Editing David Irving (section)

===Life after the libel suit===
{{see also|Irving trial}}
[[File:David irving.jpg|thumb|right|Irving at [[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|the National Archives of the United Kingdom]], 2003]]
In July 2004 the New Zealand Government government decided to not allow Irving to enter the country unless he applied for and was granted special permission. This decision was made on the grounds that he had previously been deported from a different country. Members of the Jewish community had requested that he not be permitted to visit, with the [[New Zealand Jewish Council|New Zealand Jewish Council's]] president stating that Irving was "well known for his anti-Jewish writings and activities, and was found by the High Court in London in 2002 to be racist, [and] an active Holocaust denier".<ref>{{cite news |title=British 'Holocaust denier' denied entry to New Zealand |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2004-07-30/british-holocaust-denier-denied-entry-to-new/2017770 |access-date=27 March 2025 |work=ABC News |date=30 July 2004 |language=en-AU}}</ref> Irving attempted to travel to New Zealand in September 2004, but was refused permission to board a flight from Los Angeles on the grounds that he did not have permission to enter the country.<ref>{{cite news |title=Irving banned from boarding NZ flight |url=https://www.theage.com.au/world/irving-banned-from-boarding-nz-flight-20040918-gdynhw.html |access-date=27 March 2025 |work=The Age |date=18 September 2004 |language=en}}</ref>

On 11 November 2005, the Austrian police in the southern state of [[Styria]], acting under the 1989 [[arrest warrant|warrant]], arrested Irving. Irving pleaded guilty to the charge of "trivialising, grossly playing down and denying the Holocaust". Irving stated in his plea that he had changed his opinions on the Holocaust, "I said that then based on my knowledge at the time, but by 1991 when I came across the [[Adolf Eichmann|Eichmann]] papers, I wasn't saying that anymore and I wouldn't say that now. The Nazis did murder millions of Jews."<ref>{{cite web|title= David Irving jailed for Holocaust denial|author=<!-- Staff writer(s) -->|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/feb/20/austria.thefarright|date=20 February 2006|newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref> Irving had obtained the papers from Hugo Byttebier, a Belgian who had served in the [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] during the war and had escaped to Argentina.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elpais/1-33999-2004-04-12.html|title=Página/12 :: El país :: La historia de Byttebier, otro nazi en Argentina|website=www.pagina12.com.ar|language=es|access-date=8 January 2018|archive-date=1 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201080902/https://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elpais/1-33999-2004-04-12.html|url-status=live}}</ref>{{better source needed|reason=This seems to have been published originally in El País, a Spanish paper. Can't we cite that instead?|date=April 2022}} Irving was sentenced to three years' imprisonment in accordance with the law prohibiting Nazi activities ({{lang|de|[[Verbotsgesetz 1947|Verbotsgesetz]]}}, "Prohibition Law").<ref name="BBC 2006-02-20">{{cite news | title=Holocaust denier Irving is jailed | date=20 February 2006 | work=BBC News | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/4733820.stm | access-date=16 June 2009 | archive-date=10 July 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150710130050/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4733820.stm | url-status=live }}</ref> Irving sat motionless as judge Peter Liebetreu asked him if he had understood the sentence, to which he replied "I'm not sure I do" before being escorted out of the court by Austrian police. Later, Irving said that he was shocked by the severity of the sentence. He had reportedly already purchased a plane ticket home to London.<ref>{{cite news|last=Connolly|first=Kate|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/austria/1511075/Irving-clutches-Hitler-book-in-court.html|title=Irving clutches Hitler book in court|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=21 February 2006}}</ref>

In December 2006, Irving was released from prison and banned from ever returning to Austria.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2288055,00.html |title=Convicted Holocaust Denier Irving Expelled from Austria |date=22 December 2006 |publisher=Deutsche Welle |access-date=20 September 2009 |archive-date=6 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206173125/http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2288055,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Upon Irving's arrival in the UK he reaffirmed his position, stating that he felt "no need any longer to show remorse" for his Holocaust views.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/12/21/uk.irving.ap/index.html |title=Holocaust denier: 'No need to show remorse' |website=[[CNN]] |access-date=16 January 2007 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070116221731/http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/12/21/uk.irving.ap/index.html |archive-date=16 January 2007}}</ref> On 18 May 2007, he was expelled from the 52nd Warsaw International Book Fair in Poland because the books he took there were deemed by the organisers as promoting [[Nazism]] and antisemitism, which is in violation of Polish law.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/18/europe/EU-GEN-Poland-Irving.php |title=British writer David Irving asked to leave Polish book fair |work=International Herald Tribune |date=29 March 2009 |access-date=20 September 2009 |archive-date=20 May 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070520065853/http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/18/europe/EU-GEN-Poland-Irving.php |url-status=live }}</ref>

Since then, Irving has continued to work as a freelance writer, despite his troubled public image. He was drawn into the controversy surrounding Bishop [[Richard Williamson (bishop)|Richard Williamson]], who in a televised interview recorded in Germany in November 2008 denied the Holocaust took place, only to see Williamson convicted for incitement in April 2010 after refusing to pay a fine of €12,000.<ref>{{cite news|last=Pidd|first=Helen|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/oct/26/british-bishop-holocaust-fine |title=German court fines British bishop for Holocaust claims |work=The Guardian |access-date=10 May 2011|date=26 October 2009|location=London}}</ref><ref name=MSNBC2010>{{cite news|title=British bishop convicted of Holocaust denial: German court fines cleric $13,000 for saying Jews were not gassed to death|date=16 April 2010|agency=Associated Press|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna36595788|access-date=10 May 2011|archive-date=22 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180122125651/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/36595788/ns/world_news-europe/t/british-bishop-convicted-holocaust-denial/|url-status=live}}</ref> Irving subsequently found himself beset by protesters on a book tour of the United States.<ref>{{cite news | last = Solomont | first = E. B. | title = Survivors in New York enraged by Holocaust-denier Irving's tour | work = The Jerusalem Post | date = 13 November 2009 | page = 2 |url=http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1258027279080&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull | access-date = 22 December 2009 | ref = CITEREFjpost2009 }}{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He has also given lectures and tours in the UK and Europe; one tour to Poland in September 2010 which led to particular criticism included the [[Treblinka]] death camp as an itinerary stop.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11381483 |title=Holocaust denier Irving in Poland for Hitler tour |publisher=BBC |date=21 September 2010 |access-date=2 September 2011 |archive-date=23 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100923193128/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11381483 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Irving and [[Nick Griffin]] (then the [[British National Party]] leader) were invited to speak at a forum on free speech at the [[Oxford Union]] on 26 November 2007, along with [[Anne Atkins]] and [[Evan Harris]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/oxfordshire/7112480.stm |title=Union debate row speakers arrive |date=26 November 2007 |work=BBC News |access-date=16 April 2022 |archive-date=19 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220819094726/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/oxfordshire/7112480.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> The debate took place after Oxford Union members voted in favour of it,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/7110758.stm |title=BNP to speak to Oxford students |access-date=4 December 2007 |work=BBC News |date=24 November 2007 |archive-date=25 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170825214508/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/7110758.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> but was disrupted by protesters.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/oxfordshire/7114343.stm |title=Angry scenes greet Oxford debate |work=BBC News |date=27 November 2007 |access-date=16 April 2022}}</ref> {{As of|2016}} Irving was lecturing to small audiences at venues disclosed to carefully vetted ticket-holders a day or two before the event on topics, including [[List of conspiracy theories#Antisemitic conspiracy theories|antisemitic conspiracy theories]], and at one such event, claiming to write the truth unlike "conformist" historians while asserting fabrications about leading Nazis,<ref>{{cite web|last=Usborne|first=Simon|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/exclusive-david-irving--the-hate-that-dare-not-speak-its-name-8792411.html|title=Exclusive: David Irving – the hate that dare not speak its name|work=The Independent|date=30 August 2013|access-date=15 January 2017|archive-date=25 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925162648/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/exclusive-david-irving--the-hate-that-dare-not-speak-its-name-8792411.html|url-status=live}}</ref> the life and death of Heinrich Himmler and the saturation bombings during World War II.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://irvingbooks.com/xcart/home.php?cat=250|title=David Irving looks back: My fifty years defending Real History against its enemies. An evening with the historian |date=December 2016|access-date=14 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170106094302/https://irvingbooks.com/xcart/home.php?cat=250|archive-date=6 January 2017|url-status=dead}} Web site lists new events from time to time.</ref>

Irving established a website selling [[Nazi memorabilia]] in 2009. The items are offered by other people, with Irving receiving a commission from each sale for authenticating them. Irving stated in 2009 that the website was the only way he could make money after being bankrupted in 2002.<ref name="Telegraph Irving sets up Nazi memorabilia website">{{cite news|last1=Moore|first1=Mathew|title=Holocaust denier David Irving sets up Nazi memorabilia website|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/4951684/Holocaust-denier-David-Irving-sets-up-Nazi-memorabilia-website.html|access-date=6 February 2016|work=The Telegraph|date=7 March 2009|archive-date=6 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306142903/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/4951684/Holocaust-denier-David-Irving-sets-up-Nazi-memorabilia-website.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Items sold through the website include Hitler's walking stick and a lock of Hitler's hair. Irving has also investigated the authenticity of bones purported to be from Hitler and [[Eva Braun]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Preston|first1=Alex|title=The man who sleeps in Hitler's bed|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/24/the-man-who-sleeps-in-hitlers-bed|access-date=6 February 2016|work=The Guardian|date=24 June 2015|archive-date=24 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150624160909/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/24/the-man-who-sleeps-in-hitlers-bed|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Denham|first1=Jess|title=Channel 4 criticised for paying Holocaust denier £3,000 for lock of Hitler's hair|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/channel-4-criticised-for-paying-holocaust-denier-3000-for-lock-of-hitlers-hair-9212494.html|access-date=6 February 2016|work=The Independent|date=24 March 2014|archive-date=6 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160206191219/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/channel-4-criticised-for-paying-holocaust-denier-3000-for-lock-of-hitlers-hair-9212494.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

During an interview with [[Johann Hari]], Irving said that in the 1970s, [[Erwin Giesing]], one of Hitler's doctors, had quoted Hitler to him thus: "One day, an Englishman will come along and write my biography. But it cannot be an English man of the present generation. They won't to {{sic}} be objective. It will have to be an Englishman of the next generation, and one who is totally familiar with all the German archives." Irving said that Giesing had identified him as the objective Englishman that Hitler had spoken of.<ref name=hari1>{{cite web|title=David Irving: 'Hitler appointed me his biographer'|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/david-irving-hitler-appointed-me-his-biographer-1366464.html|newspaper=The Independent|author=Johann Hari|date=15 January 2009}}</ref>

During the same interview, Irving claimed that various Nazis hid what was happening to the Jews from Hitler because he was "the best friend the Jews had in the Third Reich".<ref name=hari1 />