The Harvard Crimson Online :: Harvard Profs Sign Petition Against C-Span Telecast of Holocaust Denier

Almost 600 historians and academics—including 18 Harvard professors—have signed a petition protesting the public television station C-SPAN’s plan to broadcast a lecture by historian and accused Holocaust denier David Irving. The controversy stemmed from C-SPAN’s initial decision to air Irving’s talk immediately after a lecture by Emory University Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies Deborah E. Lipstadt. She had also been scheduled to appear on the station’s “Book TV” program to discuss her forthcoming book, “History on Trial: My Day in Court With David Irving.” It recounts the libel lawsuit Irving filed against her in a British court for labeling him a Holocaust denier in her 1993 book, “Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory.” He lost the lawsuit in 2000.