History on Trial: My Day in Court with David Irving

Deborah E. Lipstadt, is Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies, Tam Institute for Jewish Studies and the Department of Religion at Emory College. At Emory, Deborah created the Institute for Jewish Studies and was its first director from 1998-2008. Deborah was a historical consultant to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and helped design the section of the Museum dedicated to the American Response to the Holocaust. She was appointed by President Clinton to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council on which she served two terms. On November 15, 2017, the Western Foundation and the Wolpow Institute welcomed Deborah to the WWU campus where she recounted the story of her libel trial in London against right-wing extremist David Irving, written about in her 2006 book “History on Trial: My Day in Court with David Irving.” The book details the ten-week trial in 2000 and concludes in an awe-inspiring victory for Deborah, with the judge finding David Irving to be a “neo-Nazi polemicist” who “perverts” history and engages in “racist” and “antisemitic” discourse. Prior to Deborah’s talk, the trailer for “Denial,” a 2016 movie based on her book was shown. Opening remarks were made by Sandra Alfers, Director, The Ray Wolpow Institute for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity, and Brent Carbajal, Provost and Vice President For Academic Affairs, Western Washington University introduced our guest speaker. This event was made possible with generous support from the Friends of the Ray Wolpow Institute Fund, the Kohlmeier Mikulencak Fund for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies, Fairhaven College World Issues Forum, Woodring College of Education, the Western Libraries, the Departments of History, Liberal Studies, Modern and Classical Languages, Political Science, and Sociology.

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