David Irving pleads guilty to Holocaust denial - in Austria

[Marina]

Looks like his nasty career is at an end

Irving trial

Very glad someone has managed to make criminal charges stick to Irving

hope he rots .. nasty little racist oik

Apparently he's changed. Yeah right, as soon as those caring Austrian coppers clapped handcuffs on him, and put him in the slammer, where he belongs IMO, instead of giving him the oxygen of publicity in protracted civil libel cases in this country (although at least he finally lost, in 2000)
Ugh

never thought I'd applaud the anti-racist stance of the Austrians though

Bit hypocritical of the Austrians, a seriously xenophobic race (who also wear leiderhosen even if they're not going to a fancy dress). Irving is a nasty piece of work, how can anyone say the gas chambers wern't gas chambers ffs.

Can't believe it.
I Studied Russian & German History, at school, for GCSE & A'level.
Read a long article about him in the weekend papers.
He was, as you can imagine, one side of the argument, in just about every essay I ever wrote.
What will the trial achieve though ?
He will never retract his comments, will he ?

I think he has had a slight change of heart Rach.

What did he do?

His eventual imprisonment will be nothing compared to what happened to the Jews in WW2.

I read that his Austrian prisonmates said he has been in very good spirits and is writing another book

What do you think of his (defiant) prediction that "within 12 months this law will have vanished from the Austrian statute book"? I hear that as a nasty oblique call to arms.

I think what Bink has posted suggests the change of heart is entirely based on courtroom expediency.
One cannot make such an unhinged person change his views by arguing with him, but every time he is taken to court it is sending him and people who hold similar views the message that if you spread this kind of hate around you ARE in a minority and you WILL be punished for it.
Lederhosen wearers they may be but they have got him to plead guilty to criminal charges and they have got him to accept, publicly, that there were gas chambers at Auschwitz. So yes, it is a bit surprising that it is Austria prosecuting him, but good for them for doing it.

I strongly dislike Irving, but I also strongly dislike the holocaust denial law. how can you make an argument illegal? it just plays into the hands of the hardcore nutters if you ask me.

he got 3 years .. good

WELL!

Quote on BBC news website: "He admitted that in 1989 he had denied that Nazi Germany had killed millions of Jews. He said this is what he believed, until he later saw the personal files of Adolf Eichmann, the chief organiser of the Holocaust."

So Eichmann's personal files had been hidden from him until then?

Holocaust denial is a racist industry. Yes it should be a crime.

WELL!

Quote on BBC news website: "He admitted that in 1989 he had denied that Nazi Germany had killed millions of Jews. He said this is what he believed, until he later saw the personal files of Adolf Eichmann, the chief organiser of the Holocaust."

So Eichmann's personal files had been hidden from him until then?

Holocaust denial is a racist industry. Yes it should be a crime.

gawd. sorry again.

Agree with SP. We can't argue for freedom of speech re Islamic cartoons but not have it for loons like DI.

I really really don't think this is about freedom of speech

this is a racist dressing themselves up as an intellectual and publishing disgusting falsehoods, which goes against all historical evidence with a view to fostering racist attacks

holocaust denial should be a crime .. in as much as segregation by race, creed or colour should be a crime ..

I can.

There is a difference between saying something like the holocaust never happened, and joking about something that has.

Yes, the fostering of racist attacks should be/is a crime. But saying and thinking something can't be. Now, I agree, he's no doubt saying it to foster it, in which case he can be charged with inciting racial hatred. But if he genuinely thought these things to be true ie holocaust didn't happen (which I accept he probably doesn't) that can't be a crime, surely? Difficult to disentangle the 2 things though, I agree.

I must admit it makes me uncomfortable that he is being imprisoned for stating his opinion, especially an opinion that everyone discounts as rubbish.

I watched Newsnight with great interest on this topic, as their report did seem to come down on the side of the freedom of speech at all costs argument. I can see both POVs, but instinctively I still agree with Twig's assertion of 7.48pm that Irving is pernicious and odious enough to be about more than "freedom of speech".
But yes, I can see that coverage of the court case has given this offensive racist and white supremacist more publicity. Do you not think the momentary, genuine shock on his face when he finally got a custodial sentence, was worth it though?

I think it's wrong to lock someone up because they have the wrong opinion about an historical fact. Why not lock up flat-earthers because they're wrong too? There is an enormous difference between denying the holocaust and inciting hatred. OK, it may be on a continuum, but the law shouldn't intervene until it's got to a certain stage of the continuum and I would say that in principle, the stage should be at the point of inciting violence. Irving didn't do that.

He's obviously a tosser, but I really don't think making him a martyr is the way to deal with him. I suspect all this will achieve, is to prove to the loons who are determined to believe that the holocaust is a conspiracy, that they are right, and to prove to muslims who say there is a double standard in the west re freedom of speech, that they are right.

didn't the Iranian PM recently say something similar about the holocaust?

Yes Ruty, in fact a large amont of Iranian money funds the whole arguement of Holocaust Denial. Wouldn't suprise me a bit if DI has had a back hander or two from Ayatollah Whatsit.

I agree with janh'S comment - the whole court case is just a farce.

David Irvings comments created uproar in 1989 and for the next decade.

Many authors provided and suggested evidence against his beliefs, he never accepted any of it.

And now, suddenly, a change of heart ?

BOLLOCKS !!!!

His brother, suggested that DI was totally obsessed in attention - that he didn't really deny the holocaust, but would hold any opinion, if it made him the centre of attention.

He is probably loving all of this.

And the fact that he is now 'accepting ' it, brings him more into the limelight than ever -
Surprise, surprise - goal achieved.