David Irving was born in March 1938. He's an English writer and famous
Holocaust denier. His specialty is in political and military history of WWII, with a special focus on the role of Nazi Germany in the event. He has written more than 30 books on the topic, and he actually sympathized with the Third Reich in most of his writings. He originally was reputed as a historian but lost that credibility when he tried to take a libel case to court and was found to be a racist, anti-Semite, and avid Holocaust denier.
David Irving was born in Essex, England during
Hitler's reign over Germany. His father served in the British forces during World War II and Irving blamed the war for stealing his childhood. Irving attended college twice, but never graduated from either program. Once he left school, he began working a variety of odd jobs. First, he worked as a steelworker in West Germany, where he learned German and continued to cultivate his sympathy for the Nazi party.
Irving then moved to Spain and married, where he had five children. This is when he began his writing career, including the publication of
The Destruction of Dresden, which became an international bestseller in no time at all. After the success of this book, Irving continued writing his ideas and beliefs down and publishing them for the masses to read. After a lawsuit for libel in 1968, Irving started to focus his writing career on biographies and memoirs. He even translated the German
Rise and Fall of the Luftwaffe, a popular book about Erhard Milch.
In 1977, Irving published a book that started a lot of controversy. This book was called
Hitler's War, and in it he described the man whose reputation he claimed had been slandered by history and those who claimed to know what happened during World War II. He claimed that he was trying to see the situation "through Hitler's eyes" and contested that the man was a reasonable, intelligent politician who only wanted to better Germany as a country.
Over time, David Irving became more interested in Holocaust denial and adamant about speaking on the issue. In 2006, he was even arrested for Holocaust denial in Austria for speeches he made there in 1989. He served 3 years in jail, but could have faced up to 10 in this country that has no tolerance for Holocaust denial. People like Irving are the reason that Holocaust denial has to be discussed and combated.