Holocaust Denier David Irving Turned Away From Berlin Hotels
Denying the Truth: British historian David Irving is the target of campaigners who object to his denial of the Holocaust Image by getty images
Berlin’s hotel and restaurant association has warned members not to book a room for Holocaust denier David Irving during his planned visit to the German capital.
The British self-styled historian – who was banned from entering Germany until last March — plans to visit the city in September, where he will address guests at a Sept. 10 dinner event with a $120 cover charge, according to reports.
The location has not yet been divulged, and only advanced bookings will be accepted, the Berlin Tagesspiegel newspaper reported.
A campaign by Green Party Bundestag member Volker Beck, the party’s parliamentary human rights spokesman, led the Berlin hoteliers association to urge members not to “fall for the right-wing extremist trap.”
With a link to the letter from Beck on its website, the association urges members: “Please don’t give any ‘room’ to right-wing extremist propaganda.”
Irving had been barred from entering Germany until 2022, due to convictions for Holocaust denial in the 1990s. In late 2012, a Munich court announced the ban would be lifted as of March 2013.
Though Irving has in recent years admitted he is now convinced that there were gas chambers in Auschwitz and that Germany killed millions of Jews, he still apparently is a darling of the far right, which questions the facts of the Holocaust and claims that German civilians were the real victims, particularly of Allied bombings.
Not all who detest Irving think that barring him is the best idea. Berlin-based journalist Alan Posener of the newspaper “Die Welt” commented in a column Tuesday that, “while I abhor the idea of advocating a Holocaust denier, it only makes sense to stand up for the rights of others when it’s someone with whom you normally wouldn’t want to be breathing the same air.”
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
