Denial Page #14

IRVING nods, as if this is just something JAN has to say.

IRVING:

The site of Auschwitz has not

changed very much since the end of

World War 2, apart from the

barracks being torn down and recycled.

Can you explain to the

court, please, why it is that in

the very earliest references to

Auschwitz published by the Russians

after the capture of the camp in

January 1945, there is no reference

whatsoever to the discovery of gas

chambers?

ROBERT JAN:

I would need to see the documents

you refer to.

GRAY:

That’s fair, I think.

IRVING smiles tolerantly at the judge’s interruption.

IRVING:

It is fair, my Lord. Your report

quotes extensively from first-hand

testimony from a man called Tauber.

ROBERT JAN:

Yes. Tauber was a Sonderkommando in

Crematorium Number 2. He helped

with the prisoners, he was in

charge of roll call.

IRVING:

In charge of roll call, yes.

ROBERT JAN:

He was interrogated at the end of

May 1945.

IRVING:

And, in his document, what does

Tauber tell us about the

liquidation procedure?

ROBERT JAN:

The simulation, please.

Full Blue Script // December 4th 2015 6767.

ROBERT JAN looks to the judge, who nods permission. A

computer simulation of the crematorium is now displayed. The

camera moves through the concrete-lined rooms. DEBORAH looks

up to VERA, who is turned away, unable to watch.

ROBERT JAN (CONT’D)

What he describes is the

underground arrangement of the

crematorium. The entrance was

through an undressing room. The

prisoners went into a corridor,

then through a door on the right

into the gas chamber. The door was

closed hermetically by means of

iron bars which were screwed tight.

The roof of the gas chamber was

supported by concrete columns and

wire-mesh pillars.

IRVING:

Professor?

ROBERT JAN pauses the simulation. IRVING gestures towards one

of the photographs, an aerial view of the collapsed roof.

IRVING (CONT’D)

In your simulation that is the roof

we can see on this big photograph

here?

ROBERT JAN:

Yes.

IRVING:

It is that self-same roof?

ROBERT JAN points to his line drawings.

ROBERT JAN:

Yes. Tauber says the sides of these

pillars which went up through the

roof were of heavy wire mesh, like

this.

IRVING frowns as if not understanding.

IRVING:

What does it mean when it says “the

pillars went up through the roof”.

Went up to the roof, presumably?

ROBERT JAN:

Yes, but they popped out above the

roof.

IRVING:

The pillars popped out?

Full Blue Script // December 4th 2015 68.

ROBERT JAN (INDICATING)

The pillars went through a hole in

the roof and the earth which was

assembled on top of the roof, and

then there was a little kind of

chimney on top of that.

IRVING:

What was the purpose of that,

architecturally speaking?

ROBERT JAN:

Because these were hollow pillars

and these were the pillars where

the crystals of Zyklon B were

inserted into the gas chamber.

IRVING gestures to the drawings.

IRVING:

My Lord, you can see the lay out.

You can see the pillars with the

wire mesh columns next to them.

DEBORAH is worried. RAMPTON looks up, also concerned.

IRVING (CONT’D)

You have drawn in those wire mesh

columns have you not? In the

sketches and on the computer?

ROBERT JAN:

One of my students drew them, yes.

IRVING:

Yes but the wire mesh is an

addition, it’s not based on

drawings and blueprints, is it?

ROBERT JAN:

It is based on a drawing made by

the man who actually made these

pillars. Michael Kula. In the camp

workshop. In August 1941, he...

IRVING:

So this hole in the roof, or these

holes in the roof, how many wire

mesh columns were there? Four?

ROBERT JAN:

Four.

IRVING laughs and throws down his documents.

IRVING:

Professor Pelt, we are wasting our

time really, are we not?

(MORE)

Full Blue Script // December 4th 2015 69.

IRVING (CONT'D)

You yourself have stood on that

roof and looked for those holes and

not found them. Our experts have

stood on that roof and not found

them.

IRVING points at the photo of the roof as it is today, just

an overgrown heap of rubble, then turns to GRAY.

IRVING (CONT’D)

My Lord, there are no holes in that

roof. There never were any holes.

Therefore they cannot have poured

cyanide capsules through that roof.

You will appreciate that if there

had been those holes in the roof,

which are the cardinal lynch-pin of

the defence in this action, they

would have been found by now. They

have not found them and all the

eyewitnesses on whom he relies are

therefore exposed as the liars they

are.

DEBORAH has looked up to where REPORTERS in the gallery are

scribbling frantically. VERA is shifting, trying to attract

DEBORAH’S attention. She is scrawling a note to JULIUS: THIS

WILL KILL US IN THE PRESS. IRVING looks to the clock,

victorious.

IRVING (CONT’D)

My Lord, it is four minutes to

four. Unless Mr Rampton wishes to

say something to repair the

damage...

ROBERT JAN:

My Lord, may I respond to this?

GRAY:

You may. But not until tomorrow. We

adjourn for today. Ten-thirty.

Thank you.

95 EXT. HIGH COURT. DAY 95

NETWORK REPORTERS are already facing the camera.

NETWORK REPORTERS (OVERLAPPING)

The Lipstadt trial took an

extraordinary turn in the High

Court today when evidence was

presented which cast doubt on the

idea that Auschwitz was ever used

as an extermination camp. The

historian David Irving

Full Blue Script // December 4th 2015 70.

DEBORAH, JULIUS, HEATHER, LAURA and LIBSON are pouring out of

the court in some disarray. DEBORAH is furious.

JULIUS:

Just walk away. Say nothing.

DEBORAH:

Why did Rampton drop it? Why did he

let it go?

JULIUS:

Deborah, there are journalists.

Keep walking and look straight

ahead.

They walk past ANOTHER REPORTER doing a piece to camera.

ANOTHER REPORTER

Mr Irving was effectively arguing

‘No holes, no holocaust...’

DEBORAH is stony-faced. RAMPTON has appeared beside them.

JULIUS:

Richard, if you could give us some

time...

RAMPTON:

I don’t have long.

JULIUS:

It’s all right, we won’t take long.

We have an unhappy client.

RAMPTON notices as VERA steps into DEBORAH’S path.

VERA:

Deborah, this is disastrous. This

is what I told you. I told you! Why

didn’t you listen?

The group sweeps on, silent.

96 INT. MISHCON DE REYA. STAIRCASE & OFFICES. DAY 96

The group comes up the stairs in moody silence. They sweep

into JULIUS’s office. JULIUS throws down his gown.

JULIUS:

All right, let’s look at this

calmly. There’s no need to panic.

RAMPTON:

Irving pulled a rabbit out of the

hat. He thinks it’s clever. It’s

not clever.

(MORE)

Full Blue Script // December 4th 2015 71.

RAMPTON (CONT'D)

You produce some supposedly

devastating piece of evidence at

five minutes to four.

JULIUS is now reaching for documents and photographs.

JULIUS:

Here we are, look. It’s amateur.

JULIUS is holding out photographs. He and DEBORAH talk over

each other. RAMPTON has sat down in a big armchair.

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