Holocaust denier Irving sparks new controversy over interview with Spanish newspaper

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Eminent historians, as well as the state of Israel, have condemned a Spanish newspaper for publishing an interview with Holocaust denier David Irving as part of its World War II coverage. El Mundo's interview, which they say is justified by freedom of expression, saw Irving make statements such as: 'The Holocaust is just a slogan, a product like Kleenex or Xerox printers. ''They've turned it into a commercial phenomenon, and succeeded in making money out of it - producing films about it which have made millions,' he said.

Israeli ambassador Raphael Schutz called Irving a 'con man' and called it an insult to free speech, legitimate historians and to those reading it.

Irving went on: 'Until the 1970s [the Holocaust] was just a speck of dust on the horizon. The proof is that it doesn't appear in any of the biographies of the great leaders of the Second World War. But from then on it became fashionable. 'The Jews turned it into a brand, using the same technique as Goebbels. They invented a slogan... and repeated it ad nauseam. 'In the past, Irving has said he believed the figure of 6million Jews murdered by the Nazis was an exaggeration.

When asked by El Mundo about this, he said: 'I'm not interested in figures. I don't count bodies. I'm not all that interested in the Holocaust.' He also denied that Hitler was to blame for what occurred during the Second World War, or that he wanted to exterminate the Jews. 'Hitler was a simple man constantly deceived by his subordinates', he said. He added: 'In Hitler's speeches there is only one anti-Semitic sentence. Something about "when the war begins, I want the Jews to suffer". But that's just a stereotypical expression.' Instead, Irving blames Churchill for the war because he 'was in the hands of the Jews'.

Avner Shalev, the director of Israel's Holocaust Museum, wrote to El Mundo to complain about the interview. He said: 'There are subjects about that don't permit a 'for' and 'against'. The paper gives legitimacy to a man who doesn't deserve it... It is inconceivable that a serious newspaper should provide a platform for anti-Semitism.'