We are very pleased to announce that Professor Deborah Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies at Emory University, will deliver CISA’s 2013 Shindleman Family Lecture on April 22, 2013 at the Hotel Fort Garry.
Professor Lipstadt is a highly respected American Holocaust historian who is also our leading authority on the phenomenon of Holocaust Denial. Her book Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory was the first full-length study of those who attempt to deny the Holocaust. In 1996, David Irving sued her for calling him a Holocaust denier and right wing extremist in this book.
David Irving v. Penguin/Deborah Lipstadt was described by the Daily Telegraph (London) as having "done for the new century what the Nuremberg tribunals or the Eichmann trial did for earlier generations." Justice Charles Gray found David Irving to be a Holocaust denier, a falsifier of history, a racist, and an antisemite. In July 2001 the Court of Appeal rejected Irving’s appeal of the judgment against him.
Professor Lipstadt’s brave and principled confrontation with Irving lasted over four years and has inspired a series of scholarly books by some of the historians who provided expert testimony at the trial. She has also created an important online resource about the ongoing problem of Holocaust Denial.
Her most recent work is The Eichmann Trial, a 2011 National Jewish Book Award Finalist.
Deborah is the first member of CISA’s Academic Council to speak for the Institute and we are very honored to host her in Winnipeg next year.