David Irving

David John Cawdell Irving (born March 24, 1938) describes himself as a self-taught historian who, from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s, was a leading British author on World War II with works such as Hitler?s War and The Destruction of Dresden. Irving is also one of the most accomplished and successful proponents of Holocaust denial. In the mid-1980s, he started openly associating with neo-Nazi and extremist groups, and his reputation began to wane. In the late 1990s, he sued the prominent Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt for having listed him as a Holocaust denier in her book Denying the Holocaust. After a much publicized trial, Irving lost the case and was found to be a Holocaust denier by the court.

Historian

After the Dresden book, Irving continued writing revisionist history. In 1964, he wrote The Mare?s Nest, an account of the German secret weapons projects and the Allied intelligence countermeasures against it, translated the Memoirs of Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel in 1965, and in 1967 published Accident: The Death of General Sikorski, in which he accused Churchill of cooperation with the Soviets resulting in the fatal air crash of Polish government in exile leader W?adys?aw Sikorski. Also in 1967, he published two more works: The Virus House, an account of the German nuclear energy project, and The Destruction of Convoy PQ.17, in which he blamed the British convoy commander Captain Jack Broome for the catastrophic losses of the Convoy PQ-17. Amid much publicity, Broome sued Irving for libel in October 1968, and in February 1970, after seventeen days of deliberation before London?s High Court, Broome won. Irving was forced to pay 40,000 British pounds in damages, and the book was withdrawn from circulation.

Related Topics:
Revisionist history - 1964 - German - Wilhelm Keitel - 1965 - 1967 - Churchill - Soviet - Polish government in exile - W?adys?aw Sikorski - German nuclear energy project - Convoy PQ-17 - Libel - 1968 - 1970 - British pound

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After PQ-17, Irving shifted to writing biographies. Though Irving?s works were generally ignored by academics, and often criticized as inaccurate when reviewed by specialists, his command of language and a wealth of entertaining anecdotes led generalists to write favourable reviews in the popular press, and many of his works sold well. During this period, Irving?s credentials as a British historian of generally democratic views were only rarely challenged. Irving was particularly noted for his mastery of the voluminous and scattered German war records. During this time, aside from researching for his upcoming biographies, Irving wrote a series in the Sunday Express describing RAF?s famous Dam Busters raid.

Related Topics:
Biographies - British - German - Sunday Express - RAF - Dam Busters

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As a result of his Dresden book, by the late 1960s, Irving was looked upon sympathetically by Germany?s extreme right wing, which assisted him in contacting surviving members of Hitler?s inner circle. Many ageing former mid- and high-ranked Nazis saw a potential friend in Irving and donated diaries and other material, enabling Irving to claim he was a serious historian publishing original material. In 1972, he translated the memoirs of General Reinhard Gehlen and in 1973 published The Rise and Fall of the Luftwaffe, a biography of Air Marshall Erhard Milch. He spent the remainder of the 1970s working on Hitler?s War and the War Path, his two-part biography of Hitler, and The Trail of the Fox, a biography of Field Marshall Erwin Rommel.

Related Topics:
1960s - 1972 - Reinhard Gehlen - 1973 - Luftwaffe - Erhard Milch - 1970s - Hitler - Erwin Rommel

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