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From: nathanm@hp-pcd.UUCP (nathanm)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Re: Liberty Lobby Lawsuit
Message-ID: <16200009@hpcvre.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 30-Jul-85 18:18:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: hpcvre.16200009
Posted: Tue Jul 30 18:18:00 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 3-Aug-85 03:29:21 EDT
References: <1324@pyuxd.UUCP>
Organization: Hewlett-Packard - Corvallis, OR
Lines: 34
Nf-ID: #R:pyuxd:-132400:hpcvre:16200009:000:1383
Nf-From: hpcvre!nathanm    Jul 30 14:18:00 1985

>
> A judge ordered Liberty Lobby to pay a Holocaust survivor $90,000 as a
> fulfillment of their "outstanding challenge", and apparently they were
> forced by the judge to publicly accept and acknowledge the fact that the
> Holocaust did occur.
> .
> .
> .
> (Could someone elaborate on the sketchy details I acquired?)
> --
> 						Rich Rosen   pyuxd!rlr

Not the Liberty Lobby, actually, but the Institute for Historical
Review (IHR).  IHR is based in Los Angeles and spends its days trying
to discredit the Holocaust in general and the work of the Wiesenthal
Center (also in Los Angeles) in particular.

Based on some of the junk I've read from IHR supporters, the IHR
is not actually trying to disprove the Holocaust, but merely the
widely-held contention that gas chambers were used as part of the
Final Solution.  (Hey, I'm not making this up, just telling you
what I've read!)  The IHR offer was, I suspect, to pay $50,000 to
anyone who could prove the "gas chamber thesis".

Survivor Mel Mermelstein took up the challenge.  The IHR said it
didn't believe him, and Mermelstein sued for something like $17M.
The settlement was $90K, maybe with some punitive stuff added on.
The settlement also included an order for IHR to publicly apologize
to Mermelstein, whom it (and its supporters) slandered badly during
the messy affair.

----------
Nathan Meyers
hplabs!hp-pcd!nathanm