Holocaust denier David Irving (image wikimedia commons)
On April 22nd 1983 the West German magazine Stern published excerpts of what it then claimed were excerpts fro Adolf Hitlers personal diaries. A claim that if true would have provided both historians and psychologists another insight into the mind of the worlds most evil man. The eminent British historian Hugh Trevor Roper was bought in to help verify their authenticity and he promptly declared in The Times newspaper that:
I am now satisfied that the documents are authentic; that the history of their wanderings since 1945 is true; and that the standard accounts of Hitler's writing habits, of his personality and, even, perhaps, of some public events, may in consequence have to be revised.
He was wrong of course and we now know they were fakes, created by Konrad Kujau who ended up serving time but died back in 2000.
You would think that people would be weary of buying stuff like that, except not it would seem. On March 24th the Jewish Chronicle reported:
Television executives said paying £3,000 was justified on scientific grounds.
The hair will be tested on the channel “Dead Famous DNA” programme which will be broadcast this week.
A Channel 4 spokesman said: “We wanted to obtain a sample of Hitler's DNA because scientific analysis of it could provide a key biological component to one of the most significant biographies in history.
“The programme makes clear David Irving’s views and his denial of the Holocaust. However, we believe the potential importance of the scientific and historical insight justified the purchase of the sample.”
There is one problem though. It was fake as the Chronicle reported yesterday:
The sample of Hitler’s hair which Channel 4 paid Holocaust denier David Irving more than £3,000 for, has been revealed as a fake.
The Channel bought the sample for its documentary series Dead Famous DNA, but said tests had shown it was not authentic.
In a report in the Radio Times, David Glover, Channel 4’s head of specialist factual programming, said it was not clear if Mr Irving had known the hair was not Hitler's.
"Whether he knew what he was selling was fake or not, we don’t know,” Mr Glover said.
“He may have sold it in good faith, but what we can say is all the evidence suggests that the hair he claimed was Adolf Hitler’s, our DNA science strongly suggests it wasn’t.”
The channel said it has not asked Mr Iriving to return its money.
The Channel bought the sample for its documentary series Dead Famous DNA, but said tests had shown it was not authentic.
In a report in the Radio Times, David Glover, Channel 4’s head of specialist factual programming, said it was not clear if Mr Irving had known the hair was not Hitler's.
"Whether he knew what he was selling was fake or not, we don’t know,” Mr Glover said.
“He may have sold it in good faith, but what we can say is all the evidence suggests that the hair he claimed was Adolf Hitler’s, our DNA science strongly suggests it wasn’t.”
The channel said it has not asked Mr Iriving to return its money.
Perhaps they should have checked it's veracity in the first place, after all someone who tries to claim the Holocaust never happened must be so trustworthy.
Not.
Not.
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