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Lying About Hitler: History, Holocaust and the David Irving Trial Relaciones. Estudios de historia y sociedad ISSN: 0185-3929 [email protected] El Colegio de Michoacán, A.C México Weigand, Phil C. Reseña de "Lying about Hitler: history, holocaust and the David Irving Trial" de Richard J. Evans Relaciones. Estudios de historia y sociedad, vol. XXVIII, núm. 110, 2007, pp. 197-202 El Colegio de Michoacán, A.C Zamora, México Disponible en: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=13711008 Cómo citar el artículo Número completo Sistema de Información Científica Más información del artículo Red de Revistas Científicas de América Latina, el Caribe, España y Portugal Página de la revista en redalyc.org Proyecto académico sin fines de lucro, desarrollado bajo la iniciativa de acceso abierto RESEÑAS Londres, Rutgers University Press, zante nazi, que había falsificado los 1989. datos para probar sus puntos de vista en varios estudios supuestamente Eduardo Zárate Hernández históricos. El Colegio de Michoacán La falsificación y la distorsión en [email protected] las investigaciones y reportajes histó- ricos siempre son asuntos serios. En un escrito sobre la ciencia, R. C. Le- wontin incluyó un párrafo que se pue- RICHARD J. EVANS, LYING ABOUT HITLER: HIS- de aplicar tanto a la historia como a la TORY, HOLOCAUST AND THE DAVID IRVING antropología: TRIAL, NUEVA YORK, BASIC BOOKS, 2001, “La ciencia, de hecho la investiga- 318 P.1 ción en general, es un dominio en el que la integridad del proceso es más En un sentido muy amplio, este es- importante que el valor de cualquier tudio es sobre el carácter de la histo- resultado en particular. Esto no es riografía, y sobre el importante papel una cuestión de una ética a priori, sino que juegan la honestidad y la fideli- realmente de la supervivencia del dad a las fuentes, tanto en la empresa proceso de investigación. Si la ciencia que constituye la investigación de te- no ha de destruirse como una manera mas históricos como en el acto de es- de indagar sobre el mundo, la exigen- cribir la historia. Como tema particu- cia de honestidad debe ser intransi- lar, este libro se enfoca sobre el litigio gente...” (“On Fraud in Science: An que David Irving inició en contra de Exchange”, The New York Review of Deborah Lipstadt. Esta última escri- Books 52(2), p. 48). bió un estudio sobre la negación pos- Si bien estos puntos siempre son terior a la Segunda Guerra Mundial relevantes, cuando la falsificación y la de la existencia y efectos de los cam- distorsión tienen que ver con eventos pos de exterminio nazis (Denying the sociales e históricos importantes se Holocaust: The Growing Assault on vuelven explosivos. Tal es el caso con Truth and Memory, Penguin Books, el exterminio sistemático perpetrado Londres, 1994). Irving inició su caso por los nazis contra los pueblos euro- de difamación en 2000 en la corte ci- peos: judíos, roma y sinti (cfr. Guen- vil de Londres, afirmando que Lips- tadt lo había difamado como negador 1 Reseña traducida por Eduardo Wi- del holocausto, antisemita y simpati- lliams. 197 RESEÑAS ter Lewy, The Nazi Persecution of the contemporáneo, al igual que para el Gypsies, Nueva York, Oxford Univer- público en general, puesto que afec- sity Press, 2000), así como contra tan la confiabilidad de la investiga- los comunistas, los homosexuales y los ción histórica sobre el periodo nazi. El discapacitados mental o físicamente. segundo punto (número 2) es de fun- El juicio de difamación de Irving damental interés metodológico para vs. Lipstadt no consideró si estos even- los historiadores, antropólogos y so- tos tuvieron o no lugar en realidad, ciólogos interesados en alguna área del sino hasta qué punto eran verdad las mundo durante cualquier periodo. caracterizaciones de Irving como fal- Evans inicia su análisis del juicio sificador, deformador de los hechos, con las siguientes preguntas: antisemita y simpatizante de los na- ¿Cómo sería posible distinguir zis. La defensa de Lipstadt sostuvo entre interpretaciones y fantasía, en- correctamente que ella había de he- tre argumento y juicio tendencioso, cho difamado a Irving, y que las acu- entre lecturas imaginativas de las saciones tenían mérito como verdade- fuentes y la flagrante manipulación ras. Richard Evans fue llamado para de las mismas, entre pequeños erro- aprovechar sus conocimientos de ex- res de hechos y distorsiones delibera- perto, demostrados en varios estu- das de los documentos, o entre las dios intitulados In Defense of History omisiones accidentales de materiales (Penguin, 1997) y The Coming of the relevantes y la supresión deliberada Third Reich (última edición, Penguin de evidencia inconveniente? (p. 34). 2004). Se le pidió que analizara mu- En el contexto de estas preguntas, chos trabajos de Irving a la luz de las Evans produjo un detallado análisis acusaciones de Lipstadt. Aunque en (unas 750 páginas) del corpus com- este caso fue contratado por la defen- pleto de obras publicadas por Irving, sa, solamente fue responsable ante la así como transcripciones y grabacio- corte por sus conclusiones. Evans nes de sus conferencias y charlas pú- analizó dos puntos: (1) la negación de blicas. En pocas palabras, el análisis las prácticas nazis de exterminio y la resultó en un aplastante caso contra ideología antisemita en particular, y Irving por manipular y falsificar los (2) el punto general de la honestidad datos, de manera frecuente y con pro- en la historiografía. Los primeros fundidad. Evans pudo demostrar que puntos (número 1), por supuesto, son la razón para las distorsiones y falsifi- de gran interés para todos los histo- caciones que Irving hizo del registro riadores interesados en el escenario histórico fue que él es, como Lipstadt 198 RESEÑAS (y muchos otros) había afirmado, un dores desde años antes: la ideología y acrítico admirador de Hitler y simpa- las preferencias políticas de Irving de- tizante de los nazis. terminaron el contenido de sus escri- Aunque la siguiente cita se refiere tos históricos, más que la información a la Reichskristallnacht, captura el espí- realmente contenida en las fuentes ritu de las conclusiones de Evans so- primarias en sí mismas. El punto de bre la calidad de la historiografía de vista de Irving sobre el pasado era Irving: “él [Irving] se basó en material algo preconcebido y políticamente que resultó contradecir directamente motivado, que se había hecho pasar sus argumentos cuando fue verifica- por investigación histórica verídica, do. Él citó fuentes de una manera que cuando en realidad era poco más que distorsionaba el significado y propó- propaganda de la extrema derecha. sito del autor. Él representó mal la in- En el estudio de Evans se cita el resu- formación y sesgó documentos... igno- men de 350 páginas que el juez Char- ró o deliberadamente ocultó material les Grey hizo del caso iniciado por Ir- cuando contradecía sus argumentos” ving contra Lipstadt, donde aparecen (p. 70). Sobre la “solución final” para las siguientes observaciones sobre la la población judía de Europa, el autor historiografía: dice lo siguiente: “Si bien acepto que un historia- “Los argumentos de Irving de dor tiene derecho a especular, debe que Hitler no conoció o no aprobó las señalar claramente al lector cuando acciones contra los judíos descansan está especulando y no repitiendo he- sobre un número considerable de fal- chos establecidos. Un historiador ob- sificaciones históricas [...] resulta cla- jetivo está obligado a ser imparcial en ro que, tomadas en conjunto, estas re- su aproximación a la evidencia histó- presentan una distorsión sistemática rica; no puede seleccionar sin razones del registro histórico [...] Cuando in- adecuadas... según mi punto de vista, vestigué las afirmaciones y enuncia- los acusados [Lipstadt y Penguin dos de Irving sobre Hitler frente a los Books] han demostrado que Irving documentos originales en los que se tiene una agenda política... la cual supone están basados, su trabajo en puede inferirse que ... le hace mani- este sentido se reveló como una casa pular el registro histórico donde juz- de naipes, un vasto aparato de enga- ga necesario para que éste se adapte a ños y mentiras” (p. 103). sus creencias políticas” (pp. 226-228). La conclusión a la que llegó el jui- De esa manera se pronunció la cor- cio fue la misma de muchos historia- te inglesa sobre una particular contro- 199 RESEÑAS versia histórica e historiográfica. Po- ción descuidada y distorsión frecuen- dría preguntarse si un sistema de cor- temente es difícil de definir. Debemos te civil, en cualquier país, es el ámbito buscar un patrón o patrones que defi- apropiado para tal decisión y la dis- nen una perspectiva particular. Si los cusión de esas controversias. Pero “errores” consistentemente favorecen también podría preguntarse si las cor- un argumento, una perspectiva o una tes civiles, utilizadas de manera apro- persona, entonces puede establecerse piada y ética (o sea excluyendo el un patrón. Posteriormente, hay que hostigamiento), pueden ser el último decidir si se trata de distorsión o de recurso cuando las profesiones no son falsificación, ya que hay diferencias capaces de resolver estos asuntos in- entre las dos. La distorsión parece ser ternamente. Sin embargo, hay que re- mucho más frecuente; un ejemplo es cordar dos cosas: (1) en este caso en el uso de documentos coloniales y et- particular fue Irving quien inició el li- nográficos por William Arens en su tigio, y (2) algo más básico para el libro The Man Eating Myth (Oxford tema general del uso de la historiogra- University Press, Oxford, 1979), don- fía es que la decisión no se refirió a los de frecuentemente aparecen distor- eventos en sí, sino más bien a la ma- siones de fuentes tanto primarias nera en que éstos fueron supuestamen- como secundarias con el fin de apo- te investigados y luego presentados yar su punto de vista de que el cani- al público como si fueran producto de balismo no fue un fenómeno de la hu- una investigación seria.
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