![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
![]() |
You are in: UK | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
![]() |
Tuesday, 11 April, 2000, 15:50 GMT 16:50 UK
Judge: Why Irving had to lose
![]() It took Judge Charles Gray 300 strongly-worded pages to set out why he had found David Irving to be a Holocaust denier, an anti-Semite and a racist.
The judge said said it appeared to him to be "incontrovertible" that Irving qualified as a Holocaust denier. "Not only has he denied the existence of gas chambers at Auschwitz and asserted that no Jew was gassed there, he has done so on frequent occasions and sometimes in the most offensive terms," he said. To illustrate his point, the judge quoted comments by Mr Irving, including:
The judge said he also accepted the defendants' case that Mr Irving was anti-Semitic. "His words are directed against Jews, either individually or collectively, in the sense that they are by turns hostile, critical, offensive and derisory in their references to Semitic people, their characteristics and appearances," he said.
The judge agreed that Jews were as open to criticism as anyone else. "But it appears to me that Irving has repeatedly crossed the divide between legitimate criticism and prejudiced vilification of the Jewish race and people," he said. 'Baby Ayran' The judge said he concluded that Irving was also a racist. He said evidence came from sample quotations such as the rhyme Mr Irving composed for his daughter. The court heard it ran "I am a Baby Aryan, Not Jewish or Sectarian. I have no plans to marry an ape or Rastafarian."
"But he has on many occasions spoken in terms which are plainly racist." The judge said he also found that Irving associated regularly with extremist and neo-Nazi organisations and individuals. "The conclusion I draw...is that Irving is sympathetic towards, and on occasion promotes the views held by, those individuals and organisations. "The content of his speeches and interviews often displays a distinctly pro-Nazi and anti-Jewish bias.
"He is content to mix with neo-fascists and appears to share many of their racist and anti-Semitic prejudices. "The picture of Irving which emerges from the evidence of his extra-curricular activities reveals him to be a right-wing pro-Nazi polemicist. "In my view the defendants have established that Irving has a political agenda. "It is one which, it is legitimate to infer, disposes him, where he deems it necessary, to manipulate the historical record in order to make it conform with his political beliefs."
|
![]() |
See also:
![]() Internet links:
![]() The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites ![]() Links to other UK stories are at the foot of the page.
![]() |
![]() |
Links to more UK stories
|
![]() |
![]() |
^^ Back to top News Front Page | World | UK | UK Politics | Business | Sci/Tech | Health | Education | Entertainment | Talking Point | In Depth | AudioVideo ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To BBC Sport>> | To BBC Weather>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © MMIII | News Sources | Privacy |