Deborah Lipstadt

Deborah Lipstadt was born in New York City on March 18, 1947, to observant Jewish immigrant parents Erwin H. and Miriam Peiman Lipstadt. 

Lipstadt attended a modern-orthodox Zionist school, the Hebrew Institute of Long Island, for elementary and high school, and then studied political science and history at the City College of New York. She also studied in Israel for two years during college.

After her college graduation in 1969, she entered Brandeis University’s Near Eastern and Judaic Studies program and received her Ph.D. in 1976. 

Lipstadt moved to UCLA in 1979 as an Assistant Professor but left in 1985 after being denied tenure. She later directed the Brandeis-Bardin Institute and published Beyond Belief in 1986. Researching Holocaust denial, she held a fellowship at Hebrew University and a part-time teaching position at Occidental College. 

While working as an Associate Professor of Religion at Emory University in 1993, Lipstadt published Denying the Holocaust, for which she received the National Jewish Book Award. In 1994, President Clinton appointed her to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, where she had previously served as a consultant, and she helped establish the Tam Institute for Jewish Studies at Emory. 

In 1995, English author David Irving sues Lipstadt and her British publisher for calling him a Holocaust denier. Under British libel law, she had to prove the truth of her statements. The trial, which lasted five years, exposed Irving's lies, historical distortions, and racism, and in 2000, the British Royal High Court of Justice ruled in Lipstadt's favor, confirming that Irving had deliberately misrepresented historical evidence and was an active Holocaust denier. Lipstadt later authored a book about her experience with the trial, which was turned into a 2016 film called “Denial.”

In 2011, Lipstadt published The Eichmann Trial to mark the 50th anniversary of the prosecution, highlighting the significance of survivor testimony. She further contributed to Jewish studies with Holocaust: An American Understanding, exploring how the term “Holocaust” became embedded in American culture. Lipstadt further addressed the persistent threat of anti-Semitism in her book Antisemitism: Here and Now.

As the 2019-2020 Ina Levine Invitational Scholar at the Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, Dr. Lipstadt developed an online reader for college classrooms on anti-Semitism, focusing on its definition, history, and modern forms.

Lipstadt was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, with the rank of Ambassador on March 30, 2022. As Ambassador, Lipstadt formally announced the “Global Guidelines for Countering Antisemitism” alongside envoys from various European and Latin American countries. Though specifically tasked with combating anti-Semitism globally, Lipstadt has also been a point person for the Biden administration domestically, playing a key role in the development of The U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism. 

Through her extensive research and public engagement, Lipstadt has significantly contributed to the discourse on antisemitism and historical accuracy.

Sources: Deborah Dash Moore, “Deborah Lipstadt,” Jewish Women’s Archive, (June 23, 2021).
“Dr. Deborah Lipstadt,” United States Holocaust Museum.
“Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt,” U.S. Department of State.
Gabby Deutch, “U.S., 30 other nations unveil new ‘global guidelines’ to fight antisemitism,” Jewish Insider, (July 17, 2024)
Clifford Chanin, “A Conversation With U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Deborah Lipstadt,” Council on Foreign Relations, (January 24, 2024).