Historian experiences a conversion

Irving no longer denies Holocaust : Reuters

Historian David Irving pleaded guilty on Monday to charges of denying the Holocaust 17 years ago, but told an Austrian court that the personal files of Nazi mastermind Adolf Eichmann had changed his views.

David Irving is one interesting and influential historian who never got anything but hostility from the academic coummunity. Even as a student in the 1950's he showed a sympathy for a positive historical portrayal of the Nazis. Even if people reject his denial of the holocaust or excuses for it, the number of dead, 100,000 and 250,000, in the bombing of Dresden is often used by people debating with me -- not knowing its source is holocaust denier.

The thing that put Irving on the front page was in 1998, when he filed a libel suit against Deborah Lipstadt and her publisher Penguin Books. In her book Denying the Holocaust, he had named him as a holocaust denier.