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Title: Haaretz: Questioning holocaust "is tantamount to saying that the Jews have led the world astray"
Source: Haaretz
URL Source: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/686226.html
Published: Feb 23, 2006
Author: Editorial
Post Date: 2006-02-23 12:16:30 by bluegrass
Ping List: *New History*
Keywords: Questioning, tantamount, holocaust
Views: 3963
Comments: 38

A court in Austria this week sentenced British historian David Irving to three years in prison after convicting him of violating the law that forbids denial of the Holocaust.

Irving was convicted by his own admission for two speeches he made in Austria in 1989. He claimed in court that he had changed his opinion since then, and had erred when he stated there had been no gas chambers in Auschwitz.

Several European states and Israel have enacted laws forbidding denial of the Holocaust; Britain and the United States have no such ban.

Irving's sentence raises an argument, which resonates in Israel as well. Some argue that laws forbidding Holocaust denial infringe on the freedom of expression and do nothing to deter the deniers. Others maintain that denying the Holocaust has lessened in recent years, and attribute this, among other things, to the deterring force of the laws forbidding it.

In the West, denial thrives among a lunatic fringe that operates through the Internet. Its effect is marginal, especially because the Holocaust has become a universal code for absolute evil. In many countries it plays a central role in the public, political and moral discourse, and in study programs, museums, films, books and the like. Therefore, it seems that the Holocaust does not need laws forbidding its denial.

In the Muslim world, Holocaust denial serves mainly to nurture hostility toward Israel. Iran's president has jumped on the denial bandwagon and made it his pet theme. His country is planning a world conference of deniers, which is apparently expected to advance Iran's comprehensive war against western culture.

Many Muslims see the denial as a kind of retaliation to the publication of the caricatures against Mohammed. Laws against Holocaust denial in Austria and Israel will deter neither the Iranians nor the Arabs.

Holocaust denial has been prevalent in the Arab states for years. This trend is worrisome, because it is impossible to understand Israel without understanding the Holocaust's central place in creating Israeli identity. And without understanding one's enemy, one cannot make peace with him. Therefore, Arabs who refuse to partake of the denial should be encouraged. These include several prominent Palestinian intellectuals, who even acted a few years ago to cancel a deniers conference planned in Beirut.

Denying the Holocaust should be outlawed because it is a type of racial, anti-Semitic incitement. Claiming the Holocaust did not happen is tantamount to saying that the Jews have led the world astray. Anyone who says that is depriving the Jews of their main argument in their demand that the world protect them, and is abandoning them to their foes.

Denial harms not only Jews. The Holocaust heritage sets a benchmark for universal humane values, and its denial weakens its validity, and legitimizes racism and violations of human rights, which require constant bolstering.

From this point of view, Holocaust denial is a crime against humanity, and freedom of expression should not apply to it.


Poster Comment:

"Claiming the Holocaust did not happen is tantamount to saying that the Jews have led the world astray. Anyone who says that is depriving the Jews of their main argument in their demand that the world protect them, and is abandoning them to their foes."

The chutzpah grows by the day. They're their own worst enemy.

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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 31.

#22. To: bluegrass (#0)

What I can't understand about Irving getting bird is that his speeches and interview were given in 1989 and the law that outlawed such comments was introduced in 1992, three years later. This man has gone to jail for breaking the law before the law for his "offence" was even created. What next?

Phantom  posted on  2006-02-23   14:13:51 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#24. To: Phantom (#22)

According to Wikipedia, "In some nations that follow the Westminster system of government, such as the United Kingdom, ex post facto laws are technically possible as parliamentary supremacy allows the parliament to pass any law it wishes."

Oh, that explains it.

HOUNDDAWG  posted on  2006-02-23   14:33:55 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#31. To: HOUNDDAWG (#24)

Article 103 of the Grundgesetz:

Artikel 103 Anspruch auf rechtliches Gehör; Verbot rückwirkender Strafgesetze und der Doppelbestrafung

(1) Vor Gericht hat jedermann Anspruch auf rechtliches Gehör.

(2) Eine Tat kann nur bestraft werden, wenn die Strafbarkeit gesetzlich bestimmt war, bevor die Tat begangen wurde.

(3) Niemand darf wegen derselben Tat auf Grund der allgemeinen Strafgesetze mehrmals bestraft werden.

Translation of paragraph (2): "An act can only be punished, if it was prohibited by law before the act was committed."

aristeides  posted on  2006-02-23   15:31:19 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


Replies to Comment # 31.

#34. To: aristeides (#31)

Verbot rückwirkender Strafgesetze

I'd translate this as "prohibition of ex post facto penal laws." If the Austrian "Gayssot-clone" law was passed after 1989 (and I'm almost certain it was, since the Gayssot Law was passed in 1990), it violates this principle.

Here's the Wikipedia article on Austria's Constitution---I couldn't find references to ex post facto prohibition in it. It may be that the Austrian authorities consider Irving's statements a violation of the Allied "de-Nazification" measures that according to what I understand have been continuously in effect in Germany and Austria since 1946.

Peetie Wheatstraw  posted on  2006-02-23 15:48:32 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


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