A Fight for the Truth in “Denial”
In the 1990s when I was in college down south, I knew of Professor Deborah Lipstadt at nearby Emory University who was devoting her life to the subject of the Holocaust. While studying there for a short time, I was able to attend several of her lectures and was always in awe of her devotion to a keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive.
I’ll never forget the day I first learned about the Holocaust. The reform synagogue on Peachtree Street where I went to Sunday School showed part of the documentary Shoah. I had never seen anything quite like the horror I experienced that day and my life was changed forever. It was clear that a devastating crime had been committed against the Jewish people, my people. Six million members of my family had been brutally taken for the world for no reason other than being Jewish. I have not sat silent since.
Deborah Lipstadt definitely would not silent about this part of Jewish history. She was teaching about it, writing books about it and later, would have to defend her point of view in a libel trial in England after the British author, David Irving brought a suit against her because she had called him a “Holocaust denier” in her book Denying the Holocaust. The trail was long and daunting and is depicted in the film. Lipstadt’s legal team was led by English barrister and scholar Anthony Julius who was Princess Diana’s divorce lawyer, and Richard Rampton.
When the trial starts, Lipstadt has to raise the money for her legal fees, which she manages to raise on her own from the Jewish community. In addition, the legal team refuses her every wish – they won’t let her give testimony, nor will they let her put Holocaust survivors on the stand. She can not speak to press. They tell that they have no strategy; they would simply box him in with the truth. The film follows her frustration and fear that losing the case would let down every living Holocaust survivor. The world had its eyes on this very important case.
We follow her and her legal team to Auschwitz on a fact-finding mission. We listen and watch the trail as Irving called Hitler “the Jews’ best friend.” The headlines are cruel as the trial goes on, declaring “there were no holes, no Holocaust,” meaning that Irving denied the existence of wire mesh and holes on top of the gas chambers. Having just watched Lipstadt and her team stand on these exact holes in an earlier scene at Auschwhitz, I can only imagine how hard it was for Lipstadt to sit through this excruciating trial that questioned her entire life’s work. Irving’s story flipped and flopped – he said that Jews came to the camp infected with Typhoid and were put to death because they were contaminated one minute and the next minute he said that the camp was used for air raids.
The case took a very long time mainly because Irving totally believed himself and how do you accuse someone of lying when they believe what they’re saying? In the end, as in real life, Lipstadt’s lawyers managed to win, proving that Irving’s case was based on vicious lies. They also proved that he had racist tendencies, from excerpts in his own diary that he willingly handed over to her lawyer that mention not marrying an Ape or Rastafarian. T
The judgement was one of the most important libel judgements in history. When she was finally allowed to speak to the press at the end, she made it clear that she was not against free speech. She stated, “Freedom of speech means you can what you want but you can’t lie.”
Everything about this movie is respectful to the story’s truth. From the acting (by the wonderful Rachel Weisz who gives Lipstadt so much justice) to the film’s direction (by the wonderful David Hare).
As I prepare for a trip to Auschwitz and other concentration camps in the next seven days, I am so glad that I chose to see this film now. It also puts the much bigger political picture into perspective. Irving lied and people believed him. Trump lies and people believe him. People called her a “filthy Jew” outside the court. The major difference is between than and now is social media. Imagine this trial taking place today. Given the amount of vitriol I have personally seen online as of late, it would be a living nightmare.
My message to you: SEE this movie. I was the only person in the theater during my viewing. GO.
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