Holocaust denier forced off USyd campus

WORDS BY ALIZA CHIN & JOSHUA WOOLLER

Earlier today, a person was filmed around Eastern Avenue disseminating material defending Holocaust denier David Irving. The footage, posted earlier by Pulp, depicts a man stapling flyers to noticeboards that criticised Mike Jackson’s recent film Denial, which details the British defamation trial between Irving and Holocaust scholar Deborah Lipstadt.

The flyer has also been found at other university campuses, such as Australian National University, Monash University, and Melbourne University, as well as other British universities, including, University College London, Cambridge University, Edinburgh University, and Glasgow University as reported by the ABC.

According to USyd Emeritus Professor and Chair of the Department of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies Suzanne Rutland Holocaust denial is “denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II.”

The posters, which ask its readers whether the ‘official version really happened’, would therefore almost certainly fit into the category of Holocaust denial.

The man was confronted by both reporters of this article, before being forced to leave by the Fascist Free USyd movement and reported to USyd Campus Security and the Jewish Board of Deputies.



The man is seen here, stapling material to an Eastern Avanue noitceboard

This is not the first case of Antisemitism on the University of Sydney campus. Last week, swastika stickers distributed by Australian neo-Nazi group, Antipodean Resistance were found on campus.

Pulp contacted the Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS):

“Now is a time to raise awareness and ensure the memories of 6 million Jewish and other victims at the hands of the Nazi regime will never be forgotten so humanity can never let this happen again. For their memories to be denied is a deep insult on the dignity of Jewish students on campus. AUJS thanks Pulp Media for their exposure on this continually evolving story and joining us in holding the individual(s) responsible to account", said AUJS National Political Affairs Director Ariel Zohar.

Vic Alhadeff, chief executive of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, which represents the Jewish community, commented: “The irony of this individual posting these flyers on campus is that he endorses the point that the film Denial makes so powerfully – that there are people out there who attempt to deny the truth of the Holocaust and to persuade the world of their perverted version of history. We applaud the university security team for acting so swiftly to remove the flyers and we commend the vigilant USyd students who encouraged this individual to leave the campus. In the meantime, we urge everyone to see the movie and judge for yourselves.”