Festival of Ideas: Denial screening + Deborah Lipstadt
classified 12APlease note: This was screened in May 2019
Denial is the true-life procedural drama about the courtroom showdown between Jewish historian Deborah Lipstadt and notorious Holocaust denier David Irving, starring Rachel Weisz and Timothy Spall.
After the screening, there will be a 40 minute interval then at 13:30, Deborah Lipstadt will be in conversation with historian and writer Tim Cole.
What Can Be Done to Combat Antisemitism?
Antisemitism has been on the rise worldwide for the last ten years. From violent white-nationalist protests in Charlottesville to attacks on synagogues across Europe and the USA, and from the targeting of Jewish students at American universities to the antisemitism row raging in the British Labour Party, does this resurgence of anti-Jewish rhetoric and violence mark a return to the brutality of the 1930s?
Deborah Lipstadt, the historian who defeated Holocaust denier David Irving in court, offers an analysis of the new antisemitism. She connects distinct currents in contemporary culture to explore how contradictory forces have found common scapegoats and looks at what can be done to combat this extremely damaging racist ideology.
Speaker Biography
Deborah Lipstadt is Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies at Emory University. Her books include The Eichmann Trial, Denial: Holocaust History on Trial (a National Jewish Book Award-winner), Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory and Beyond Belief: The American Press and the Coming of the Holocaust, 1933-1945. Her latest book is Antisemitism: Here and Now.