Deborah E. Lipstadt

Deborah Lipstadt is Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies in Emory University’s Tam Institute for Jewish Studies and the Department of Religion in Emory College of Arts and Sciences. Described by the White House as “a renowned scholar of the Holocaust and modern antisemitism,” she is currently on leave from Emory to serve as the United States’ special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, a position in the Department of State with the rank of ambassador.

In 1993, the same year she joined Emory’s faculty, Lipstadt published her award-winning book, Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory, the first full-length study of those who attempt to deny the Holocaust. She ended up making history in her own right when she was sued for libel by David Irving, a Holocaust denier from Britain. The case, which was filed in England and lasted six years, resulted in a 10-week trial, which Lipstadt and her legal team won, proving her accusations against Irving were true.

She documented the trial in her book History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier (2006), and her landmark stand for historic truth inspired the 2016 motion picture “Denial.” Her latest book — Antisemitism: Here and Now (2019) — is an examination of the resurgence of antisemitism across Europe and the U.S.