London - The historian Mr David Irving was accused in the High Court yesterday of "mocking the survivors and dead" of the Holocaust. The allegation was made by the QC representing Prof Deborah Lipstadt and Penguin Books in their defence to Mr Irving's libel action against them over claims that he is a "Holocaust denier". Mr Richard Rampton put to Mr Irving that by "mocking" eyewitness accounts during public speaking engagements, the author of Hitler's War was "appealing to, feeding, encouraging the most cynical radical anti-Semitism in your audience, aren't you?"
Rejecting the accusation, Mr Irving said that what he was doing was "mocking the liars" who, he said, had told untrue stories about what had happened to them.