November 23, 2005
British historian David Irving has been formally charged with violating an Austrian law that makes Holocaust denial a crime. Irving, a revisionist who has claimed that Adolf Hitler knew nothing about the systematic slaughter of six million Jews, is accused of giving two speeches in 1989 in which he denied the existence of Nazi gas chambers during World War II, according to Austrian prosecutor Otto Schneider. Irving was arrested two weeks ago in the southern province of Styria on a warrant issued in 1989. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison. A detention hearing will be held Friday to determine whether Irving should be held for up to four more weeks. Irving in the past has faced allegations of spreading anti-Semitic and racist ideas. He is the author of nearly 30 books, including "Hitler's War," which challenges the extent of the Holocaust. Besides his assertion that Hitler knew nothing about the Holocaust, he also has been quoted as saying there was "not one shred of evidence" that the Nazis carried out their "Final Solution" to exterminate the Jewish population on such a massive scale.
