Holocaust Denier Arrested

Call this another blow in favor of a Culture of Truth:

According to news reports, David Irving has been arrested in Austria on charges of denying the Holocaust took place, which is a crime in that country. While we are very much in favor of free speech, given worldwide and national degrading standards when it comes to a culture of truth mark this as a positive development.

David Irving is well-known British writer who has several books about WWII, has written that Adolf Hitler was not behind an orchestrated effort by the Nazi regime to wipe out the Jewish people.

Speaking of truth and lies, according to The New York Times in 1992 Irving was fined $6,000 in Germany after he said that that no gas chambers had been used in Auschwitz. This is illegal in Germany.

Mr. Irving was once known as a rigorous historian; some of his early works on Hitler and Germany were highly praised. But his views have became more extreme and he has become a hero of neo-fascist and neo-Nazi groups across Europe. Mr. Irving says he does not deny that the Nazis killed some Jews, but contends that the death toll among Jews in World War II was far lower than generally accepted.

Many years ago Deborah Lipstadt said David Irving was "one of the most dangerous spokespersons for Holocaust denial." Irving sued her for libel in England, where libel standards are looser than in the U.S., but he still lost.

The judge British libel suit called David Irving, called "an active Holocaust denier."