Historian Deborah Lipstadt spent years researching Holocaust deniers for one of her books, arguing that their racism, anti-Semitism, and prejudice had been disguised as rational discourse. But she never thought she would have to face one of them in court. Her talk tells the incredible story of her six year battle to defend the existence of the Holocaust in a courtroom, and proposes solutions for how to fight for the truth in a new era marked by “alternative facts.”

Dr. Deborah E. Lipstadt is Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish & Holocaust Studies at Emory University in Atlanta. Her most recent book, Holocaust: An American Understanding (Rutgers, 2016) explores how America has understood and interpreted the Holocaust since 1945. Her previous book, The Eichmann Trial (Schocken/Nextbook 2011) published in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Eichmann trial, was called by Publisher’s Weekly, “a penetrating and authoritative dissection of a landmark case and its after effects.”

She has held and currently holds a Presidential appointment to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council (from Presidents Clinton and Obama) and was asked by President George W. Bush to represent the White House at the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. At the US Holocaust Museum Lipstadt chairs the Committee on Antisemitism & State Sponsored Holocaust Denial. She is currently writing a book, The Antisemitic Delusion: Letters to a Student, pub 2018.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx