Poetic Justice (Bernard Lewis)

Bernard Lewis, Professor of Oriental studies at Princeton University, has been nailed by a French court for denying the “genocide” of—the Armenians.

Last May when Professor Arthur Butz, author of The Hoax of the Twentieth Century, was to give a “fireside” talk to Northwestern University students, Lewis happened to be on campus to speak on “Traditional Methods of Propaganda in the Middle East.” In a 10 May article in The Daily Northwestern it is reported that Professor Lewis opposed Butz’s fireside. Butz's talk was canceled at the last minute while that of Lewis went off as scheduled.

So it warms the heart to imagine Professor Lewis in a Paris court being lectured by Armenian lawyers and a French judge on the sins of rewriting history. Did the trials of French revisionist Robert Faurisson prick at the conscience of the Princeton professor? How about his little run in with Professor Butz at Northwestern? I do not believe that even Princeton historians are unable to note the irony is such a turn of events.

“Chicago Tribune,” 22 June 95 (Chicago Tribune, 22 June 95) France fines Briton for genocide denial PARIS—A court Wednesday found British historian Bernard Lewis guilty of violating French law for having denied that Armenians were victims of genocide in Ottoman Turkey early in this century. Lewis, a professor of Oriental studies at Princeton University, was ordered to pay $2,062 to the Forum of French Armenian Associations, assessed symbolic damages of 1 franc (20 cents) and all court costs. Lewis also was ordered to publish the court ruling in the daily Le Monde and warned that he risked further judicial action if he repeats his denial on French soil. The forum went to court in December, accusing Lewis, a leading Western scholar of Turkey, of defamation by denying in a 1993 newspaper interview that up to 1.5 million Armenians were exterminated in 1915-23. Turkey repeatedly has denied genocide charges. W512 From Tribune Wires