Group Disputing the Holocaust Cancels Conference

A 3-day international conference of the Institute for Historical Review, an organization that claims the holocaust did not occur, has been canceled this weekend at the Red Lion Inn in Costa Mesa.

The announcement followed complaints by the national leader of the Jewish Defense League and an Orange County Christian group, Concerned Christians Against Anti-Semitism.

Irv Rubin, national chairman of the militant JDL in Los Angeles, said he had threatened to organize a boycott against the hotel and to place demonstrators inside and outside. He also said Jewish groups and newspapers agreed to call the hotel and “apply pressure in that regard. If it worked, it worked beautifully,” he said.

“We can only think they bowed to pressure,” said Tom O’Keefe, journal editor for the Costa Mesa-based institute, which publishes literature such as “The Hoax of the 20th Century” and “Hitler Was My Friend.” He said the conference would be rescheduled at another, unspecified hotel.

‘A Mutual Decision’

Steve Giblin, executive vice president of Red Lion Hotels & Inns in Vancouver, said the Institute agreed to cancel the conference, but he denied that the hotel received any ultimatums from the JDL.

“It was a mutual decision between the general manager of the hotel and the person running the meeting,” Giblin said. “We made a business decision and we canceled due to scheduling conflicts.”

Giblin said the hotel had been unaware of and does not endorse the philosophy of the Institute. He said they received two or three phone calls regarding the group.

Representatives of the Jewish Federation and the Anti-Defamation League disagreed with the position of the JDL. Although they abhor the institute’s tenets, they uphold its right to free speech, they said.

The JDL will hold a press conference today to dispute the institute’s contentions, Rubin said.

“America could see a very serious wave of Jew hatred like never before,” said Barry Greenspan, a member of the Orange County chapter of the JDL. “I don’t think mainstream Jewish organizations have the means to prevent it. JDL does.”

Christian Event Canceled

Frank Eiklor, a leader of Concerned Christians Against Anti-Semitism, said he called off a demonstration of Christians at the hotel Saturday after hearing from hotel management that the conference had been canceled.

“I think they realized a confrontation was really brewing,” Eiklor said.

“If we find out these people are meeting in a reputable place, we’ll blow the whistle,” he said. “I want people to know there is no room for hate in our town. We will not allow the same signals and lies that preceded the holocaust to happen again.”

The Institute for Historical Review has held eight annual conferences, the last two in Orange County hotels without major incident, said Tom Marcellus, institute director. About 180 people from around the world were scheduled to hear speakers on such topics as “The Genesis of Rumors of Gassing at Auschwitz” and “The CIA and the Making of History.”

After fire destroyed the institute’s Torrance headquarters, it relocated in January, 1986, to a 2,000-square-foot office and warehouse in Costa Mesa, Marcellus said. The institute has no membership but has a mailing list of 60,000, he said.