Jailed British historian David Irving has again said he does not believe Hitler .....
- From: "Dr Evil" <drevil@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2006 20:55:25 +0800
Last Updated: Tuesday, 28 February 2006, 10:54 GMT
Irving expands on Holocaust views
Irving expands on Holocaust views
Jailed British historian David Irving has again said he does not believe
Hitler presided over a systematic attempt to exterminate Jews in Europe.
During his trial in Austria, Irving said he had changed his mind over claims
the Holocaust did not happen.
But, speaking from his cell later, he told BBC News the numbers killed at
Auschwitz were smaller than claimed.
He is appealing for a reduction in the three-year jail term. Prosecutors are
seeking for it to be lengthened.
The Austrian state prosecutor's office said it believed Irving's sentence
for Holocaust denial was too lenient in light of a possible sentence of up
to 10 years.
The prosecutor also deemed the sentence too light because of "Irving's
special importance to right-wing radicals", a spokesman for the office said.
The historian pleaded guilty in his one-day trial in Vienna on 20 February.
In court, the 67-year-old admitted that in 1989 he had denied that Nazi
Germany had killed millions of Jews.
Speaking from prison, where he is in solitary confinement for 23 hours each
day, Irving told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he now believed there had
been cases of Jewish people being gassed during World War II.
But he said that while he accepted 1.4 million were killed in the so-called
"Operation Reinhard" camps which included Treblinka and Sobibor, he did not
accept that large numbers were murdered at Auschwitz.
He claimed there were two "small" gas chambers there, not the large-scale
gas chambers identified by other historians.
"Given the ruthless efficiency of the Germans, if there was an extermination
programme to kill all the Jews, how come so many survived?" he said.
When asked whether there was an organised programme to exterminate the Jews
in Europe, overseen by Hitler, Irving told Today: "That is absolutely wrong
and nobody can justify that.
"Adolf Hitler's own involvement in it has a big question mark behind it."
The trial against Irving arose from comments he made in Austria in 1989
denying the existence of gas chambers at Auschwitz.
Austria is one of 11 countries with laws against denying the Holocaust.
The historian previously said that he doubted the Holocaust's existence
until he saw the personal files of Adolf Eichmann, the chief organiser of
the Holocaust.
Gas chamber 'hoax'
"I said that then based on my knowledge at the time, but by 1991 when I came
across the Eichmann papers, I wasn't saying that anymore and I wouldn't say
that now," Irving told the court.
"The Nazis did murder millions of Jews."
In the past, he had claimed that Adolf Hitler knew little, if anything,
about the Holocaust, and that the gas chambers were a hoax.
Irving's lawyer has said his client is unlikely to serve the full three-year
term because of various factors, including his age.
Speaking on Today, Richard Evans, professor of German history at Cambridge
University and a witness against Irving at a libel trial in 2000, dismissed
the latest comments.
"He was, I think, arrogant enough to believe that he wouldn't be arrested,"
said Professor Evans.
"But having said that, I think the Austrian action is ill-advised. I don't
think that law which bans Holocaust denial is really necessary any longer
and I think it's really regrettable the vast media circus that's surrounding
Mr Irving now [is] just simply giving prominence to his absurd views."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4757506.stm
.
- Prev by Date: Why Is The 82nd Airborne Producing Gay Porn?
- Next by Date: Women Can Now Predict When They'll Have the Best Sex, Says Author
- Previous by thread: Why Is The 82nd Airborne Producing Gay Porn?
- Next by thread: Women Can Now Predict When They'll Have the Best Sex, Says Author
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
