Sunday, May 20, 2007

Holocaust-denier Irving expelled from Polish book fair

Convicted British Holocaust-denier David
Irving was Friday ordered to leave a book fair in Poland after turning up to publicise his controversial work, organisers said.

Meanwhile a French professor previously sentenced by French courts for Holocaust denial, was prevented from holding a talk at an Italian university for fear of causing a public disturbance.

"David Irving came to the stand (of the publisher Focal Point) to promote his books," said Grzegorz Guzowski, head of the company which runs the annual Warsaw International Book Fair. I asked him to leave immediately."

Focal Point is a British-based company which publishes what it calls "real history" -- with a catalogue almost exclusively made up of books by Irving.

Historian Irving, 69, is notorious for attempting to claim that Adolf Hitler was not party to the Nazis’ genocide of European Jews during World World II.

He spent 13 months in jail in Austria following a conviction there for
Holocaust denial before being expelled to Britain.

Guzowski told AFP Irving had protested vigorously on being told to leave, accusing Poland of violating human rights.

"But he finally gave in after we threatened to call the police," he said. Irving had not been invited by the fair, he added.

In 2000, Irving lost a libel case in Britain’s High Court court over claims that he was a Holocaust-denier, with a judge ruling that Irving had deliberately misrepresented historical evidence and portrayed Hitler in an unwarranted, favourable light.
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