Emory U. to Translate Holocaust-Denial Web Site Into Farsi, Arabic, and Russian

Spurred by last week’s Iran-sponsored conference questioning the Holocaust, Emory University has announced plans to translate a Holocaust Web site it maintains into Farsi, the main language of Iran, as well as Arabic, Russian, and the languages of other countries where Holocaust denial is widespread. The Web site, Holocaust Denial on Trial, contains voluminous material from a notorious libel trial against Deborah E. Lipstadt, a Holocaust scholar at the university. She and her British publisher were sued by David Irving, a Holocaust denier who claimed she had slandered him in her 1993 book, Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory. In 2000 a British court ruled for Ms. Lipstadt, finding that Mr. Irving had “significantly misrepresented” the evidence in denying Nazi Germany’s mass killing of European Jews. Mr. Irving recently drew a three-year jail term for Holocaust denial in Austria, despite appearing to recant his views.

In a news release, Emory says it is raising money to help finance the translation project. The release quotes Ms. Lipstadt on the need for the project. “I’m convinced that there are people in predominantly Muslim countries, especially in the Middle East, who are being inundated with Holocaust deniers’ claims and don’t know that the deniers are fabricating and distorting. The problem is that there is no place where they can find sources in their languages to refute these lies.”

Emory says lesson plans for teachers on the Holocaust and Holocaust denial will be added to the Web site.