I haven't given much thought to Holocaust-denier David Irving since July, when I covered his appearance at the Phoenix diner Jerry's. There he spoke to a group including local neo-Nazis such as Harry Hughes, J.T. Ready, and Jesse Curnow, as well as Mexican-flag-burning lesbian nativist Laine Lawless. Though the event was meant to be secret, it was successfully protested by cluster of Phoenix anarchist, led by the activist "Ghost."
Anyway, Irving's been on the road again in the U.S., this time on the East Coast, and the tour has been even more troubled than the Western leg this summer. As has been admirably reported on by my colleague Thomas Francis of our sister paper Broward-Palm Beach New Times, Irving's October 26 lecture at a Ritz-Carlton there was the occasion of a stabbing between two attendees Christopher Nachtman and John Kopko. You can read Francis' most recent report on the assault, here.
Even more intriguing has been the recent hacking of David Irving's e-mail account by anti-racist activists seeking info on his New York appearance. The hackers posted a treasure trove of info on the site WikiLeaks, everything from Irving's credit card accounts and cell phone number to private correspondence and his full e-mail contact list. The list includes e-mail addresses for Arizona Irving admirers Laine Lawless and Harry Hughes.
One of the more interesting back and forths in the e-mails posted is between a clearly frustrated Antas and querulous, fussy Irving. At one point declares to Antas that "I love you far more than Kevin ever will," Kevin apparently being someone else in Irving's employ. But other than that, their discussions are argumentative, with Antas threatening to abandon the 71 year-old geezer.
The following is an example of their contretemps. On November 7, Antas writes:
The so-called "unhelpful and hostile" messages were things that need to be said. I don't like the way you have been treating me.
You asked for more advance notice if I wanted to flounce out- I am considering it. You were very well behaved on this whole tour up until this past week when you have been snotty, rude, and disrespectful towards me. This is exactly the same way you behaved last summer and the very reason I flounced out then.
I don't care if you are frustrated, angry, stressed out, tired, or whatever-treating anybody the way you have been treating me is unacceptable. I bend over backwards to help you out on this tour, doing jobs that last year you would have done yourself, and not just making bookings, but also doing things like driving, helping you secure funds to reprint books and locating second-hand books. The only thanks I usually get are long whines about how something isn't exactly perfect.
Why would anybody in the world want to work with or even be friends with someone who is acting the way you have been acting lately? You like to say you treat me better than anyone else does, but the truth is, lately you have treated me worse than anyone else ever has. It hurts my feelings, it makes me angry and resentful, and it makes me question whether or not I should be doing this job anymore.
The same day, Irving replies, quoting another piece of Antas' correspondence to him about hanging out with a pal of hers:
In a message dated 7.11.09 9:30:41 a.m, [Antas] writes:
"Why did you tell me last night you would be fine with me spending the evening with my friend if you knew we were going to have to leave immediately after the function to go to Richmond?"
[Irving] I have and had no idea where your friend lives. Is this the shooter friend? You do not always tell me your plans in detail. We can change things around. So far your friends do not seem to me to be worth much upheaval however. You probably think the same about mine. As for your more unhelpful and hostile messages: "Get over it." I have been working since 6 a.m. this morning trying to catch up and plug holes you have left, e.g., by not bothering to inform me the Sala Thai no longer exists.
And so it goes, like some scene out of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. In another e-mail, Irving confides of Antas that, "She will have a very tough time in life if she leaps onto her high horse every time she is corrected by her elders and betters." It's actually included in an e-mail to Antas, as if he's making sure that she will see it.
In an e-mail to "Kevin," Irving describes being interviewed by a journalist from The Houston Chronicle, who wonders about Antas' presence.
"Toward the end of the interview," he reports, "she becomes fascinated with the blonde bombshell sitting at my right, who as usual consistently but sometimes even helpfully puts her oar in to our interview. I [emphasize] that there is nothing going on between us."
There's some other interesting stuff in the e-mails, like how Irving makes notations beside the names of potential attendees at his lectures, noting those who might be Jewish with an "ACHTUNG" by their names. Also, there's a disturbing e-mail from a U.S. Air Force colonel in Alabama asking if Irving would like to speak at Air War College in Montgomery, which is located on the Maxwell Air Force Base. Yikes. Hope someone higher up in chain of command sees that one.
In other e-mails, Irving comes across as a haunted, hunted, self-pitying man, always on the lookout for infiltrators, demonstrators and Jews. At one point, in a fit of generosity, he gives all of the money in his pocket to a homeless African-American woman. Elsewhere, he seems to be drowning in depression and weariness.
"The words fatigue, exhaustion, creep into mind all evening," he types one evening in a chilly hotel. "Before I fall asleep in this well-furnished refrigerator...
Not that I have a lot of sympathy for this Adolf Hitler bootlicker, but his misery makes for amusing reading.
