Holocaust Scholar, Hollywood Star Share Connection to Christian Theologian

It seems everything is up for debate these days. For Emory University professor Deborah Lipstadt that's entirely acceptable. Her only caveat is you can't debate the facts.

"Elvis is dead. Slavery happened," she explained in an interview with CBN News. "There are things that happened. You can debate why they happened. You can debate how they happened, but not that they happened. That they happened is a fact."

Lipstadt is the subject of a recently released film, "Denial," which is based on her memoir, History on Trial: My Day in Court With a Holocaust Denier.

English actress Rachel Weisz portrays Lipstadt in the film, bringing to life her years-long legal battle in a British court after an English writer Lipstadt characterized as a Holocaust denier sued her for libel.

Weisz and Lipstadt became friends during the film's production and discovered they shared a connection to an English Christian theologian who helped Weisz's mother and grandmother escape Nazism in Vienna.

"'Do you know the name James Parkes? He was the minister,'" Lipstadt recalled of Weisz's retelling of her family history. "My mouth fell open, and I said, 'Not only do I know the name, but I teach his book!' So she was very touched by that."

The movie is timely, given this week's approved UNESCO "Occupied Palestine" resolution, which denies the Jewish connection to historic holy sites in Jerusalem and the anti-Israel BDS campaign, designed to hurt the Israeli economy.

Lipstadt told CBN News she hopes the film conveys the same message she often shares with her students.

"You can't fight every battle, but there are certain battles that you cannot turn away from."