Jewish professor receives welcome after exoneration

By Bradley Armstrong
Daily Bruin Contributor

Security guards looked on as more than 500 congregation members
of Temple Beth Am on La Cienega jubilantly welcomed home Professor
Deborah Lipstadt on Sunday evening.

Lipstadt, a prominent Jewish scholar at Emory University who has
also taught at UCLA, made her first public appearance in the United
States since a British judge recently handed down a verdict
exonerating her of libel allegations made by British military
historian and Holocaust denier David Irving.

“Deborah was vindicated; the truth was vindicated, and the
will of the denier was denied,” said Rabbi Joel Rembaum in
the introductory address.

In her most recent book, “Denying the Holocaust: The
Growing Assault on Truth and Memory,” Lipstadt refutes the
arguments made by Holocaust deniers as “twisting history as a
means for masking prejudice.” She called Irving a
“Hitler partisan” in his reverence for the Nazi regime
and his attempts to first, diminish the magnitude of the Holocaust
and then flat out deny it.

“Others have said far worse,” Lipstadt said.
“I believe he chose to fight me because I am a woman and
because I openly identify myself with the Jewish
community.”

Irving offered to settle if Lipstadt paid a 500 pound fine,
issued a letter of apology and discontinued publication of her
book, but Lipstadt refused.

“Each step he took, I knew I had to fight it,”
Lipstadt said. “I feel privileged to have been given the
opportunity to stand up in this battle against hate.”

The 355-page verdict denied Irving’s claims of libel
and

discredited him as a historian with the British court.

Although victorious, the trial was costly for both Lipstadt and
Penguin Books, her publisher. The legal proceedings cost Penguin 2
million pounds and cost Lipstadt around half that, she said.

Despite the financial burden, Lipstadt said the emotional cost
of the trial was far more significant.

“The most painful part of the trial was when (Irving)
engaged in racism and anti-Semitism to try to justify his beliefs
… and when he danced on the graves of the victims,”
Lipstadt said.

While most agree that Lipstadt is on the side of truth, there is
debate within the media and the academic community over what level
of

disagreement about the Holocaust should be tolerated.

Although outside of the mainstream, some question if the
Holocaust actually occurred. Lipstadt said such extremists are
motivated by bigotry, so their opinions should not be included in
academic debate.

As the trial began in December, the Los Angeles Times ran an
article criticizing Lipstadt for silencing an open dialogue because
of her refusal to take the claims of Holocaust deniers
seriously.

Lipstadt called the Times article a failure to understand the
issues involved.

“One can debate many issues about the Holocaust, but one
cannot debate its existence,” Lipstadt said.

Because of this stance, Irving has called Lipstadt a,
“gold-tipped spearhead of the enemies of truth,”
Lipstadt said.

In Nazi Germany, anti-Semitic rhetoric referred to Jews as
“the enemies of truth.”

In further support of her allegations that he is a
Hitler-partisan, Irving referred to the judge as “Mein
Fuhrer” during the trial, Lipstadt said.

Lipstadt said she believes the verdict exposed to the world that
the basic tenets of Holocaust denial are rooted in racism and
anti-Semitism, which is extremely important, she said, but does not
equal a complete victory over Holocaust denial.

“People motivated by hate will keep hating,”
Lipstadt said. “You never win the war, just the battle. This
was my battle.”

Holocaust survivor George Gansburg thanked Lipstadt for her
efforts on behalf of fellow victims everywhere .

“Soon there will no longer be any living eye-witnesses, so
it is up to people like you to keep history alive. We thank
you,” Gansburg said.