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Lying About Hitler: The Irving-Lipstadt Trial and Historical Truth

Poster for the Irving-Lipstadt Trial and Historical Truth

Lying About Hitler: The Irving-Lipstadt Trial and Historical Truth

History Monday, April 23, 2018 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm Taliaferro Hall, 2110

Please join us for an afternoon talk with Sir Richard Evans (Cambridge). Sir Richard will be discussing the recent film adaptation of Deborah Lipstadt-David Irving Holocaust-denial trial and the role of history in the trial. 


Professor Evans was called as an expert witness in the trial against Deborah Lipstadt. Lipstadt, an American historian of anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial, was sued by British writer David Irving after Lipstadt accused him of Holocaust denial. Using the expansive British definition of libel, Lipstadt was forced to prove in court that it was true that Irving was intentionally distorting history in order to deny the scope and intent of the Holocaust. Professor Evans and a small cohort of historians (among them the renowned historian Nikolaus Wachsmann) were tasked with combing through Irving's voluminous writings and comparing what he wrote to the original sources and historiography. The result was a resounding victory for fact-based history and peer review: Evans and the team found numerous and consistent instances where Irving misled readers to downplay the persecution of Jews, the knowledge of the Nazi leadership, and the role of Hitler. Many of the results of their historical work was published in Professor Evans' book, Lying About Hitler: History, Holocaust, and the David Irving Trial.


Professor Evans has published or edited 28 books including: Death in Hamburg: Society and Politics in the Cholera Years 1830-1910, In Hitler’s Shadow. West German Historians and the Attempt to Escape from the Nazi Past, In Defence of History, Tales from the German Underworld. Crime and Punishment in the Nineteenth Century, the Third Reich trilogy, and most recently The Pursuit of Power: Europe 1815-1914. Before retiring in 2014, Professor Evans taught at Cambridge, Birbeck UCL, Columbia University, and the University of East Anglia. He is recipient of far too many awards and grants to list-- suffice it to say he was knighted in 2012 for Service to Scholarship. He is currently the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Contemporary History.

Add to Calendar 04/23/18 16:00:00 04/23/18 17:30:00 America/New_York Lying About Hitler: The Irving-Lipstadt Trial and Historical Truth

Please join us for an afternoon talk with Sir Richard Evans (Cambridge). Sir Richard will be discussing the recent film adaptation of Deborah Lipstadt-David Irving Holocaust-denial trial and the role of history in the trial. 


Professor Evans was called as an expert witness in the trial against Deborah Lipstadt. Lipstadt, an American historian of anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial, was sued by British writer David Irving after Lipstadt accused him of Holocaust denial. Using the expansive British definition of libel, Lipstadt was forced to prove in court that it was true that Irving was intentionally distorting history in order to deny the scope and intent of the Holocaust. Professor Evans and a small cohort of historians (among them the renowned historian Nikolaus Wachsmann) were tasked with combing through Irving's voluminous writings and comparing what he wrote to the original sources and historiography. The result was a resounding victory for fact-based history and peer review: Evans and the team found numerous and consistent instances where Irving misled readers to downplay the persecution of Jews, the knowledge of the Nazi leadership, and the role of Hitler. Many of the results of their historical work was published in Professor Evans' book, Lying About Hitler: History, Holocaust, and the David Irving Trial.


Professor Evans has published or edited 28 books including: Death in Hamburg: Society and Politics in the Cholera Years 1830-1910, In Hitler’s Shadow. West German Historians and the Attempt to Escape from the Nazi Past, In Defence of History, Tales from the German Underworld. Crime and Punishment in the Nineteenth Century, the Third Reich trilogy, and most recently The Pursuit of Power: Europe 1815-1914. Before retiring in 2014, Professor Evans taught at Cambridge, Birbeck UCL, Columbia University, and the University of East Anglia. He is recipient of far too many awards and grants to list-- suffice it to say he was knighted in 2012 for Service to Scholarship. He is currently the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Contemporary History.

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