Editing Institute for Historical Review (section)

==History==
The IHR was founded in 1978 by [[David McCalden]], also known as Lewis Brandon, a former member of the [[British National Front]], and [[Willis Carto]], the head of the now-defunct [[Liberty Lobby]]. Liberty Lobby was an antisemitic organization best known for publishing ''[[The Spotlight]]'', now reorganized as the ''[[American Free Press]]''. [[Austin App]], a [[La Salle University]] professor credited with being the first major American [[Holocaust denier]], inspired the creation of the IHR.<ref>Carlos C. Huerta and Dafna Shiffman-Huerta "Holocaust Denial Literature: Its Place in Teaching the Holocaust", in Rochelle L. Millen. ''New Perspectives on the Holocaust: A Guide for Teachers and Scholars'', NYU Press, 1996, {{ISBN|0-8147-5540-2}}, p. 189.</ref>

The [[Anti-Defamation League]] describes its founding and early years:

<blockquote>The Institute for Historical Review and its publishing arm, Noontide Press, were founded in 1978 by the leading organizer of modern American anti-Semitism, [[Willis Carto]], and his wife Elisabeth. Based near Los Angeles in Torrance, California, the group pioneered organizing efforts among [[Holocaust denial|Holocaust deniers]], who had heretofore labored mostly in isolation and obscurity. The group's first "Revisionist Convention" in September 1979 featured speakers from the U.S., France, Germany, England and Sweden, many of whom subsequently contributed articles to the inaugural issue of IHR's ''[[Journal of Historical Review]]'' the following spring. With the Noontide Press offering a means for the sale and distribution of their writings, professional deniers had found something of a rainmaker in Carto.<ref>[http://www.adl.org/Learn/ext_us/historical_review.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCa Institute for Historical Review] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525135717/http://www.adl.org/Learn/ext_us/historical_review.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCa |date=May 25, 2011 }}, ''Extremism in America'', ADL.</ref></blockquote>

McCalden and Carto had a falling out over the [[Mel Mermelstein]] case, and in 1981 McCalden left the IHR. Tom Marcellus became its director. Carto lost control of IHR in 1993, in an internal power struggle. in 1971, Marcellus was a field staff member for the [[Church of Scientology]] and was an editor for one of the church's publications. When Marcellus left IHR in 1995, [[Mark Weber (historian)|Mark Weber]], the editor of the IHR's ''Journal of Historical Review'' (JHR) since 1992, took over as its director, and has been the IHR's director and spokesman since then.<ref name=WeberProfile>{{cite web|url=http://www.ihr.org/other/weber_bio.html|title=Mark Weber - A Biographical Profile|access-date=January 3, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110827215602/http://www.ihr.org/other/weber_bio.html|archive-date=August 27, 2011|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Weber previously worked with the [[white supremacist]] [[National Alliance (United States)|National Alliance]]. Since taking over, Weber has continued to publish writing on the Holocaust and on World War II.

At the IHR's first conference in 1979, IHR publicly offered a reward of $50,000 for verifiable "proof that [[gas chamber]]s for the purpose of killing human beings existed at or in [[Auschwitz]]." This money (and an additional $40,000) was eventually paid in 1985 to Auschwitz survivor [[Mel Mermelstein]], who, represented by public-interest lawyer [[William John Cox]], sued the IHR for [[breach of contract]] for initially ignoring his evidence (a signed [[testimony]] of his [[witness|experiences]] in Auschwitz). On October 9, 1981, both parties in the Mermelstein case filed motions for [[summary judgment]] in consideration of which Judge Thomas T. Johnson of the [[Superior Court of Los Angeles County]] took "[[judicial notice]] of the fact that Jews were gassed to death at the Auschwitz Concentration Camp in occupied Poland during the summer of 1944."<ref>"Mermelstein Victory", ''Heritage'', October 23, 1981.</ref><ref>"Footnote to the Holocaust", ''Newsweek'', October 19, 1981, p. 73.</ref><ref name="order">{{cite web | url = http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/m/mermelstein.mel/ftp.py?people/m/mermelstein.mel//mermelstein.order.072285 | title = Mel Mermelstein v. Institute for Historical Review Judgment and Statement of Record | access-date = November 20, 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110717102709/http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/m/mermelstein.mel/ftp.py?people%2Fm%2Fmermelstein.mel%2F%2Fmermelstein.order.072285 | archive-date = July 17, 2011 | url-status = dead | df = mdy-all }}</ref> On August 5, 1985, Judge Robert A. Wenke entered a [[judgment]] based upon the [[Stipulation]] for Entry of Judgment agreed upon by the parties on July 22, 1985. The judgment required IHR and other defendants to pay $90,000 to Mermelstein and to issue a letter of apology to "Mr. Mel Mermelstein, a survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau and Buchenwald, and all other survivors of Auschwitz" for "pain, anguish and suffering" caused to them.<ref name="order"/>

On July 4, 1984, a firebomb destroyed the institute's offices and warehouse. Thousands of books, cassette tapes, pamphlets, and 90% of its inventory were lost. Carto had not insured the facilities or stock.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://archive.adl.org/holocaust/ihr-2.html |title=Holocaust Deniers: The Institute for Historical Review - Part two |access-date=December 14, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222153329/http://archive.adl.org/holocaust/ihr-2.html |archive-date=December 22, 2015 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

In 1996, IHR won a $6,430,000 judgment in a lawsuit against Carto in which IHR alleged that Carto embezzled $7.5 million that had been left to Legion for the Survival of Freedom, the parent corporation of IHR, from the estate of Jean Edison Farrel.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.monkey-factory.com/wac/litigation/farrel/19840116-lastwill.html|title = Farrel Estate - Last Will of Jean Farrel, Edison (1/16/84)}}</ref><ref>Los Angeles Times, November 16, 1996: [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-11-16-me-65105-story.html Judge Awards $6.4 Million to O.C. Revisionist Group] </ref><ref>"Because of the views held by Carto and the institute, the case has been followed by the Anti-Defamation League in San Diego. Its director, Morris Casuto, found little comfort in the decision. 'Given the litigants, it's a pity there could only be one loser,'  he said yesterday.'"  ''Decision on Estate Fails to End Bitterness; Holocaust Skeptics win in court; where's cash?'' San Diego Union-Tribune, November 16, 1996, p. B-1</ref>

In 2001, Eric Owens, a former employee, alleged that Mark Weber and Greg Raven from the IHR's staff had been planning to sell their mailing lists to either the [[Anti-Defamation League]] or the Church of Scientology.<ref>[[George Michael (professor)|Michael, George]]. ''Confronting right-wing extremism and terrorism in the USA'', [[Routledge]], 2003, p. 89 & p. 231, footnote 192.</ref>

Since 2009, Weber has pushed to broaden the institute's mandate.<ref name=Weber /> In January 2009, Weber released an essay titled, "How Relevant Is Holocaust Revisionism?" In it, he acknowledged the death of millions of Jews but did not wholly reject Holocaust denial. He noted that Holocaust denial had attracted little support over the years: "It's gotten some support in Iran, or places like that, but as far as I know, there is no history department supporting writing by these folks." Accordingly, he recommended that emphasis be placed instead on opposing "Jewish-Zionist power", which some commentators claim was a shift to a directly antisemitic position.<ref name=Weber>{{Cite news| last = Popper| first = Nathaniel| title = Revisionist: It's Time To Quit Shoah Fight| newspaper = [[The Jewish Daily Forward]]| date = January 15, 2009| url = http://www.forward.com/articles/14953/| access-date = January 20, 2009| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090120045059/http://www.forward.com/articles/14953/| archive-date = January 20, 2009| url-status = live| df = mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{citation| url= http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=1101| title= Revisionism, Interrupted| author= Heidi Beirich| publisher= Southern Poverty Law Center| access-date= December 7, 2009| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091207002529/http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=1101| archive-date= December 7, 2009| url-status= dead| df= mdy-all}}</ref>