Released in Mark 2000 by the Israeli State Archives, the memoirs of Adolf Eichmann offer a chilling, though self-serving, account of the workings of the Nazi's "Final Solution." Although most scholars dismiss the diary as an attempt by Eichmann to defend or exonerate himself while on trial for his central role in the Holocaust, the manuscript was still sealed in the Israeli archives for 39 years. It was made public at the request of Deborah Lipstadt, a professor at Emory University, who, along with her publisher, Penguin Books, is being sued for libel by David Irving, a British historian whom Lipstadt characterized as a "dangerous spokesman" for Holocaust denial. Under Britain's libel laws, the burden of proof is on the defendant, which means that Lipstadt must discredit Irving's position by demonstrating that he has willfully ignored or distorted the facts. Due to the complicated nature of the trial, it has been heard without a jury, and closing arguments are scheduled for March 13. The Nizkor Project, one of the largest online repositories of primary documents related to the Holocaust, is dedicated to combatting Holocaust denial and has made available the full text of the diary, False Gods, (in German only) in .txt, .rtf, and MS Word formats. Users can also learn more about David Irving at Nizkor's special section on him. The page includes numerous related documents and links to press updates from the libel trial.
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