Defying powerful adversaries, the Institute's impact continues to grow.
While media coverage of the IHR and its work is still overwhelmingly hostile,
the Institute and historical revisionism have been receiving more routine
and widespread attention.
For example, millions of Americans were introduced to the IHR through the
March 20, 1994, broadcast of CBS's "60 Minutes," one of the country's
most widely viewed television shows. Our Journal was also introduced,
and the front cover of the Nov.-Dec. 1993 issue was shown on screen.
The IHR is frequently cited in newspapers and magazines, including Time,
Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, and the Los
Angeles Times. Institute spokesmen have made numerous radio and television
appearances. The IHR is now grudgingly accepted as an established part
of America's social-cultural landscape.
As George Orwell aptly noted in his classic Nineteen Eighty-Four:
"Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present
controls the past."
Bitter experience has taught us just how little we can trust politicians
and governments, especially during wartime when official and semi-official
propagandists are most busy deceiving the public. As the eminent American
historian Harry Elmer Barnes put it: "Truth is always the first war
casualty. The emotional disturbances and distortions in historical writing
are greatest in wartime."
Because of this, Americans have been misled into one costly, devastating,
and needless war after another. During the 1991 Gulf War, for example,
government officials and much of the media lied and deceived the American
people to justify the needless slaughter and devastation of that conflict.
As shrewd observers have long understood, history is written by the victors.
This is particularly true with regard to the history of the Second World
War. The origins and nature of that catastrophic conflict are routinely
portrayed as a simplistic struggle between good and evil, in a childish
and emotion-charged way.
Powerful interests -- including politicians and the major media -- distort
the historical record for self-serving reasons. Textbooks, motion pictures
and television routinely present history in a slanted and partisan way.
Artificially maintaining the hatreds and passions of the past prevents
genuine reconciliation and lasting peace. As Dr. Harry Elmer Barnes emphasized,
historical revisionism is the key to just and lasting peace.
In seeking to replace deceitful and emotion-charged portrayals with truth
and fact, the IHR promotes historical awareness, understanding and mutual
respect among nations. An awareness of real history provides understanding
about the great issues of the present and the future.
The work of the IHR in "blasting the historical blackout" is
all the more relevant and timely in this final decade of the twentieth
century, as the political-economic order imposed by the victorious powers
of the Second World War dramatically collapses -- and along with it a distorted
and one-sided historical perspective.
In a world so saturated with historical lies and self-serving propaganda,
the Institute for Historical Review stands as a precious beacon.
The Institute is sometimes denounced as an anti-Jewish or racist "hate
group." This is a baseless smear.
Since its founding, the IHR has steadfastly opposed bigotry of all kinds
in its efforts to promote greater public understanding of history. It does
not seek to whitewash any past regime or rehabilitate any ideology. The
IHR is proud of the backing it has earned from people of the most diverse
racial and ethnic backgrounds (including Jewish).
In fact, the IHR itself has been a target of real hate groups such as the
Jewish Defense League, an organization the FBI has characterized as criminal
and terrorist.
Following numerous death threats by telephone and mail, extensive property
damage, five relatively minor fire bombings, one drive-by shooting and
two physical assaults, the IHR's office-warehouse was destroyed in an arson
attack on July 4, 1984. Estimated property loss was more than $400,000,
including tens of thousands of books, rare documents, irreplaceable files
and expensive office equipment.
In addition, well-financed special interest groups seeking to curtail open
discussion of vital historical issues have for years targeted the Institute,
grossly misrepresenting its work and purpose. Prominent among these are
the Simon Wiesenthal Center (Los Angeles) and the Anti-Defamation League
of B'nai B'rith (New York) --- stridently partisan organizations with well
documented records as staunch apologists for narrow Zionist-Jewish interests.
Along with the Institute's growing impact has come, inevitably, ever more
furious attacks from intolerant adversaries. Such desperate and mean-spirited
opposition is actually a sign of the IHR's growing effectiveness.
A major task of the Institute is the publication of solid works of historiography.
The IHR brings long-neglected revisionist classics back into print, and
breaks fresh ground with professionally edited and attractively designed
first editions of important new works.
Numerous college and university educators have assigned IHR books as required
reading in their courses. Most IHR books can be found in major libraries
around the world. Several IHR titles have been translated into foreign
languages. One title alone has sold more than 50,000 copies worldwide.
IHR titles include:
In addition to its own titles, the IHR distributes scores of worthwhile books issued by other publishers. More than a hundred solidly researched books and dozens of compelling audio and video tapes are listed and described in the IHR annual catalog.
The Institute's Journal of Historical Review, says best-selling
British historian David Irving, "has an astounding record of fearlessly
shattering the icons of those vested interests who hate and fear the truth.
That is why I strongly endorse it, and suggest that every intelligent man
and woman in America, Britain and the dominions subscribe."
The Journal of Historical Review appears six times yearly in an
attractive, handsomely illustrated 48-page magazine format. More than 55
issues have appeared since it first began publication in 1980.
It is the leading periodical of its kind in the world. University libraries,
academic centers, individual scholars and discerning lay readers around
the world subscribe. The Journal is a member of the Conference of
Historical Journals.
Distinguished historians, educators and other academics are members of
the Journal's Editorial Advisory Committee. Journal contributors
have included respected scholars from around the world.
A Journal reader typically has a keen interest in understanding
how and why the world has become what it is today. He is fed up with recycled
wartime propaganda being passed off as "history." He is tired
of socially destructive lies and bigotry. He wants a sane and healthy future
for himself, his family and his country, indeed for all humanity, and realized
that it can only be achieved through an understanding of history and the
world based on truth and reality.
Since 1979, the IHR has held twelve conferences, presenting speakers from Europe, Asia, and Australia, as well as the United States. IHR conference speakers have included:
The educational work of the IHR also includes outreach through its Media
Project. Project director Bradley Smith has appeared on more than 400 radio
talk shows, reaching an audience estimated in the millions.
Hundreds of thousands of leaflets from our popular introductory series
have been sold and distributed. An IHR speakers' bureau makes speakers
available for meetings.
2/95