Irving v Penguin Books & Lipstadt 1996-I-1113 (QBD)

People

Twenty people appear in the trial record: the judge, the parties, counsel, expert and lay witnesses, and the court interpreter. Five further people served written statements but did not testify. Each profile lists the days on which that person appears.

Bench

  1. Mr Justice Gray

    Presiding judge

    Charles Gray QC, High Court judge of the Queen's Bench Division. Delivered the 349-page judgment on April 11, 2000.

    8,500 turns across 32 days.

Claimant

  1. Mr Irving

    Claimant, acting in person

    David John Cawdell Irving. Conducted the case himself, cross-examined every defence witness, gave evidence on his own behalf.

    19,863 turns across 32 days.

Counsel for the defendants

  1. Mr Rampton QC

    Lead counsel for the defendants

    Richard Rampton QC led the defendants' case and questioned Irving on Auschwitz, Holocaust denial, and his historical methods.

    10,452 turns across 32 days.

  2. Miss Heather Rogers

    Junior counsel for the defendants

    Heather Rogers was junior counsel to Rampton QC and made procedural and evidentiary submissions during the trial.

    42 turns across 13 days.

Expert witnesses for the defendants

  1. Professor Richard J. Evans

    Historian, Irving's method

    Professor of Modern History at Cambridge, later Regius Professor. Author of In Defence of History. Submitted an expert report on Irving's historical methods.

    4,365 turns across 6 days.

  2. Professor Robert Jan van Pelt

    Architectural historian, Auschwitz

    Professor of cultural history at the University of Waterloo and co-author of Auschwitz: 1270 to the Present (1996). His 257-paragraph defence report examined the architectural and written evidence of mass killing at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

    2,013 turns across 5 days.

  3. Dr Heinz Peter Longerich

    Historian, Hitler and the killings

    Historian at Royal Holloway, University of London. Author of The Unwritten Order (2001). Submitted two expert reports covering Hitler's role and the systematic character of the killings.

    1,727 turns across 3 days.

  4. Professor Christopher R. Browning

    Historian, the Final Solution

    Historian at Pacific Lutheran University and author of Ordinary Men (1992). His report addressed the implementation of the Final Solution.

    1,242 turns across 2 days.

  5. Dr Hajo Funke

    Political scientist, Irving's network

    Free University of Berlin. Specialist on the German extreme right. Wrote the report on Irving's association with right-wing extremists and revisionists.

    1,423 turns across 2 days.

Witnesses called by the claimant

  1. Professor Donald Cameron Watt

    Expert witness for the claimant

    Emeritus Stevenson Professor of International History, LSE. Diplomatic historian, author of How War Came (1989). Irving's first witness, called to support Irving's standing as a historian.

    91 turns across 1 day.

  2. Sir John Keegan

    Expert witness for the claimant

    Military historian and author of The Face of Battle (1976) and The Second World War (1989). Defence editor of the Telegraph. Irving called him to give evidence about Irving's work as a military historian.

    46 turns across 1 day.

  3. Professor Kevin MacDonald

    Expert witness for the claimant

    Evolutionary psychologist at California State University, Long Beach. Author of The Culture of Critique (1998), a book about alleged Jewish group behavior that the Southern Poverty Law Center later classified as antisemitic.

    69 turns across 1 day.

  4. Mr Peter Millar

    Witness for the claimant

    Journalist; collaborated with Irving in 1992 on the Sunday Times's purchase and transcription of the Goebbels diary glass plates from the Moscow archive. Called by Irving on the Goebbels-archive allegation.

    95 turns across 1 day.

  5. Mr Anthony Julius

    Solicitor, called by the claimant

    Lipstadt's solicitor at Mishcon de Reya and author of T.S. Eliot, Anti-Semitism and Literary Form (1995). Irving called him during questioning about funding for the defence; he appears for four turns.

    4 turns across 1 day.

Witness statements (did not testify)

Statements served by the defendants but not adopted as oral evidence, where Irving did not require the witness for cross-examination or the matter addressed was uncontested.

  1. Professor Deborah E. Lipstadt

    Second defendant, author

    Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History at Emory University. Author of Denying the Holocaust (1993). Irving sued over its treatment of him.

    Statement only; not called to give oral evidence.

  2. Bernie M. Farber

    Defendants' witness, statement

    Senior official of the Canadian Jewish Congress. Witness to Irving's activities in Canada, including his 1992 deportation.

    Statement only; not called to give oral evidence.

  3. Rebecca Guttman

    Defendants' witness, statement

    Executive Assistant at the American Jewish Committee's Southwest Florida chapter. Attended the July 25, 1998 National Alliance event in Tampa at which Irving spoke.

    Statement only; not called to give oral evidence.

  4. Eric K. Ward

    Defendants' witness, statement

    Regional Coordinator of the Northwest Coalition, which monitors far-right activity in the Pacific Northwest. Witness to Irving's April 1998 lecture at Washington State University in Pullman.

    Statement only; not called to give oral evidence.

  5. Steven M. Wasserstrom

    Defendants' witness, statement

    Moe and Izetta Tonkon Associate Professor of Judaic Studies and the Humanities, Reed College. Witness to four Irving lectures in the Portland, Oregon area between 1992 and 1998.

    Statement only; not called to give oral evidence.

Court

  1. Interpreter

    German ↔ English interpretation

    Sworn court interpreter who interpreted German testimony on five trial days.

    48 turns across 5 days.