Dering v Uris and Others

Dering v Uris and Others was a court case for libel heard in London in 1964.

Dr Wladislaw Dering sued the writer Leon Uris over claims made in his novel Exodus that he had been involved in medical experiments in Aushwitz.

The court awarded him damages of one half penny.

The novel and film QB VII are loosely based on this case.

External links

• article

The Auschwitz doctor Wladislaw Dering was libelled in the Leon Uris book, Exodus (published by William Kimber Ltd, London, in June 1959) on page 155: ‘Here in Block X Dr Wirths used women as guinea pigs and Dr Schumann sterilised by castration and X-ray and Clauberg removed ovaries and Dr Dehring [sic] performed 17,000 ‘experiments’ in surgery without anaesthetics.’ Uris had copied his data from Underground by Joseph Tennenbaum. Living at that time in Ealing, London, Dr W A Dering, OBE, sued in defamation. Purnell the printer had capitulated early on, with damages and an apology. The case against Kimber and Uris was concluded in May 1964. The jury awarded Dering a ha’penny in damages, the smallest coin of the realm. Since publisher and author had paid a marginally larger token sum into court, Dering was liable for all the costs from that point; that being the rules of the game. Dering however died leaving Kimber saddled with immense legal costs.