© Copyright H. David Kirk
When people who were witnesses to the Nazi era speak out, they must
be listened to. Here are two letters to the editor of a local paper.
Irving's 'History'<60>
In light of publicity about David Irving, who wrote a book in
which he claims the Holocaust did not happen, it should be pointed
out that he makes a living writing books which cast doubt on
historical events. In 1970, his book, The Destruction of Convoy
PQ17, caused an uproar, particularly in naval circles, and
resulted in a court action against Irving for libel. The action
was taken by Capt. John Broome, senior officer in charge of the
naval escort.
In July 1942, 36 merchant ships set sail from the United Kingdom
for Murmansk with supplies for the besieged Russians. In the
Barents Sea, it [the convoy] came under heavy attack by German
aircraft and U- boats. The British admiralty, acting on
intelligence reports (later proved false) that the battleship
Tirpitz had put to sea, gave an order for the convoy to scatter
while the naval escorts searched for the battleship. Captain
Broome complained that in Irving's book, the blame for the
convoy's destruction was put on him, the inference being that the
navy had abandoned the merchant ships.
The judge found in Capt. Broome's favor. But by then, his
reputation had been damaged by the questionable 'facts' written
about the incident.
Anthony Winstanley, Victoria
What World Wars?<61>
Let's buy our poppies now, lest we forget, for David Irving
and his ilk may well try to convince us that these wars
never really took place--that the grave sites are simply a
tourist attraction, designed specifically to vilify those
nice, peace-loving, overly-humane Europeans.
Andy Mulcahy, Victoria [British Columbia, Canada]
Lucy Dawidowicz liked to quote Cicero's laws for historians: The
first ... is that he shall never dare utter an untruth. The second
is that he suppress nothing that is true.<62> Against that standard
can David Irving, who wants the world to think of him as a historian,
now be evaluated.
