Tilly
2006-12-26 00:55:50 UTC
*She speaks of him with cool detachment. How did they meet? "I was working
for a property company and renting his flat in Duke Street," she explains.
"Big mistake." She isn't laughing.*............
*Does she share any of his theories? "Of course not. They are laughable. He
doesn't mind that I think that, though. He likes the game." *
*Will she stay with him? "He would have to show a great change in
attitude."*
Irving's girlfriend is left homeless and bitter
By Neil Tweedie
Last Updated: 1:34am GMT 24/02/2006
Bente Hogh surveys the enormous living room of the £6,000-a-month flat in
Queen Anne's Gate that will soon cease to be her home.
"It was foolish of him to rent it - we can't possibly afford it - but he's
like that," she says. "He saw it and thought it would be fun."
It is not easy being the consort of David Irving, the internationally
reviled author, Hitler apologist, Holocaust denier and new recruit to the
Austrian prison system.
Miss Hogh, Irving's partner of 14 years and the mother of his 12-year-old
daughter Jessica, is not only broke but about to be made homeless.
Within weeks, she will be forced to leave the flat, situated in one of the
most expensive streets in central London. Blue plaques record that
Palmerston, the great Victorian prime minister, and Sir Edward Grey, the
foreign secretary who took Britain to war in August 1914, lived in Queen
Anne's Gate - credentials that will have appealed to Irving's snobbery.
"They'll be taking me to court soon," she adds. "I haven't got the money to
stay.
"It was a stupid, feeblewitted thing to do."
Miss Hogh, 42, the daughter of a Danish dentist, is talking of her partner's
decision to visit Austria on a speaking tour in November last year, despite
being the subject of an arrest warrant issued by that country in 1989.
Irving, 67, was on his way to address a Right-wing student fraternity when
he was arrested.
The warrant followed two speeches during which the now discredited historian
repeated his thesis that the gas chambers at Auschwitz were a fantasy, and
that Hitler had protected the Jews for a period during the war.
As such, they were clear violations of the country's law against Holocaust
denial, introduced in the aftermath of the Second World War.
Irving's twin brother Nicholas, a retired civil servant, and older brother
John, a retired RAF officer, have both disowned his views, while he is
understood to have seen little in recent years of his daughters by his
Spanish wife Pilar.
She moved back to Spain after their divorce and has also described Irving's
theories as "laughable".
Miss Hogh hopes to stay in London so as not to interrupt her daughter's
education. It was to Jessica that Irving dedicated a verse cited in the
Lipstadt trial as evidence of his racism.
It went: "I am a baby Aryan/ Not Jewish or sectarian/ I have no plans to
marry/ An ape or Rastafarian."
Miss Hogh rules out a return to Denmark. "It's boring," she says. After 14
years with David Irving, a little bit of boredom might seem welcome.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/02/24/nirving24.xml
for a property company and renting his flat in Duke Street," she explains.
"Big mistake." She isn't laughing.*............
*Does she share any of his theories? "Of course not. They are laughable. He
doesn't mind that I think that, though. He likes the game." *
*Will she stay with him? "He would have to show a great change in
attitude."*
Irving's girlfriend is left homeless and bitter
By Neil Tweedie
Last Updated: 1:34am GMT 24/02/2006
Bente Hogh surveys the enormous living room of the £6,000-a-month flat in
Queen Anne's Gate that will soon cease to be her home.
"It was foolish of him to rent it - we can't possibly afford it - but he's
like that," she says. "He saw it and thought it would be fun."
It is not easy being the consort of David Irving, the internationally
reviled author, Hitler apologist, Holocaust denier and new recruit to the
Austrian prison system.
Miss Hogh, Irving's partner of 14 years and the mother of his 12-year-old
daughter Jessica, is not only broke but about to be made homeless.
Within weeks, she will be forced to leave the flat, situated in one of the
most expensive streets in central London. Blue plaques record that
Palmerston, the great Victorian prime minister, and Sir Edward Grey, the
foreign secretary who took Britain to war in August 1914, lived in Queen
Anne's Gate - credentials that will have appealed to Irving's snobbery.
"They'll be taking me to court soon," she adds. "I haven't got the money to
stay.
"It was a stupid, feeblewitted thing to do."
Miss Hogh, 42, the daughter of a Danish dentist, is talking of her partner's
decision to visit Austria on a speaking tour in November last year, despite
being the subject of an arrest warrant issued by that country in 1989.
Irving, 67, was on his way to address a Right-wing student fraternity when
he was arrested.
The warrant followed two speeches during which the now discredited historian
repeated his thesis that the gas chambers at Auschwitz were a fantasy, and
that Hitler had protected the Jews for a period during the war.
As such, they were clear violations of the country's law against Holocaust
denial, introduced in the aftermath of the Second World War.
Irving's twin brother Nicholas, a retired civil servant, and older brother
John, a retired RAF officer, have both disowned his views, while he is
understood to have seen little in recent years of his daughters by his
Spanish wife Pilar.
She moved back to Spain after their divorce and has also described Irving's
theories as "laughable".
Miss Hogh hopes to stay in London so as not to interrupt her daughter's
education. It was to Jessica that Irving dedicated a verse cited in the
Lipstadt trial as evidence of his racism.
It went: "I am a baby Aryan/ Not Jewish or sectarian/ I have no plans to
marry/ An ape or Rastafarian."
Miss Hogh rules out a return to Denmark. "It's boring," she says. After 14
years with David Irving, a little bit of boredom might seem welcome.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/02/24/nirving24.xml
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***@Removethis.gmail.com
***@Removethis.gmail.com