8 - Sunday, March 30, 1986 - North Shore News Doug Collins © get this straight ¢ EUROPE’S MOST controversial writer and historian will be in town tomorrow. His name is David Irving, who in the early 1960s wrote The Destruction of Dresden and has re- mained in the eye of the literary storm ever since. Dresden was a sensation. The book showed that the rubbing out of what had been one of the most beautiful cities on the continent was unnecessary, and that the loss of civilian life there was even greater than in the atomic attacks on Hiroshima or Nagasaki. Irving is hated by the left wing and has been denounced as a Hitler-lover and an anti-Semite. But he is also one of the most meticulous researchers around. Instead of recycling what others have written, he goes to original saurces. And he leaves academics } and most other writers at the star- ting post. His biggest scoop was the ex- posure of the so-called Hitler diaries as fakes. A couple of years ago the Ger- man magazine Stern startled the world with the ‘trevelation’’ that Hitler’s secret diaries had been found. But. the whole thing was bosh, and some Germans went to jail over it. Among those who were .suckered was the mighty Sunday Times of London. Irving warned them before they ran the Stern series that the diaries were | phoney, but the editors wouldn’t A fresh, glossy paint job will Hours: Mon.-Fri. 8-6 Sat. 40-2 984-4111 Coach: Larry Scott make any car look great again, lengthen its life and increase its resale value. If you've collecied a few dents, or rust, or even a major collision, we can handle it too. And our paint services start at $179.95 listen to him. Hadn't Hugh Trevor-Roper vouched for them? Wasn't he a German scholar and the famous Regius Professor of History at Cambridge? Yes. But he too had been suckered. Did 1 say that Irving was con- troversial? It was an understate- ment. He knows no sacred cows nor any false gods. And it has cost him. Publishers couldn't have dropped some of his books faster if they had been riddled with Aids. An example is his new and critical work on Churchill, which has not yet been published in English. MacMillan & Co. had agreed to take it, but when the venerable Harold MacMillan saw the manuscript he said, ‘‘Over my dead body’’. As a_ publishing chief, former prime minister, and an associate of Churchill, it was too much for him. The American publishers followed suit. As far as I am concerned, neither Irving nor anyone else can tarnish Churchill’s reputation. 1 saw what I saw and heard what | heard. So did you, if you are old enough. It is of course quite possi- ble that irving managed to dig up some choice bits about the old 922-9722 boy, no man being perfect. But | for me and most of my generation Churchill is unassailable. Still, Irving is a digger to be reckoned with. In 1964 he un-- covered the best-kept secret of the war -- the Ultra Secret -- the system under which the British cracked the German codes and kept them cracked for five long years. Messages sent out by the German High Command were decoded immediately in London. At the request of the Intelligence people, Irving agreed not to write the story. Ten years later it leaked out anyway. This author specializes in what might be called the unpublished war, events and aspects that have either been ignored or were not well known. And much of his stuff has been written from the German perspective. Thus he wrote two volumes entitled Hitler's War, and a third called The War Path. Hitler’s’ War caused another flap. In 10 years of searching through the German archives he came across no evidence that Hitler had ordered ‘‘the final solution’’ -- the destruction of ihe Jews. What he had ordered was the removal of Jews from Western Europe to the East. Nor was there any evidence, says Irving, that Hitler knew about the killings. Unlikely though that may sound, he offered a thousand pounds to anyone who could show that his research for the book had been at fault. Many have tried, including some eager academics. But no one has collected. Irving speaks at 7.30 p.m. Mon- day, in the Sandman Inn, 1110 Howe, under the auspices of the B.C. Free Speech League. His subject: The Manipulation of History; admission $10, payable at the door. For reservations call 683-0061. Len Macht e Any make e Free courtesy cars ° Latest equipment 1159 W. 16th St. 980-5423 980-2601 Now you can have a terrific body without pumping the iron. Bring your car or truck to Crash Pad Collision and let us doit foryou. ” Here's what we give you for your dollar: free expert advice, courtesy car, tirst class workmanship and materials, a written guarantee. And yes, we handle ICBC claims and we open at 7 am and we're open Saturdays for your convenience. 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