JG
Mr Justice Charles Gray (1942–2025), trial judge. Appointed to the High Court bench in 1998 after a distinguished career as a libel silk and Recorder. Delivered the 350-page judgment of 11 April 2000 finding for the defendants on the central allegation of historiographical falsification.
Where they spoke
| Day | Date | Turns | First line | Chapters spoken in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 01 | 11 Jan | 54 | L0001 | Court overcrowding and the trial-structure disputeIrving's opening statementRampton's opening statementAdjournment and scheduling |
| Day 02 | 12 Jan | 304 | L0001 | Three film exhibits introducedProcedural negotiation: when does Auschwitz come?Irving is swornEvidence-in-chief: defence of historical methodAfter lunch: completing the case-in-chiefCross-examination begins |
| Day 03 | 13 Jan | 247 | L0001 | Irving brings the Bletchley intercepts to courtRampton resumes cross-examination — translation disputesIrving's historical methodErrors and misrepresentations in 'Hitler's War'The 'deliberate distortion' chargeFrank, Himmler, and the 'Keine Liquidierung' noteFrank's Kraków speech and Wisliceny's interrogation |
| Day 04 | 17 Jan | 280 | L0001 | Witness-credibility proceduralThe Goebbels diaries in Moscow — provenance and transcriptionThe Jäger reportLocal initiative vs central coordinationThe 1992 fax and the Obergefreite Till POW interceptReading from 'Hitler's War' — the 'extract the Jews' passageTrevor-Roper's Table Talk + Hitler's direct awarenessAdjournment |
| Day 05 | 18 Jan | 284 | L0001 | Procedural openingHitler's coded private language about the JewsThe Bruns interrogation revisited; Himmler DienstkalenderAfternoon session opens — the Reinhard campsTransport capacity arithmeticThe 'we do not know what happens to them' problemAdjournment |
| Day 06 | 19 Jan | 196 | L0001 | Procedural opening + Browning report on Rademacher'Vergasungsapparate' and 'Unterkünfte' — German terminologyIrving admits gas trucks; denies Hitler ordered themTurner to Wolf — camp outside Belgrade + Yugoslav gassingsGreiser letter, Turner letter — what did Irving know whenAuschwitz killings — datingHimmler's speech — 'I was the one who took the decision'Afternoon: tampering allegation + Sonthofen drafts vs transcriptsHow Irving represents Hitler-ordered-Himmler in his bookThe Schlegelberger note |
| Day 07 | 20 Jan | 338 | L0001 | Procedural opening + Schlegelberger continuationProfessor Cameron Watt — examined by IrvingCross-examination resumes — Longerich on Jews in FranceHimmler's note + the 'special camps' counter-argumentLegal argument — adding 'negligence' to 'deceit'The Zundel trial 1988 + the Leuchter foundationAfternoon — Leuchter, chemical vs historical analysisWhat Leuchter actually established — chemical vs historicalIrving's private Canadian speech — Auschwitz as 'cardinal tent pole'Speaking-engagement denial passages'Spurious survivors' after the 1989 Auschwitz records release |
| Day 08 | 24 Jan | 322 | L0001 | Procedural openingRampton on Irving's published reparations/Israel writingInaccuracies in the Leuchter ReportBeer's and Roth's critiques of LeuchterCyanide concentration thresholdsCyanide on the ventilation grates — Cracow forensic laboratoryAfternoon: Reinhard camps + Irving's morning thesisIncineration capacityGas-tight doors with peepholes + Bischoff supply correspondenceDocument authenticity challengeEyewitness reliability — the Hirst caseIrving's access to and knowledge of Auschwitz evidence |
| Day 09 | 25 Jan | 257 | L0001 | Procedural openingVan Pelt's evidence-in-chief (Rampton examining)Irving cross-examines van Pelt — morning sessionIrving cross-examines van Pelt — afternoon session |
| Day 10 | 26 Jan | 312 | L0001 | Procedural openingKrematorium II photographsThe 'roof holes' argumentOlère drawings + the survivor witness thresholdThe Bimko / Polivoy / Tauber lineupThe Tauber reportZyklon-B truck deliveriesAfternoon: Mulka and the driving permitsZyklon-after-delousing arithmeticArchitectural drawings and the computer modelTopf correspondence on prewarmingAir-raid-shelter codes + bottleneck arithmeticDeborah Dwork + which Auschwitz archives van Pelt used |
| Day 11 | 28 Jan | 323 | L0001 | Van Pelt continues — blueprint walkthroughBlueprints and door alterationsVentilation of the gas chambersWartime economy qualification + first Allied air raidPhotographic evidence — Auschwitz aerial printsHydrogen cyanide release mechanism + roof modificationsRampton re-examines van PeltClosing exchange on the gas chamber mechanism |
| Day 12 | 31 Jan | 237 | L0001 | Professor Kevin McDonald — closingCross-examination resumes — translation accusationsGoring and the 'kosher grocery store' anecdoteHitler's response to the Kristallnacht mobChain of commandTelex scope + Wiedemann/hearsay + economic ramificationsTimeline for future hearings |
| Day 13 | 1 Feb | 290 | L0001 | Procedural opening + brief van Pelt continuationReichskristallnacht — Heydrich telex sequenceGoebbels's meeting with Hitler after ReichskristallnachtParty Court judgments + Hitler's involvementPivot to Dresden — Tagesbefehl 47Irving's changing opinion on Dresden source reliabilityDr Funfack as Dresden source — credibilityFunfack and the Red Cross visitTheo Müller's memory questionedDresden in 'Hitler's War' — the 18,375 figure |
| Day 14 | 2 Feb | 245 | L0001 | Procedural opening + residual bundle organisationAlmeyer file + the Müller letterPivot to racism — Irving's diary and private statementsMore racist material from Irving's diaryNational Alliance + Tampa speechIrving's response to protestorsThe Wiesenthal anecdote + Dr Weiss reference in 'Goebbels' |
| Day 15 | 3 Feb | 127 | L0001 | Procedural openingRacism material continued + the Clarendon Club speechPeter Millar examined by IrvingMillar cross-examined by RamptonIrving recalled — the Russian archives sequencePlate-damage risk + 'no self-respecting historian' framingClosing proceedings |
| Day 16 | 7 Feb | 246 | L0001 | Sir John Keegan cross-examined by IrvingCourt proceedingsChristopher Browning — evidence-in-chiefHitler/Himmler ordering of Polish ethnic cleansingEinsatzgruppen reports — expulsion vs mass killingAbsence of 'gassing' references in documents and interceptsSecurity classifications + British intelligence summary'Well-provisioned' Jews interceptAfternoon — authorisation for shooting transport-loads |
| Day 17 | 8 Feb | 288 | L0001 | Browning Day 2 opens — stolen property + Operation ReinhardtOpen scholarship + Mommsen / Broszat 'functionalist' traditionThe Kommissar Order + the July 1941 Lublin meetingEichmann's character — 'banality of evil' framingChełmno gas-truck logistics + the Weidenfeld 'park them in the marshlands' Hitler quoteRegular reports to Hitler + August 1941 Einsatzgruppen circularAfternoon: Yad Vashem + 'decisions' vs 'order' Eichmann's prison conditions + Wannsee detailGöring → Heydrich + Westerman 14 September 1942 reportGerstein's testimonyRampton re-examines Browning |
| Day 18 | 10 Feb | 314 | L0001 | Procedural openingRichard Evans sworn — defence's most damaging historian witnessEvans's use of Irving's diariesIrving's racism + photos of his racially-diverse staffArchive access + 'international Jewish conspiracy' lineAfternoon — Evans's report methodologyIrving's new-document discoveries + David Abraham comparison |
| Day 19 | 14 Feb | 302 | L0001 | Procedural opening + Evans recalledEvans on the definition of Holocaust denialIrving's alleged links to antisemites + Hitler's adjutantsThe Hitler diaries detour + the Hamburg/Rumanian-Jews photographContinued document-by-document examinationAfternoon session |
| Day 20 | 15 Feb | 330 | L0001 | Procedural opening — Evans day 3Auschwitz authenticity + Irving's 1986 Australia press-conference quoteAllied propaganda — Churchill's 1943 'we have no evidence' minuteAnne Frank diary authenticityHöss memoirs + Irving's Leuchter-preface 'swindled' framingIrving's antisemitism defenceAfternoon — Kristallnacht discussion with EvansIrving's relationship with prominent Holocaust deniers'Straightening out' the IHR + selective Bruns readingSydnor on Irving's admiration of HitlerHofmann's role in Hitler's 1924 trial |
| Day 21 | 16 Feb | 269 | L0001 | Procedural opening — Evans day 4Bruckner adjutant statementColonel Nicolaus von Below — Hitler's Luftwaffe adjutantOther nationwide programmes against Jews in GermanyEberstein telegram + the chain of Kristallnacht ordersGoebbels Old Town Hall speech as evidence Hitler initiated KristallnachtWitness schedulingUlrich von Hassell diary + Hess's appeal to HitlerHitler intervening on behalf of the Jewish populationHimmler-Heydrich 30 November 1941 phone log |
| Day 22 | 17 Feb | 331 | L0001 | Procedural opening — Evans day 5 (final day of cross-exam)Insufficient source references in Irving's workIngrid Weckert + Reichskristallnacht death-tollThe Riga shootings — number killedProcedural concerns + Evans's scholarship critiqueAfternoon — completion of Evans cross-examinationClose + setup for next sequence |
| Day 23 | 21 Feb | 381 | L0001 | Procedural openingEvans recalled — Weckert credibility + Goebbels diaryGoebbels–Hitler relationship + 'pushing at an open door'Hitler's 25 January 1942 Table Talk — 'pulling teeth'Secrecy in the Third Reich + Horthy 16-17 April 1943 meetingAfternoon — the Engel diaryChrista Schroeder + the 1991 'Warsaw uprising' editRome October 1943 — deportation of the JewsRibbentrop's knowledge + Rampton re-examines EvansEvans re-examined by Rampton |
| Day 24 | 23 Feb | 269 | L0002 | Procedural opening + Rampton's three preliminary mattersPeter Longerich sworn — defence's third historian witnessTranslation of 'Vernichtung' and 'Ausrotten''Ausrottung' in Hitler's speechesLongerich's glossary — Nazi euphemisms for murderProscription of 'liquidierung'; 'Umsiedlung' as deportation'Vernichtung' in Clausewitz + Robert LeyHitler's and Nazi leaders' antisemitism + MadagascarAfternoon — was the German attack on the Soviets preventive?Reliability of the Ordnungspolizei decodes |
| Day 25 | 24 Feb | 332 | L0001 | Procedural openingLongerich recalled — IfZ manuscripts + Karl WolffCrematoria for disease vs exterminationSecondary sources + Bach-Zelewski war crimesEyewitness accounts + Hitler's knowledgeMüller letter — Hitler's awareness, 'Frühjahr' translationAfternoon — Wolff document administrative detailHistorical knowledge of the Final SolutionRosenberg press conference + 'Ausmerzung'Timing of the Final Solution |
| Day 26 | 28 Feb | 321 | L0001 | Procedural opening + Longerich's corrections from previous dayLongerich: prior-day correction on Himmler 30 November 1941 phone call'Vernichtung durch Arbeit'Rampton cross-examines LongerichAltemeyer/Bruns correspondenceIrving's submissions + concerns |
| Day 27 | 29 Feb | 332 | L0002 | Procedural opening + Hajo Funke sworn'The Kühnen crew' + Irving's documented far-right contacts |
| Day 28 | 1 Mar | 338 | L0001 | Procedural opening — Funke day 2Kühnen / Veterans of HalleNPD + Gottfried Küssel — extensive documented contactsIrving's 'no mass murder with poison gas' claimFootnote on 'Arbeit Macht Frei' + the 1991 Leuchter CongressHitler's-birthday dinner party with AlthansVideo evidence — Funke on Irving's death-camps statement |
| Day 29 | 2 Mar | 268 | L0001 | Procedural opening — Funke day 3 closes; Irving recalledRampton on 'telephone box' gas chambers + WieselNational Alliance — letter on NA paper addressed to Irving[Scrape gap — tarball-only continuation] |
| Day 30 | 13 Mar | 107 | L0001 | Procedural opening + closing-arguments preparation |
| Day 31 | 14 Mar | 87 | L0001 | Procedural opening + closing-arguments preparation |
| Day 32 | 15 Mar | 168 | L0001 | Day 31 fallout and procedural setupRampton's closing argument (read from the prepared statement)Irving's closing argumentAdjournment for judgment |