A British court last week ruled against historian David Irving, branding him a "Holocaust denier," as well as a racist, anti-Semite and sympathizer of Adolf Hitler. The decision is a victory for the truth as well as the principles of free speech.
Mr. Irving, the author of over 30 books and an acknowledged expert on military history, sued Professor Deborah Lipstadt and Penguin U.K., her British publisher, for libel. He argued that her 1994 book, "Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory," which accused him of falsifying history about the murder of Jews during World War II, had twisted the truth and damaged his reputation. After its publication, Mr. Irving claimed that his work was shunned and he could no longer find a publisher.
Filing the case was a shrewd gamble. Mr. Irving sued in Britain because its libel laws are more sympathetic to plaintiffs. In the United States, the truth is an absolute defense to charges of libel; in Britain, the defense had to prove that distortions occurred and that they were deliberate.