If the drama played out in “Denial,” a novel by author/attorney Ayal Rosenberg, seems vaguely familiar, that’s not surprising.
Though names have been changed, the book basically recounts the Holocaust denial trial involving Englishman David Irving and U.S. Professor Deborah Lipstadt.
In 1993, Lipstadt, a professor at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., published “Denying the Holocaust,” in which she strongly berated Holocaust deniers as extremists and liars.
One of those she condemned was Irving, whose first book grossly exaggerated the number of casualties in the Allies’ bombing of Dresden, Germany. He went on to write other pro-Nazi books. In one he asserted that Hitler was not personally responsible for the Holocaust. Irving also proclaimed that the gas chambers at Auschwitz were a myth.
Irving sued her and her British publisher, Penguin Press, for libel, in British court. In April 2000, the verdict came down in favor of Lipstadt and Penguin. The story was told in some detail by D.D. Guttenplan in “The Holocaust on Trial” and by Robert Jan van Pelt in “The Case for Auschwitz.”
Now, Ayal Rosenberg has produced a fictional version of the case.
Rosenberg, a South African lawyer, has changed the names of the characters in the drama. For example, Penguin Press is called “Bird Publications.” Deborah Lipstadt is Ruth Epstein; David Irving is Dudley Innes; Judge Charles Gray is Judge Veronica McPherson; and Robert Jan van Pelt, an important witness in the case as well as the author of “The Case for Auschwitz” is Wim van Toller.
Rosenberg supplements his version of the trial testimony with background stories that augment the arguments put forward by the defense. Perhaps the longest and most devastating of these inserts is his account of a visit Heinrich Himmler made to Auschwitz. He describes the atrocities at Auschwitz including the nefarious activities of Josef Mengele. Rosenberg’s additions buttress the case for Lipstadt and Penguin Press.
Is truth stranger than fiction? In this instance, the dramatic events of this trial were so exciting as to require no embellishment. In any case, the importance of countering Holocaust deniers is so significant as to provide ample room for retelling the horrible story of David Irving — whether in fiction or in reality.
“Denial” by Ayal Rosenberg, (487 pages, Seven Locks Press, $25.95).