COMMENTS
609
by Faurisson about "the rumor of Auschwitz," which concluded :
"The non-existence of the 'gas chambers' is good news for poor
humanity, good news that one should no longer keep concealed."
The article unleashed heated debates, especially in the press. At the
University of Lyon, it led to classroom disruptions and Faurisson
was suspended from his teaching post. At the time, a petition was
circulated and signed by a number of North American scholars, in–
cluding Noam Chomsky and Alfred Lilienthal, demanding that
everything be done "to ensure his safety and the free exercise of his
legal rights ."·
In response to the "good news" announced by Faurisson,
LICRA and MRAP jointly brought suit against him in February,
1979, under Article 382 of the French Civil Code, dealing with civil
responsibility. The trial was not intended to impose censorship , nor
was the court asked to rule on the question of historical truth (about
what is true or false and who is right or wrong). Rather, the question
involved the historian's civil responsibility for the social conse–
quences that ensue from ignoring or distorting documents in one's
writing. When the case came to trial inJune, 1981, Robert Badinter,
a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, introduced the case by saying
that Faurisson had "failed in all his duties" and was being prosecuted
for his methods, his omissions, and the blatant distortions which
bore consequences and had repercussions for which he was civilly
responsible . In his closing summation, Badinter argued : "Freedom
of speech indeed, but freedom is closely related to responsibility ."
The issue, in other words, was that Faurisson should not be able to
invoke the privilege of free speech for lies that he uttered, especially
when these have social consequences. But the specific legal argu–
ments for such a trial testing the civil responsibility of a (revisionist)
historian are just one aspect of this story. My personal interest lies in
addressing some broader meanings in these events .
As preparation for this trial , Faurisson wrote a book entitled
Memoire·· in Defense
-
Against Those who Accuse Me ofFalsifying History–
The Question of the Gas Chambers,
and this was issued in 1980 by the
libertarian publishing house La Vieille Taupe. (Pierre Guilaume ,
·See Serge Thion,
Virite historiqUl! ou virite politiqUl!? le dossier de l'affaire Faun·sson. La
question des chambres
Ii
gaz.
(Paris: La Vieille Taupe, 1980), p. 163 .
• •
Memoire
has several meanings, including memory , memorial, dissertation , report,
and in the legal sense, an abstract to the case, and hence is left in the French .
