Elderly German Lady sentenced to 10 months in prison for doubting Auschwitz

darkbeaver

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Elderly German Lady sentenced to 10 months in prison for doubting Auschwitz extermination claims

By wmw_admin on November 13, 2015
Michael Hoffman — Revisionist Review Nov 12, 2015



87-year-old Ursula Haverbeck has been sentenced to imprisonment in Germany for doubting that people were “exterminated” by “gassing” in the Nazi concentration camp in Auschwitz.
The defendant, in good spirits, reiterated her doubts in the courtroom. She arrived without a lawyer, and defended herself. Some fifty of her supporters crowded the courtroom and the hall outside.
She was accused of giving an interview to the German magazine Panorama in which she stated that Auschwitz was not an extermination camp but a labor camp. The mass murder of Jews had not taken place, she said.
Haverbeck, former chairwoman of the now-banned freethought association, “Collegium Humanum,” told the judge,”Here, I stand.”
Turning to the prosecutor she asked, “How do you as a lawyer prove the accusation that Auschwitz was an extermination camp?” Her request for a revisionist historian to give evidence that at Auschwitz no one had been gassed, was rejected by Judge Jönsson who stated: “It is futile to argue with people who do not accept the facts.”
The German government prosecutor maintained that the defendant’s “fanatical delusion” had not abated and that, despite her advanced age, Ursula Haverbeck must be sentenced to 10 months in prison without parole. The judge agreed and the sentence was imposed.
In 2009, Haverbeck was fined thousands of dollars in the District Court of Bad Oeynhausen, for having given offense to Charlotte Knobloch, president of the Central Council of Jews.
 

CDNBear

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I completely disagree with imprisoning people for their beliefs on the holocaust. Germany's laws are as moronic as Haverbeck's beliefs.
 

CDNBear

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I wouldn't do it myself, or want it done in America (it isn't), but I got no beef with Germany's law. It's kind of a special case.
I understand why you'd say that. I'd be more inclined to agree, if they weren't putting Mrs Haverbeck in jail, while Deter is lacing up his Doc's. If you get my drift.
 

Tecumsehsbones

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I understand why you'd say that. I'd be more inclined to agree, if they weren't putting Mrs Haverbeck in jail, while Deter is lacing up his Doc's. If you get my drift.
Germany's suite of personal freedoms is comparable to that of Canada or the U.S. (I note that Canada has speech-restriction laws that would not be allowed in the U.S.).

Given that Nazism killed half their male population, destroyed their country, and got the carcass split up into four parts and occupied for half a century, I think a little extra sensitivity on the subject is tolerable.
 

Blackleaf

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I completely disagree with imprisoning people for their beliefs on the holocaust. Germany's laws are as moronic as Haverbeck's beliefs.

You say that, but then you don't live in Europe - especially Germany - a mere seventy years after the end of World War II.
 

Blackleaf

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The Swastika is also illegal in Germany as it still tries to shake off its recent past. Anyone displaying a Swastika in public can be gaoled for three years.
 

Tecumsehsbones

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Yep. When I was in West Berlin I bought a desk and chair at an antique shop. After carefully making sure nobody else was around, the owner offered me a good deal on a 4X6 portrait painting of a young Luftwaffe officer.

Why did he have to be so secretive? Because the Luftwaffe pilot badge on the officer's breast was a pair of wings surmounted by a Hackenkreuz, hence illegal for the shopowner to possess.
 

WLDB

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Oh the irony. Imprisoning someone for their opinion about Nazis. Sounds Nazi-ish.

You say that, but then you don't live in Europe - especially Germany - a mere seventy years after the end of World War II.


Irrelevant. Imprisoning someone for their beliefs is wrong regardless of where it is.
 

darkbeaver

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Germany's suite of personal freedoms is comparable to that of Canada or the U.S. (I note that Canada has speech-restriction laws that would not be allowed in the U.S.).

Given that Nazism killed half their male population, destroyed their country, and got the carcass split up into four parts and occupied for half a century, I think a little extra sensitivity on the subject is tolerable.


A little extra sensitivity with a lot of extra money. The grandchildren of survivors are now demanding compensation for thier trauma. The occupation continues.