Irving said Hitler was not 'immoral' but was let down by lesser people in the Nazi regime, according to an undercover report by Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
'Hitler could be very cruel but he was not immoral. He was just surrounded by 'little' people,' the paper said Irving told those on a £1,500-a-head tour he has been hosting.
Irving, who was once jailed in Austria for denying the Holocaust, also told tourists that the German dictator should be compared to Hannibal, the leader of Carthage that fought against and who almost overpowered Rome.
The historian said: 'He was like Hannibal. He held the military forces of the rest of the world for six years. Exactly like Hannibal, but nobody has never denied the greatness of Hannibal.
'Hitler was a great man, one of the greatest Europeans for centuries.'
He added: 'The Gestapo were fabulous policemen. They sent 300,000 to Auschwitz and 800,000 to Treblinka.'
His comments will be studied closely by Polish authorities and are sure to infuriate Holocaust survivors.
Irving led 11 people from Britain, America, Germany, and Australia around Hitler’s Polish Wolf’s Lair headquarters, where he described German officer Claus von Stauffenberg, who tried to assassinate the Fuhrer as a 'traitor'.
And the behaviour of Irving’s guests on the tour has raised eyebrows locally, reports the Italian undercover team.
During one private dinner after a visit to the death camps one guest called out to cheers and laughter: 'What a terrible smell. It’s like a gas chamber.'
Critics have slammed the trip around Hitler’s headquarters and the notorious Treblinka death camp referring to it as 'Nazi Travel'." (source)
