Denial (II) (2016)

Timothy Spall: David Irving

Photos 

Quotes 

• [first lines] 

  David Irving : [in a video speaking to a sympathetic audience]  I don't see any reason to be tasteful about Auschwitz. I say to you quite tastelessly that more women died on the back seat of Senator Edward Kennedy's car at Chappaquiddick than ever died in a gas chamber at Auschwitz.

  [audience laughing and applauding] 

  Deborah Lipstadt : Holocaust denial rests on four basic assertions. Number 1: That there was never any systematic or organized attempt by the Nazis to kill all of Europe's Jews. Number 2: That the numbers are far fewer than five or six million. Number 3: That there were no gas chambers or specially built extermination facilities. Number 4: That the Holocaust is therefore a myth invented by Jews to get themselves financial compensation and to further the fortunes of the State of Israel. War, the deniers say, is a bloody business. There's nothing special about the Jews, they're not unique in their suffering. They're just everyday casualties of war. What's the fuss?

  Deborah Lipstadt : Okay, and here's another question, how do we know the Holocaust happened? Seriously. I'm asking. How do we prove it? Photographic evidence? Not one person in this room or outside it has ever seen a photograph of a Jew inside a gas chamber. You know why? Because the Germans made sure that none were ever taken. So how do we know? How do we *know* that so many were murdered? So what's the proof? Where's the proof? How strong is it?

• [last lines] 

  David Irving : [on TV]  I think if you look at the judgment closely, you'll see there are all sorts of things there in my favor.

  Network Reporter 2 : [on TV]  You're not seriously suggesting that this judgment supports you?

  David Irving : [on TV]  Well, plainly I ran rings round the defense. My only regret is I didn't use a mallet of sufficient caliber to ram my case into the thick skull of the judge.

  Network Reporter 2 : [on TV]  Mr. Irving, what people want to know is whether, on the basis of this judgment, you will now stop denying the Holocaust.

  David Irving : [on TV]  Me? Stop? Good Lord, no. Despite the fact that the judge says, 'It appears to me... '

  Deborah Lipstadt : [answering the phone call]  Hello?

  Anthony Julius : Deborah? He seems to be saying he won.

  Deborah Lipstadt : I know. He used to be a Holocaust denier, and now he's a verdict denier.

  David Irving : [on TV]  The fact that she didn't even dare to appear tells you everything you need to know about Miss Lipstadt.

  Deborah Lipstadt : Let's just turn him off.

  David Irving : [on TV]  I don't think her Brooklyn accent would have endeared her to the court.

  Deborah Lipstadt : It's Queens.