Nazi Apologist Finds His Works in Austrian Prison

Austria's authorities were facing acute embarrassment yesterday after it emerged that the controversial historian David Irving had discovered two of his books inside the prison where he was held last month. Irving stumbled across copies of Hitler's War and Schlacht im Eismeer (Battle in the Arctic Sea) while browsing through the 6,400-volume library of Graz's prison, where he was taken after his arrest three weeks ago.

A delighted Irving asked warders if he could sign his own works. They agreed. Irving then wrote the following dedication: "Hi - I'm the unknown prisoner. I send my greetings to all the other unknown prisoners in this house."

Yesterday Josef Adam, the head of Graz prison, told the Guardian he had no idea how the works of a leading Nazi apologist had ended up on his shelves. "It's incredible. I've looked at the index cards. His books have only been taken out four or five times over the past 20 years. Most of our prisoners prefer reading thrillers or encyclopedias. They like the pictures." The library had withdrawn the books from circulation, Mr Adam said.

Irving, who is barred from Austria, was detained near Graz after slipping into the country to address a meeting of rightwing students. He faces charges of denying the Holocaust. After spending a week on remand in Graz Irving was transferred to a prison in Vienna. The book found in the library, Hitler's War, makes clear Irving's discredited view that Hitler knew little or nothing about the murder of Jews. His two books were published in the 1980s.