Deborah Lipstadt spoke today at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles on her latest book — “History on Trial: My Day in Court with David Irving.” I had the honor of introducing her today, with this introduction:
"On January 27th of this year, the world gathered to observe the 60th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Deborah Lipstadt was part of the official American delegation representing President Bush and the nation.
"It was an extremely cold day, captured in the many pictures run by the media of Vice President Cheney, dressed in a large ski parka sitting at the ceremony.
"I want to read you a brief, abridged version of what Deborah Lipstadt wrote shortly after that ceremony, and then you will understand why it will take me only a few words after that to introduce her:
Sitting there in my four layers of clothing, heavy socks, special boots, earmuffs, and hat . . . I was thrust back to the final days of the camp, when the Germans, unwilling to let 60,000 surviving Jews fall into the hands of the Red Army, forced them to march through the snow toward Germany, where they were put in concentration camps. . . .
In the final chapter of his memoir, [Primo] Levi describes in detail the situation at Auschwitz during the days before the arrival of the Red Army. . . . "No more water, or electricity, broken windows and doors slamming in the wind. . . . Ragged, decrepit, skeleton-like patients . . . dragged themselves everywhere on the frozen soil . . . .”
On the night of the 26th of January one of [Levi’s friends Sómogyi] died. Levi and his friend [Charles] were too cold and exhausted to bury him. There was nothing to do but go back to sleep and wait for the next day. [Levi wrote] "The Russians arrived while Charles and I were carrying Sómogyi a little distance outside. . . . We overturned the stretcher on the gray snow. Charles took off his beret. I regretted not having a beret."
Sixty years later, as darkness fell over Auschwitz, I turned to one of the members of our delegation and said: "It’s really cold. I regret not having worn another layer of clothing." Suddenly [Primo] Levi’s words came cascading back on me. I was embarrassed.
And then, without explaining why, I stood up in silent tribute not just to Sómogyi, but to the countless nameless others who had died there or those, such as Elie Wiesel’s father, who died soon after the death march. I also stood for people such as [Primo] Levi, who survived but bore the terrible wounds of the place for the rest of their lives.
Despite the sharp wind, I took off my hat. After all, I had one.
"The woman who knew when to stand at Auschwitz also knew when to stand up to David Irving. She did so not only by her scholarship, and her writings, but in court. The subtitle of her book — “My Day in Court with David Irving” — is a bit of a misnomer. Her legal battle lasted more than five years.
"And when C-Span invited her to appear on Book TV to speak to the entire country about her book, she knew when to refuse, after C-SPAN told her they would need to broadcast a recent speech of David Irving’s as well, in the interest of balance.
"She did the same thing in 1993, when her prior book came out. That she had to do so again, 12 years later, is an indication that the fight for truth is a continuing battle, that history not only remembers the past but affects the present, and thus impacts the future as well.
"When history was challenged, it was fortunate — the Jewish people were fortunate — we were fortunate — that Deborah Lipstadt was its defender.
"And today, because of the extraordinary generosity of Roz and Abner Goldstine, the hard work of Rosa Berman Ruder and her committee, and the assistance of Betty Weiner, we are fortunate to be able to welcome to Sinai Temple a professor of history who made history herself — protecting the past, and simultaneously helping insure our future — Deborah Lipstadt."
Tuesday night (November 22), she will be speaking at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York (One West Fourth Street) at 7:30 p.m. If you’re in New York, several hundred people who heard her speak this weekend in Los Angeles would urge you to go.