Case for Auschwitz

Although at times potentially difficult for the lay reader, this book is worth reading for its explanation of how and why Auschwitz became central in the Irving-Lipstadt trial, as well as why the gas chambers have become so important for Holocaust denial. It is a significant contribution to the Holocaust canon.

Readers of this book, which will become the sine qua non of all writing about the Holocaust, should be warned that it describes the gruesome nature of Holocaust history, and the equally gruesome role of those who have sought to deny it.

Fascinating insights into the conduct of the case and the main personalities . . .

The bulk of the book is the methodical and chilling presentation of materials presented at the trial . . . interwoven with Irving's testimony and defense. Van Pelt has arranged an enormous amount of complex material succinctly and to great effect. Read as a whole, the book is a stunning courtroom drama and a vital document of historical evidence. This is an important addition to Holocaust literature and 20th-century history.

The Irving case has done for the new century what the Nuremberg tribunals or the Eichmann trial did for earlier generations.

The newly released paperback version of Van Pelt's definitive 2002 book The Case of Auschwitz: Evidence from the Irving Trial shows that the best defense against malicious efforts to doubt the obvious is exhaustive familiarity with sources coupled with simple logic. . . . These are just two small examples from Van Pelt's massive study, whose overwhelming empirical heft leaves no doubt about Auschwitz's harrowing historicity.