Irving v. Penguin Books and Deborah Lipstadt

In this action the Claimant, David Irving, maintains that he has been libelled in a book entitled “Denying the Holocaust – The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory”, which was published by Penguin Books Limited and written by Professor Deborah Lipstadt, who are respectively the First and Second Defendants in the action.

The essential issues in the action can be summarised as follows: Irving complains that certain passages in the Defendants’ book accuse him of being a Nazi apologist and an admirer of Hitler, who has resorted to the distortion of facts and to the manipulation of documents in support of his contention that the Holocaust did not take place. He contends that the Defendants’ book is part of a concerted attempt to ruin his reputation as an historian and he seeks damages accordingly. The Defendants, whilst they do not accept the interpretation which Irving places on the passages complained of, assert that it is true that Irving is discredited as an historian by reason of his denial of the Holocaust and by reason of his persistent distortion of the historical record so as to depict Hitler in a favourable light. The Defendants maintain that the claim for damages for libel must in consequence fail.