News Release
March 24, 2005
More than 500 prominent historians and other scholars have now signed the petition protesting C-SPAN’s plan to broadcast a lecture by Holocaust-denier David Irving on its program “Book TV.”
The latest signatories include such prominent scholars as New Republic editor-in-chief Dr. Martin Peretz, Harvard Law School Prof. Alan Dershowitz, and Dr. Michael Walzer; Eric Foner, Simon Schama, and Istvan Deak, of Columbia; David Brion Davis, Harold Bloom, and Paul Kennedy of Yale; Charles Maier and Richard Pipes of Harvard; and Robert Dallek of Boston University.
* Pulitzer prize winners David Levering Lewis, Jack Rakove, and Lloyd Schwartz;
* Media notables Marvin Kalb and Ben Stein;
* Holocaust scholars Randolph Braham, Daniel Goldhagen, and Omer Bartov;
* Leading Jewish historians Jonathan Sarna, Yosef Yerushalmi, Robert Chazan, and Deborah Dash Moore
* Bard College president Leon Botstein and University of Bridgeport president emeritus Richard L. Rubenstein.
as well as historians from England, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Israel, and Japan.
Another 331 scholars signed the petition this week, following on the heels of 203 historians who signed it last week. The petition was organized by the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, which publishes the only annual report on Holocaust-denial around the world.
C-SPAN officials claimed earlier this month that the broadcast of Irving would be needed to “balance” its planned broadcast of a speech by Holocaust historian Prof. Deborah Lipstadt. (Lipstadt subsequently withdrew her permission for C-SPAN to broadcast her lecture, to protest C-SPAN’s plan to give Irving a platform. As a matter of principle, Lipstadt refuses to debate Holocaust-deniers.) C-SPAN’s Book TV executive producer Connie Doebele said: “You know how important fairness and balance is at C-SPAN. We work very, very hard at this. We ask ourselves, ‘Is there an opposing view of this?’ ” (Washington Post, March 15, 2005)
Wyman Institute director Dr. Rafael Medoff strongly disagreed with Doebele, saying: “The Holocaust is not a topic with ‘opposing views.’ It is a historical fact. Giving a platform to a Holocaust-denier to ‘balance’ a Holocaust historian is as outrageous as giving a platform to the Flat Earth Society to balance a speech by an astronomer. Like any responsible news outlet, C-SPAN should not broadcast speeches or statements it knows to be false.”
The signatories on the first installment of the Wyman Institute petition, which was sent to C-SPAN on March 17, included some of the most noted historians of the Holocaust, such as Christopher Browning, Richard Breitman, Deborah Dwork, Ronald Zweig, and David S. Wyman. (For a list of those initial 203 signatories, please go to www.WymanInstitute.org)
The text of the letter and the complete list of 331 signatories on the second petition follow:
March 24, 2005
Connie Doebele, Executive Producer
Book TV
C-SPAN 2
booktv@c-span.org
Dear Ms. Doebele:
As historians and social scientists, we strongly oppose your reported decision to broadcast a lecture by Holocaust-denier David Irving, to “balance” your intended broadcast of a lecture by Holocaust historian Prof. Deborah Lipstadt.
We support Prof. Lipstadt’s refusal to participate in this project. Falsifiers of history cannot “balance” historians. Falsehoods cannot “balance” the truth. Justice Charles Gray of the British Royal High Court of Justice, in his verdict on April 11, 2000 dismissing Irving’s libel suit against Prof. Lipstadt, concluded that Irving “is antisemitic and racist” and ruled: “Irving has for his own ideological reasons persistently and deliberately misrepresented and manipulated historical evidence.”
Just a few weeks ago, we concluded Black History Month. Presumably C-SPAN did not consider broadcasting a program about Black history that would be “balanced” by a program featuring someone denying that African-Americans were enslaved. C-SPAN should not broadcast statements that it knows to be false, nor provide a platform for falsifiers of history, whether about the Holocaust, African-American history, or any other subject.
A recent report by the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies found that Holocaust-denial is a real and growing problem, and continues to be actively promoted in Europe, the Middle East, and elsewhere, and in some cases enjoys government sponsorship. If C-SPAN broadcasts a lecture by David Irving, it will provide publicity and legitimacy to Holocaust-denial, which is nothing more than a mask for anti-Jewish bigotry.
We strongly urge you to cancel your planned broadcast of the Irving lecture, and to proceed with your original plan to broadcast a lecture by Prof. Lipstadt.
Sincerely,
Prof. Richard M. Abrams
Associate Dean, International & Area Studies
University of California, Berkeley
Prof. Robert H. Abzug
University of Texas at Austin
Prof. Evelyn Bernette Ackerman
City University of New York
Prof. Douglas Allen
University of Maine
Prof. Alex Alvarez
Northern Arizona University
Prof. Joyce Antler
Brandeis University
Prof. Albert Arking
Johns Hopkins University
Dr. Leon Aron
Director of Russian Studies
American Enterprise Institute
Prof. Abraham Ascher
Graduate Center, CUNY (emer.)
Prof. Sidney Aster
University of Toronto at Mississauga
Prof. Bob Bain
University of Michigan
Prof. Ellen Baker
Columbia University
Dr. Zachary Baker
Stanford University
Prof. David L. Balch
Brite Divinity School
Prof. Henri J. Barkey
Chair, Dept. of International Relations
Lehigh University
Prof. Thomas G. Barnes
University of California, Berkeley
Prof. John H. Baron
Tulane University
Prof. Omer Bartov
Brown University
Prof. Judy Baumel
Chair, Interdisciplinary Graduate Program
Bar Ilan University
Dr. Edward S. Beck
Director, Susquehanna Institute
Dr. Gustav Beck
New York University (emer.)
Prof. Ronald Beiner
University of Toronto
Prof. Joel Beinin
Stanford University
Prof. Charles Bellinger
Texas Christian University
Prof. Ruth Ben-Ghiat
New York University
Prof. Thomas Bender
New York University
Prof. Sarah Bunin Benor
Hebrew Union College
Prof. David Berger
Brooklyn College & CUNY Graduate Center
Prof. Carol Berkin
Baruch College & CUNY Graduate Center
Prof. Sandra J. Berkowitz
University of Maine
Prof. David E. Bernstein
George Mason University
Prof. Arthur Bierman
City College – CUNY
Prof. David Blackbourn
Harvard University
Prof. Casey N. Blake
Columbia University
Prof. Alan A. Bloom
Yeshiva University
Prof. Harold Bloom
Yale University
Prof. Ruth H. Bloch
University of California, Los Angeles
Prof. David R. Blumenthal
Emory University
Prof. David Borwein
University of Western Ontario
Prof. Mary C. Boys
Union Theological Seminary
Prof. Randolph L. Braham
CUNY Graduate Center
Prof. Aurel Braun
University of Toronto, Canada
Prof. Jeffrey Brooks
Johns Hopkins University
Prof. Jerry H. Brookshire
Middle Tennessee State University
Prof. Joshua Brown
Director, American Social History Project
CUNY Graduate Center
C. Beth Burch, Professor
Binghamton University, SUNY
Paul-William Burch, Research Assistant Professor
Binghamton University, SUNY
Prof. Steven L. Burg
Brandeis University
Prof. Andrew Bush
Vassar College
Prof. Peter M. Buzanski
San Jose State University (emer.)
Dr. Caroline Bynum
Institute for Advanced Study
Dr. Jane Caplan
Fellow of St Antony’s College, Oxford
Prof. Cathie Carmichael
University of East Anglia (England)
Prof. Gerard E. Caspary
University of California, Berkeley (emer.)
Prof. Peter Catapano
New York City College of New York (CUNY)
Prof. Frank Chalk
Co-Director, Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies
Concordia University
Prof. Myrna Chase
Dean Arts and Sciences
Baruch College, CUNY
Prof. Robert Chazan
New York University
Dr. Phyllis Chesler
City University of New York (emer.)
Baruch Cohen
Research Chairman
Canadian Institute for Jewish Reseach
Prof. Lizabeth Cohen
Harvard University
Prof. Alon Confino
University of Virginia
Prof. John Connelly
University of California, Berkeley
Prof. Stanley Corngold
Princeton University
Dr. April Crabtree
Fulbright Scholar, Akademia Pedagogiczna (Krakow, Poland)
Prof. Kenneth Cracknell
Texas Christian University
Prof. David M. Crowe
Elon University
Prof. Robert Dallek
Boston University
Prof. Herbert A. Davidson
University of California, Los Angeles
Dr. Michael R. Davidson
Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
Prof. Belinda Davis
Rutgers University
Prof. David Brion Davis
Yale University (emer.)
Founder of Yale’s Gilder Lehrman Center for the
Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition
Prof. Istvan Deak
Columbia University
Dr. Angela Delli Sante
Latin American Institute, Free University of Berlin
Prof. Philip J. Deloria
University of Michigan
Prof. Alan Dershowitz
Harvard Law School
Prof. Michael N. Dobkowski
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Prof. Wendy Doniger
University of Chicago
Prof. James S. Donnelly, Jr.
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Jacqueline Douek
Assistant Director
Canadian Institute for Jewish Research
Dr. Laura Lee Downs
Directeur d’études, Centre de Recherches Historiques
Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, France
Dr. Leonard M. Druyan
Columbia University
Dr. Jonathan Ebel
Texas Christian University
Prof. Shimon Edelman
Cornell University
Prof. Rachel L. Einwohner
Purdue University
Prof. Geoff Eley
Chair, Department of German, Dutch, and Scandinavian Studies
University of Michigan
Prof. Todd M. Endelman
University of Michigan
Prof. Robert Entenmann
St. Olaf College
Prof. Gary Epstein
California Polytechnic State University (emer.)
Prof. Edna Erez
Kent State University
Prof. Andrew V. Ettin
Wake Forest University
Prof. G. Evans
University of Ottawa
Prof. T. M. S. Evens
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Prof. Andreas Exenberger
University of Innsbruck, Austria
Prof. Eli Faber
CUNY-John Jay College
Prof. Paula S. Fass
University of California, Berkeley
Prof. David H. Feldman
College of William and Mary
Prof. David Finkelstein
University of Chicago
Dr. Jonathan C. Finkelstein
Associate Dean and Judaic Studies Director
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Prof. Kaja Finkler
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Dr. Willard Allen Fletcher
University of Delaware (emer.)
Founding member, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council
Prof. Ronald B. Flowers
Texas Christian University
Prof. Eric Foner
Columbia University
Prof. Eckart Förster
Johns Hopkins University
Prof. Stig Förster
University of Bern, Switzerland
Prof. Paul Freedman
Yale University
Prof. Robert O. Freedman
Baltimore Hebrew University
and Johns Hopkins University
Prof. Amy Fried
University of Maine
Prof. Lewis Fried
Kent State University
Dr. Allon Friedman
Indiana University
Prof. Natalie Friedman
Vassar College
Prof. Richard A. Friedman
Columbia University
Dr. Robert A. Friedman
Trustee, Baruch College
Prof. Daniel Gasman
John Jay College and CUNY Graduate Center
Prof. Haim Genizi
Bar Ilan University
Prof. Mark T. Gilderhus
Texas Christian University
Prof. Sharon Gillerman
Hebrew Union College
Prof. W. Clark Gilpin
University of Chicago
Dr. Jay Gitlin
Yale University
Prof. Harvey Glickman
Haverford College (emer.)
Prof. Robert Goldenberg
Stony Brook University
Prof. Daniel Jonah Goldhagen
Harvard University
Prof. Dena Goodman
University of MIchigan
Prof. Rebecca Gould
Middlebury College
Prof. Patrick Greaney
University of Colorado
Prof. Deborah A. Green
University of Oregon
Professor Gershon Greenberg
American University
Prof. Robert Griffith
American University
Prof. Carol Groneman
John Jay College & CUNY Graduate Center
Prof. Jerome Groopman
Harvard University
Prof. Atina Grossmann
Cooper Union
Prof. Werner Gundersheimer
Williams College
Director Emeritus, Folger Shakespeare Library
Prof. Louis Haas
Middle Tennessee State University
Prof. Mark von Hagen
Columbia University
Prof. Peter Hayes
Northwestern University
Prof .Elyce Rae Helford
Middle Tennessee State University
Prof. David M. Henkin
University of California, Berkeley
Prof. Laura Hirshbein
University of Michigan
Prof. Martha Hodes
New York University
Prof. Stanley Hoffmann
Harvard University
Prof. Amy Hollywood
University of Chicago
Prof. Philip M. Hosay
Director, Multinational Institute of American Studies
New York University
Prof. Martha Howell
Columbia University
Prof. Henry R. Huttenbach
City College of New York
Editor in Chief, Journal of Genocide Research
Prof. Yuji Ishida
University of Tokyo
Prof. Kali Israel
University of Michigan
Prof. Gerald N. Izenberg
Washington University in St. Louis
Dr. Steven Leonard Jacobs
University of Alabama
Prof. Esther Jacobson-Tepfer
University of Oregon
Prof. Katherine L. Jansen
Catholic University of America
Prof. Martin Jay
University of California, Berkeley
Prof. Peter Jelavich
Johns Hopkins University
Prof. Robert David Johnson
Brooklyn College and CUNY Graduate Center
Prof. Jacob Judd
Lehman College, CUNY (emer.)
Prof. Pieter M. Judson
Chair, History Dept., Swarthmore College
Editor, Austrian History Yearbook
Marvin Kalb
Shorenstein Center
Harvard University
Prof. Edward S. Kaplan
New York City College of Technology – CUNY
Prof. Lawrence S. Kaplan
Kent State University (emer.)
Prof. Matthew Kapstein
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris,
and University of Chicago
Prof. Ellis Katz
Temple University (emer.)
Prof. Stanley N. Katz
Director, Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies
Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University
Prof. Mary Fainsod Katzenstein
Cornell University
Prof. Ira Katznelson
Columbia University
Prof. Arie E. Kaufman
Stony Brook University (SUNY)
Prof. Alice Kelikian
Brandeis University
Prof. Paul Kennedy
Yale University
Prof. Anatoly M. Khazanov
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Prof. Jonathan Kirshner
Cornell University
Prof. John Kirton
University of Toronto
Prof. Ira Klein
American University
Prof. Neil Kodesh
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Prof. Amy Koehlinger
Florida State University
Prof. David Thomas Konig
Washington University in St. Louis
Prof. Geoffrey Koziol
University of California, Berkeley
Prof. Frederick Krantz
Concordia University
Director, Canadian Institute of Jewish Research
Prof. Ian Krantz
University of Pennsylvania
Prof. Lenore Krantz
John Abbott College, Montreal (emer.)
Dr. Alan M. Kraut
American University
Prof. Joseph Kushick
Amherst College
Prof. Marilyn Massler Kushick
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Prof. Thomas W. Laqueur
University of California, Berkeley
Dr. Michael A. Ledeen
Resident Scholar
American Enterprise Institute
Prof. Timothy S. Lee
Texas Christian University
Prof. Mel Leffler
University of Virginia
Prof. Ralph Lerner
University of Chicago (emer.)
Prof. Jon D. Levenson
Harvard University
Prof. David Levering Lewis
New York University
Prof. Gerard J. Libaridian
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Prof. Laura Lieber
Middlebury College
Prof. Julia E. Liss
Scripps College
Prof. Martin Lockshin
Director, Centre for Jewish Studies
York University
Prof. Kenneth M. Ludmerer
Washington University in St. Louis
Prof. Roderick MacFarquhar
Harvard University
Prof. Kevin Madigan
Harvard University Divinity School
Prof. Charles S. Maier
Harvard University
Prof. Erik C. Maiershofer
Hope International University
Prof. Harold Marcuse
University of California, Santa Barbara
Prof. Irving Leonard Markovitz
Queens College & CUNY Graduate Center
Prof. Richard G. Marks
Washington and Lee University
Prof. Sarah Melcher
Co-Director of Ethics/Religion and Society
Xavier University
Prof. Michael Meranze
University of California, San Diego
Dr. Johnny Miles
Texas Christian University
Prof. Jeffrey Mirel
University of Michigan
Prof. Michele M. Moody-Adams
Director, Program on Ethics and Public Life
Cornell University
Prof. Deborah Dash Moore
Director of Jewish Studies, Vassar College
Prof. Gordon R. Mork
Purdue University
Prof. Don Morris
California Polytechnic State University
Prof. Samuel Moyn
Columbia University
Prof. Jerry Z. Muller
Catholic University of America
Prof. David N. Myers
Director, Center for Jewish Studies
University of California, Los Angeles
Prof. David Nasaw
CUNY Graduate Center
Prof. Herman N. Eisen
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (emer.)
Dr. W. David Nelson
Texas Christian University
Prof. Philip Nord
Princeton University
Prof. Lon R. Nuell
Middlee Tennessee State University
Prof. Josef Nussbaumer
University of Innsbruck, Austria
Prof. Padraic O’Hare
Director, Center for the Study of Jewish-Christian Relations
Merrimack College
Prof. Zsuzsanna Ozsvath
University of Texas at Dallas
Prof. Tudor Parfitt
University of London
Prof. Peter Parides
New York City College of Technology – CUNY
Dr. John T. Pawlikowski
Catholic Theological Union
Prof. Robert O. Paxton
Department of History, Columbia University (emer.)
Prof. Susan Pedersen
Columbia University
Prof. Leo G. Perdue
Texas Christian University
Dr. Martin Peretz
Harvard University (emer.)
Editor-in-Chief, The New Republic
Prof. Martin S. Pernick
University of Michigan
Prof. Holly Peters-Golden
University of Michigan
Prof. Christopher Phelps
Ohio State University at Mansfield
Prof. Steven Pinker
Harvard University
Prof. Richard Pipes
Harvard University (emer.)
Prof. Antony Polonsky
Brandeis University
Prof. Daniel Pope
University of Oregon
Prof. Gregory B. Pope
Florida International University
Prof. Brian Porter
University of Michigan
Prof. Elena G. Procario-Foley
Iona College
Prof. Theodore K. Rabb
Princeton University
Prof. Mark A. Raider
Chair, Department of Judaic Studies
University at Albany, State University of New York
Prof. Jack N. Rakove
Stanford University
Prof. Jonathan Rhodes
Harvard University
Prof. Eugene F. Rice, Jr.
Columbia University (emer.)
Prof. Norrin M. Ripsman
Concordia University
Prof. Ira Robinson
Concordia University
Prof. Adam Rome
Pennsylvania State University
Prof. Alvin H. Rosenfeld
Indiana University
Prof .Richard Rosengarten
University of Chicago Divinity School
Prof. David Rosner
Columbia University
Prof. Dorothy Ross
Johns Hopkins University
Prof. Sheldon Rothblatt
University of California, Berkeley (emer.)
Prof. David J. Rothman
Columbia University
Prof. Sheila M. Rothman
Columbia University
Prof. Jeffrey Rubenstein
New York University
Prof. Emanuel Rubin
University of Massachusetts
Prof. Miri Rubin
Queen Mary – University of London
Prof. Murray A. Rubinstein
Baruch College – CUNY
Prof. Nancy E. Rupprecht
Middle Tennessee State University
Prof. Yona Sabar
University of California, Los Angeles
Prof. Ann L. Saltzman
Co-Director, Center for Holocaust/Genocide Study
Drew University
Prof. Philip Carl Salzman
McGill University
Prof. Jonathan Sarna
Brandeis University
Prof. Simon Schama
Columbia University
Prof. Lawrence H. Schiffman
New York University
Prof. Daryl Schmidt
Chair, Dept. of Religion
Texas Christian University
Dr. Israel Scheffler
Brandeis University
Prof. Robert A. Schneider
Catholic University of America
Prof. Joshua Schwartz
Dean, Faculty of Jewish Studies
Bar-Ilan University
Prof. Lloyd Schwartz
University of Massachusetts, Boston
Prof. Susan E. Shapiro
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Prof. Adam Shear
University of Pittsburgh
Prof. Harvey Shulman
Principal, Liberal Arts College
Concordia University
Prof. Labron K. Shuman
Delaware County Community College
Prof. Phillip Silver
University of Maine
Prof. Harvey G. Simmons
York University (emer.)
Prof. Laura Slatkin
New York University
Prof. J.W. Smit
Columbia University
Prof. Pamela H. Smith
Pomona College
Prof. David Sorkin
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Prof. Michael Stanislawski
Columbia University
Prof. Peter Stansky
Stanford University (emer.)
Ben Stein
Beverly Hills, CA
Prof. Judith Stein
CUNY Graduate Center and City College
Prof. Leon Stein
Roosevelt University
Education Director, Holocaust Memorial
Foundation of Illinois
Prof. Gerald M. Steinberg
Bar Ilan University
Prof. Jonathan Steinberg
University of Pennsylvania
Prof. Theodore L. Steinberg
SUNY Fredonia
Prof. Nancy Leys Stepan
Columbia University
Prof. Josef Stern
University of Chicago
Prof. Robert J. Sternberg
Yale University
Prof. Ken Stevens
Texas Christian University
Prof. Gisela Striker
Harvard University
Prof. Linda K. Strodtman
University of Michigan
Prof. William Strongin
SUNY at New Paltz
Prof. Charles B. Strozie
John Jay College and UNY Graduate Center
Prof. Marvin Swartz
University of Massachusetts/Amherst
Prof. Marcy L. Tanter
Tarleton State University
Prof. Jeffrey H. Tigay
University of Pennsylvania
Prof. Elizabeth H. Tobin
Bates College
Prof. Stephen Tootle
University of Northern Colorado
Prof. Martin Trow
University of California, Berkeley
Prof. Sharon Ullman
Bryn Mawr College
Prof. Sanford J. Ungar
President, Goucher College
Prof. Jeffrey Veidlinger
Indiana University
Prof. Martha Vicinus
University of Michigan
Prof. P.V. Viswanath
Pace University
Prof. Dan Wakefield
Florida International University
Prof. James Wald
Hampshire College
Prof. Daniel J. Walkowitz
Director of College Honors, College of Arts & Science
New York University
Prof. Helena M. Wall
Pomona College
Prof. Ronald G. Walters
Johns Hopkins University
Dr. Michael Walzer
Institute for Advanced Study
Princeton, NJ
Prof. Mary C. Waters
Chair, Sociology Department
Harvard University
Prof. Rachel Weil
Cornell University
Barbi Weinberg
Founding President,
Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Prof. Robert Weinberg
Swarthmore College
Prof. Brian Weinstein
Howard University (emer.)
Prof. Sidney Weintraub
University of Texas at Austin (emer.)
Prof. Judith Weisenfeld
Vassar College
Prof. Robert S. Westman
University of California, San Diego
Prof. Thomas White
Cohen Center for Holocaust Studies
Keene State College
Prof. Cynthia Hyla Whittaker
Chair, Department of History
Baruch College & CUNY Graduate Center
Prof. Ann Wilmer
Salisbury University
Prof. Zipporah Batshaw Wiseman
University of Texas
Prof. Elliot R. Wolfson
New York University
Prof. Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi
Columbia University
Prof. Anthony C. Yu
University of Chicago
Prof. Jonathan R. Zatlin
Boston University
Prof. Froma I. Zeitlin
Princeton University
Prof. Madeleine Zelin
Columbia University
Prof. Zvi Zohar
Bar Ilan University and
Shalom Hartman Institute
Dr. Sheva Zucker
New York University
Prof. Alan S. Zuckerman
Chair, Dept. of Political Science
Brown University
(Institutions listed for identification purposes.)