Expert on Nazi era who won court battle against Holocaust denier David Irving says president’s team is ‘de-Judaizing’ genocide

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The internationally renowned historian Deborah Lipstadt, whose courtroom battle with Holocaust denier David Irving is the subject of the new film Denial, has accused President Donald Trump’s “innermost circle” of being guilty of “soft Holocaust denial” and the “de-Judaization” of the Nazi genocide.

Writing in the Atlantic, Lipstadt – a leading expert on the Nazi effort to wipe out Europe’s Jews – took aim at the Trump administration for its failure last Friday to mention Jews as the primary victims of the Holocaust.

“Holocaust denial is alive and well in the highest offices of the United States,” wrote Lipstadt. “It is being spread by those in President Trump’s innermost circle. It may have all started as a mistake by a new administration that is loath to admit it’s wrong.

“Conversely, it may be a conscious attempt by people with antisemitic sympathies to rewrite history,” she added. “Either way it is deeply disturbing.”

Lipstadt’s intervention came in amid an escalating row over the White House’s statement on Holocaust Memorial Day. On Monday, Trump’s press secretary, Sean Spicer, accused the media of a “pathetic” attempt to whip up controversy.

Deborah Lipstadt: ‘Many would like to stand up to antisemites. I had the chance to do it’ Read more

The historian said she had learned of the White House statement while in Amsterdam for a screening of Denial, starring Rachel Weisz as the historian and Timothy Spall as Irving, and had just passed the house where Anne Frank had hidden when her phone started buzzing with messages of the news.

Lipstadt wrote: “Though no fan of Trump, I chalked it up as a rookie mistake by a new administration busy issuing a slew of executive orders. Someone had screwed up … A clarification would certainly soon follow. I was wrong.”

Referring to the 10-week libel trial she won against Irving in 2000, she added: “The de-Judaization of the Holocaust, as exemplified by the White House statement, is what I term softcore Holocaust denial.

“Hardcore denial is the kind of thing I encountered in the courtroom. In an outright and forceful fashion, Irving denied the facts of the Holocaust.”

Continuing with her distinction, Lipstadt added: “Softcore denial uses different tactics but has the same end-goal ... It does not deny the facts, but it minimises them, arguing that Jews use the Holocaust to draw attention away from criticism of Israel. Softcore denial also makes all sorts of false comparisons to the Holocaust.

“What we saw from the White House was classic softcore denial. The Holocaust was de-Judaized.”

Touching on the more malign explanation, she queried whether Trump’s chief strategist may have had an influence on the statement.

“The White House’s chief strategist, Steve Bannon, boasted that while at Breitbart he created a platform for the alt-right. Richard Spencer, the self-proclaimed leader of the alt-right, has invited overt Holocaust deniers to alt-right conferences, and his followers have engaged in outright denial.”

Lipstadt’s intervention in the growing row came as the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington DC also released a pointed statement explaining the meaning of the Holocaust.



“Millions of other innocent civilians were persecuted and murdered by the Nazis, but the elimination of Jews was central to Nazi policy,” the statement read, adding that “an accurate understanding of this history is critical if we are to learn its lessons and honour its victims”.

Tweeting a link to the statement, the museum included a quote from the writer and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel: “Not all victims were Jews, but all Jews were victims.”

The White House statement was criticised at the time by Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, who tweeted on Friday: “@Whitehouse statement on #HolocaustMemorialDay, misses that it was six million Jews who perished, not just ‘innocent people’”.

Lipstadt’s article appeared after the White House press secretary had accused the media of “nitpicking” the statement. “The idea that you’re nitpicking a statement that sought to remember this tragic event that occurred and the people who are in it is just ridiculous,” Sean Spicer said.

“To suggest that remembering the Holocaust and acknowledging all of the people – Jewish, gypsies, priests, disabled, gays and lesbians – is frankly pathetic that people are picking on a statement.”