Deborah Lipstadt: Behind the lies of Holocaust denial
Deborah Lipstadt: Les mensonges qui entourent le déni de l'Holocauste
Deborah Lipstadt's research focuses on the development of Holocaust denial and how to fight for the truth in an era marked by "alternative facts." Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
about Holocaust denial,
du déni de l'Holocauste,
the dubious distinction
genocide in the world?
le mieux documenté au monde ?
their harrowing stories.
des témoignages poignants.
of towns and villages and cities
de villages, de communes, de villes
be rounded up --
être rassemblés --
to the outskirts of the town
à la périphérie des villes
et laissés pour morts dans des fosses.
around the death camps,
autour des camps de concentration
« Nous avons fait cela.
I was forced to do it."
On m'a forcé à le faire. »
since the end of World War II
pour crimes de guerre depuis 1945
ever said, "It didn't happen."
« Cela n'a jamais eu lieu. »
but never that it didn't happen.
ce qu'il s'est passé.
going to be on my agenda;
n'était pas un sujet.
to write about, to research,
sur des sujets plus importants.
of the Holocaust --
that we think is perfect for you."
qui serait parfait pour toi. »
that they came to me with an idea
qu'ils me contactent avec un projet
to believe what they say?"
à convaincre les gens ? »
it was worthwhile,
que ça en valait la peine,
three, maybe even four --
ou trois, ou quatre.
with a number of things,
et fait plusieurs constatations,
with you today.
partager avec vous.
sont des loups déguisés en brebis.
nazis, néo-nazis --
to put a "neo" there or not.
« néo » devant le mot.
as respectable academics.
comme de respectables professeurs.
« On est des révisionnistes,
les erreurs de l'histoire. »
one inch below the surface,
parading as rational discourse.
de discours rationnel.
there are facts and there are opinions --
des faits et des opinions.
is take their lies,
de leurs mensonges
Assault on Truth and Memory,"
de la Vérité et de la Mémoire ».
and ready to move on.
à passer à autre chose.
une lettre de mon éditeur.
was bringing a libel suit against me
m'assignait en justice pour diffamation
of historical works,
took the position
to get this opinion.
pour arriver à cette opinion.
was this was a man
c'est que cet homme
the battleship Auschwitz."
on a survivor's arm and said,
sur le bras d'un survivant et disait :
tattooed on your arm?"
dans la voiture du Sénateur Kennedy
but you can look it up.
de la politique américaine.
at all ashamed or reticent
ni honteux ni réticent
colleagues counseled me --
universitaires m'ont dit :
ignore a libel suit,
ignorer un procès en diffamation.
believe him anyway?"
« Qui le croira de toute façon ? »
put the burden of proof on me
de prouver que j'avais raison,
been in the United States
is a legitimate version.
est la version légitime,
to have libeled me
am not a Holocaust denier."
je ne suis pas un négationniste. »
pour assassiner les Juifs,
with any suffering that went on,
avoir les souffrances qui ont eu lieu,
and abettance of the allies --
et le soutien des Alliés.
and planted the evidence.
a responsible historian.
une historienne responsable.
who haven't seen "Denial,"
« Le Procès du siècle »,
in over 25 different major instances.
dans plus de 25 cas.
in this audience write books,
nous autres auteurs
we're glad to have second editions:
on aime les secondes éditions
in the same direction:
le même thème :
back to his sources.
dans les notes de bas de page.
he made some reference to the Holocaust,
référence à l'Holocauste,
des évènements était modifié,
he didn't have the evidence.
il n'avait pas de preuves.
because he either quotes them
puisqu'il les citait
more than just the story
ne se résume-t-elle pas juste
six-year, difficult lawsuit,
qui a duré six ans ?
being dragged into a courtroom
américain traîné en justice
declared in its judgment
of the question of truth,
dans le contexte de la vérité,
the gifts it has given us,
malgré leurs côtés positifs,
between facts -- established facts --
white supremacist language.
"National Front" -- pick your names.
« alt-right » et « Front National »,
that I found in Holocaust denial
que j'ai pu voir chez les négationnistes
where truth is on the defensive.
où la vérité est sur la défensive.
dans la revue « New Yorker ».
in "The New Yorker"
is saying to one of the contestants,
à une des participantes :
more loudly than you did,
a crié plus fort que vous
by rational appearances.
par les apparences rationnelles.
that truth is not relative.
que la vérité n'est pas relative.
une affirmation scandaleuse,
one of the highest offices in the land,
les plus importants du pays
à nous rendre des comptes.
are the same as the facts.
leurs mensonges étaient des faits.
truth is not relative.
la vérité n'est pas relative.
in the world of the academy
du milieu universitaire,
everything is open to debate.
to recant by the Vatican
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Deborah Lipstadt - HistorianDeborah Lipstadt's research focuses on the development of Holocaust denial and how to fight for the truth in an era marked by "alternative facts."
Why you should listen
Dr. Deborah E. Lipstadt, Dorot professor of Holocaust Studies at Emory University in Atlanta, was sued for libel in 1996 by David Irving for having called him a Holocaust denier. After a ten-week trial in London in 2000, in an overwhelming victory for Lipstadt, the judge found Irving to be a "neo-Nazi polemicist" who "perverts" history and engages in "racist" and "anti-Semitic" discourse. The Daily Telegraph (London) described the trial as having "done for the new century what the Nuremberg tribunals or the Eichmann trial did for earlier generations." The Times (London) described it as "history has had its day in court and scored a crushing victory." According to the New York Times, the trial "put an end to the pretense that Mr. Irving is anything but a self-promoting apologist for Hitler."
The movie Denial, starring Rachel Weisz and Tom Wilkenson with a screenplay by David Hare, tells the story of this legal battle. It is based on Lipstadt's book, History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier (Harper Collins, 2006), and recently reissued as Denial (Harper Collins, 2016). The film was nominated for a BAFTA as one of the best British films of the year.
Lipstadt has written most recently Holocaust: An American Understanding (Rutgers, 2016), which explores how America has understood and interpreted the Holocaust since 1945.
Her previous book, The Eichmann Trial, (Schocken/Nextbook, 2011) published in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Eichmann trial, was called by Publisher's Weekly, "a penetrating and authoritative dissection of a landmark case and its after effects." The New York Times Book Review described Lipstadt as having "done a great service by … recovering the event as a gripping legal drama, as well as a hinge moment in Israel's history and in the world's delayed awakening to the magnitude of the Holocaust."
She has also published Beyond Belief: The American Press And The Coming Of The Holocaust, 1933-1945 (Free Press, 1986), which surveys what the American press wrote about the persecution of the Jews in the years 1933-1945. She is currently writing a book, The Antisemitic Delusion: Letters to a Concerned Student which will be published in 2018.
At Emory, Lipstadt directs the website known as HDOT, Holocaust Denial on Trial, which contains a complete archive of the proceedings of Irving v. Penguin UK and Deborah Lipstadt. It also provides answers to frequent claims made by deniers. Lipstadt has won the Emery Williams Teaching Award, and she was selected for the award by alumni as the teacher who had most influenced them.
Lipstadt was a historical consultant to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, helping design the section of the Museum dedicated to the American Response to the Holocaust. She has held a Presidential appointment to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council (from Presidents Clinton and Obama) and was asked by President George W. Bush to represent the White House at the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
Lipstadt has a BA from the City College of New York and an MA and PhD from Brandeis University.
Deborah Lipstadt | Speaker | TED.com