Irving spoke in Cleveland suburb
By MARILYN H. KARFELD Staff Reporter
Fairview Park police counted about 40 cars in the parking lot at the
American Legion Hall on Brookpark Road August 25 as revisionist British
author and Holocaust denier David Irving addressed a select group
present by invitation only.
Sgt. Thomas Zinsmayer said Fairview Park police patrolled the area, but
did not go inside the hall.
Those attending had to show identification, a representative of the
American Legion said. While Cleveland police did not initially know the
location of the speech, Irving himself provided the address when he was
contacted at a toll-free number listed on his Web site.
The event, billed as an American Veterans History Conference, appeared
to have been organized by Erich Gliebe, head of the Cleveland unit of
the neo-Nazi National Alliance. After the July death of National
Alliance founder William Pierce, Gliebe was promoted to the top job. In
1996, Gliebe also brought Irving here to speak.
Secrecy surrounding such events as Irving's speech is important to
spreading the extreme right-wing message, says Mark Pitcavage, ADL
director of fact-finding. With no one "to debunk their conspiracy
theories or extreme claims" or provide "a dose of common sense,"
hatemongering thrives, he says. To expose these groups, the ADL seeks to
"shine a light" on white power activities.
Irving, the author of Hitler's War, reprinted the CJN's story about his
Cleveland appearance on his Web site. In a response posted alongside the
CJN piece, Irving denied that he had ever written a single book or
article about the Holocaust.
In April 2000, Irving lost a libel suit he brought against Holocaust
scholar Deborah Lipstadt and her publisher, Penguin, for damaging his
reputation as a historian. In her book, Denying the Holocaust - The
Growing Assault on Truth and Memory, Lipstadt called Irving, 62, "one of
the most dangerous spokespersons for Holocaust denial."
In his ruling, London High Court Judge Charles Gray called Irving a
"racist, an antisemite, an active Holocaust denier, who associates with
right-wing extremists."
The Anti-Defamation League points out that Irving never graduated from
college and has no academic credentials as a historian.
Through the years, Irving's statements on the Holocaust have varied from
outright denial that the Nazis exterminated Jews to acknowledgement that
a relatively small number of Jews were killed, but nowhere near the
reported 5 to 6 million toll.
In Hitler's War, Irving says Hitler never ordered or knew about the
Final Solution. He also denies there were gas chambers at Auschwitz to
kill people.
Faced with paying 2 million British pounds for Penguin's legal costs,
Irving declared bankruptcy. He lives in Key West, Fla., and supporters
in the U.S. fund most of his activities, the ADL says.
From Aug. 30-Sept. 2, Irving hosts the fourth annual conference on "Real
History" at the Greater Cincinnati Airport Marriott. Cost of the
conference alone is $410 per person.
In addition to selling his books, Irving invites speakers who espouse
right-wing conspiracy theories. One of the most popular is that Mossad,
the Israel intelligence organization, working with U.S. agents and
American Jews, was responsible for the World Trade Center and Pentagon
terrorist attacks.
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