(JTA) — Holocaust denier David Irving called Auschwitz a ‘Disney-style’ tourist site while defending his own tour of Nazi sites.
Irving is scheduled to lead a tour to important Nazi sites, including Hitler’s headquarters and the Treblinka death camp, the British Daily Mail reported over the weekend. The trip is fully booked with British and American tourists, he told the newspaper. The trip, scheduled for the end of September, is billed as an "unforgettable journey" for ”real history buffs" the Daily Mail reported.
In an interview with the newspaper, Irving criticized Polish authorities for turning Auschwitz into a "money-making machine," and accused them of building fake watchtowers. He said other death camps have been neglected because they are not as "marketable" and "don’t have a Holiday Inn down the road."
Irving’s trip will be under strict observation of Polish authorities, Britain’s Polish Embassy told the newspaper.
"For Holocaust survivors, the planned visit by David Irving to the sites of the Treblinka death camp and the Warsaw Ghetto is a deliberate act of hate and contempt by this notorious racist," said Elan Steinberg, vice president of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants. "His tour is an insult to all victims of Nazi brutality, Jew and non-Jew."
Irving was jailed for Holocaust denial in Austria in 2006 for a 1989 speech in which he said there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
