Posted on 02/15/2007 10:57:59 PM PST by Muentzer2005
A German neo-Nazi publisher was yesterday sentenced to five years in prison for inciting racial hatred and denying that the Nazis murdered six million Jews.
Ernst Zündel, who was extradited from Canada to face trial in Germany in 2005, received the maximum sentence available for the crime of Holocaust denial after being found guilty on 14 counts ...
"You might as well argue that the sun rises in the west, but you cannot change that the Holocaust has been proven," he said, referring to Zündel's work Did Six Million Really Die? The prosecution accused him of using "pseudo-scientific methods" in an attempt to overturn the accepted facts on the Holocaust.
But campaigners for Zündel, 67, said he was a peaceful advocate of the right to free speech who was being denied that right. His supporters filled the courtroom.
At the close of the trial Zündel - who also wrote The Hitler We Loved and Why, and has described Hitler as "a decent and very peaceful man" - asked the court in Mannheim to set up an international commission of historians to explore the Holocaust. He said he wanted "hard facts" and not just witness statements, and that if the commission could prove Jews were gassed he would "hold a press conference at which I would publicly apologise to Jews, Israelis and the world".
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
"...for the crime of Holocaust denial..."
Is this what Germany is about? Jailing people for their thoughts, no matter what they may be? Seems almost like the Nazis never left that country.
He was a permanent resident, not a citizen.
According to Zundel and his wife, he was a naturalized Canadian Citizen. He had applied for US Citizenship.
DECISION ON THE REASONABLENESS OF THE CERTIFICATE
INTRODUCTION
[1] On May 1, 2003, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration and the Solicitor General of Canada (the Ministers) signed a certificate stating that Ernst Zündel, a permanent resident of Canada, is inadmissible on grounds of security, specifically, that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr. Zündel is inadmissible pursuant to sections 33, 34(1)(c), (d), (e) and (f) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, S.C. 2001, c.27 (Immigration Act or IRPA).
In the 1960s Zundel served in the Canadian Military as a medic. He says he was a Conscientious Objector.
I posted a link to the transcripts of the court preceding that removed this whack job from Canada. He was not a citizen, he was never extradited. There is more information at his entry in Wikipedia if your so inclined.
May be. I am not a Zundel supporter. However, this is very strange. Not fifteen minutes ago I was reading the Wikipedia article on Zundel and read a paragraph that stated essentially that (paraphrased a bit, but pretty accurate to what I recall reading)
". . . After an 11 month trial, Zundel's Canadian Citizens ship had been revoked by Justice (?) as having been fradulently obtained . . ." and continued that ". . . his permanent resident status had been forfeited by his prolonged absence from the country."
After I read your comment, I returned to Widipedia to copy the quotation and post it here. I was shocked. That paragraph, has now been changed to read:
"Despite having lived in Canada for over forty years prior to moving to the United States, Zündel had never been able to obtain Canadian citizenship. Applications for citizenship were rejected by the government in 1966 and again in 1994 for reasons that have never been publicly disclosed.[1] So, upon his return to Canada, he had no status in the country as he was not a citizen and as his landed immmigrant status had been forfeited by his prolonged absence from the country."
Eerie... Other major changes, additions and deletions, were made in the Wikipedia article in that short time.
Which was the accurate information? I have no idea. Zundel claimed he had Canadian Citizenship and even served as a CO in the Canadian military in the 60s. My understanding is that the Canadian government revoked his Citizenship and that is what the article said... before being revised, almost literally before my eyes. In that it can be edited by both supporters and opponents, it is had to know.
Late addition: I just found a link to the "Zundelsite" where I found this "After more than four decades in Canada, including a failed effort to acquire Canadian citizenship, he moved to the United States , where in January 2000 he married Ingrid Rimland." So it looks like that is the truth. The other is propaganda. Thanks, Free me.
I am still concerned about the issues of Free Speech... To quote a saying attributed to Voltaire (that he didn't say, it was actually said by Evelyn Beatrice Hall under the pseudonym S[tephen] G. Tallentyre in a 1906 book "The Friends of Voltaire") "I disapprove of what you say, but I will fight to the death to defend your right to say it."
Then I will ridicule Zundel's idiotic opinions to death.
Ah, the old "dueling wikipedia syndrome" strikes again,as you said, it's the nature of the beast.
I don't agree with Germany's version of free speech either, I just have a tendency to point out errors when I see them.
I did not mean to imply you supported this nut nor to take away from the remainder of your post.
I can't believe what my pupils read this morning.
Today freedom of speech and uttering the truth is a crime; tomorrow our very thoughts will be punished as well as a crime.
And then people wonder what's wrong with Europe, the USA and the rest of the Western world.
"Nazism, WWII and the Holocaust have been by far Germany's worst moment in their history.
WWII worst moment was the killing of tens of millions of people, 90% of which were Christians - 25 millions of which were Russians.
How many times does it have to be explained to people that the Holocaust began with speech, with demonizing Jews in print, which is why Julius Streicher, the infamous publisher of the Nazi propaganda paper Dur Sturmer was convicted at Nuremberg. Certain European countries have laws in place to punish Holocaust denial for a very valid reason. Why do some people immediately jump in to defend scum like Ernst Zundel??
What the media and the government "scientists" want:
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