[Website note: Sol Littman is Canadian representative of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center]

---

October 3, 1996

Ms. Deborah Lipstadt

Department of Religion

Emory University

Atlanta, Georgia 30322

 

Dear Deborah,

It was good to talk to you on the phone the other day. I have admired your work for some time and I am pleased if I can be of some help to you.

When you receive the student paper I sent you, please recognize that it is not for publication or direct quotation. It is, after all, an unedited student's work and contains many phrases and comments that neither you or I would use in a situation which clearly involves considerable delicacy. I think it is best used as a reference and an indication of what might be available.

Sincerely,

signed

Sol Littman

Related items on this website

 [The secret “student paper”:] History Rewritten: The World of David IrvingLipstadt’s lawyers used every legal device to prevent Mr Irving obtaining a copy of the Littman document. He took them to court and won an order Small wonder that Littman did not want the document to become known. As the British judge Trench, hearing this preliminary action, commented dryly, “It could hardly have fallen into wronger hands now than it has — but that is what the legal process of Discovery is about.” This document mirrors the blueprint for the global campaign against Mr Irving, designed to destroy his reputation:

The shroud of credibility in which David Irving clothes himself is the call to arms for those who wish to strip him of his platform of hate. Irving’s prolific writing and his thorough research through World War II archives afford him an air of respectability. This has made him a best-selling author in the U.K. and abroad. This vast audience falls prey to the half-truths and utter falsehoods he weaves into the voluminous works he produces. Critics repeatedly assail Irving’s ‘historical’ theses, and dismiss his revisionist themes. The importance of such work is to deny Irving the legitimacy he so desires in his attempts to spread his anti-Semitic and racist messages. Therefore, a brief review of the ‘academic’ techniques he traditionally employs casts significant light on the danger that David Irving poses. and   David Irving’s techniques challenge the most educated minds to adopt his version of reality. By revealing Irving’s methods, the illusions portrayed as facts in his writings have been unveiled. Hence, while claiming to be a legitimate historian, Irving can now be identified with his underlying purpose, to morally rehabilitate Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich. Given this accurate version of reality, it is all the more clear why his activities must be curtailed, and why his alleged legitimacy be eradicated. From History Rewritten: The World of David Irving