Officials at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum have declared that Holocaust revisionist David Irving will not be permitted to give tours on the site, but will still be allowed to visit on his own.

Museum spokesperson Bartosz Bartyzel told PAP that if Irving showed up at the former camp, he would be closely monitored by representatives of the museum, who would “take appropriate action,” at any sign of Holocaust denial.

“We can not allow statements that harm the memory of the victims,” Mr Bartyzel said.

Mr Irving arrived in Poland on Monday with an unspecified number of people who will follow him this week on a tour of Holocaust sites throughout the country.

The tour is set to take in the former Treblinka death camp, which Mr Irving has said remained “genuine” in comparison to Auschwitz, which he says has been transformed into a “Disney-style tourist attraction.”

The itinerary of the tour is being kept secret “for security reasons,” but Polish anti-racist associations and the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) have said they will be following it closely.

Mr Irving, who has rejected the label of Holocaust denier, told the UK’s Daily Telegraph that he would “set the record straight.”

“I am baffled by the reaction I’ve had in Poland because they should be very grateful that I am here,” he told the daily.

“Here I am lecturing to the revisionists and setting the record straight. I am saying to those who believe that not a hair was harmed on the head of the Jewish community that you couldn’t be more wrong,” he added.