Question Holocaust, Go To Jail

[William Joyce]

The fate of David Irving, a British historian who questions the "official" historical account of Jews during WWII:

http://nationalvanguard.org/story.php?id=8006

Austria, like other European countries, makes it a criminal act to offer differing views about the Holocaust. Wasn't it Thomas Jefferson who said, "Truth can stand alone. Only error requires the force of government."

 

[GotZoom]

VIENNA, Austria — A right-wing British historian said Monday he would plead guilty to criminal charges of denying the Holocaust as his trial opened in Vienna.

David Irving, 67, told reporters he now acknowledges that the Nazis systematically slaughtered Jews during World War II.

"History is like a constantly changing tree," he said as an eight-member jury and a panel of three judges prepared to hear charges that could put him behind bars for up to 10 years.

Irving has been in custody since his arrest in November on charges stemming from two speeches he gave in Austria in 1989 in which he was accused of denying the Nazis' extermination of 6 million Jews.

A verdict could come later Monday.

Irving's trial comes amid new — and fierce — debate over freedom of expression in Europe, where the printing and reprinting of unflattering cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad has triggered violent protests worldwide.

Irving's lawyer, Elmar Kresbach, said last month the controversial Third Reich historian was getting up to 300 pieces of fan mail a week from supporters around the world, and that while in detention he was writing his memoirs under the working title "Irving's War."

Irving was arrested Nov. 11 in the southern Austrian province of Styria on a warrant issued in 1989. He was charged under a federal law that makes it a crime to publicly diminish, deny or justify the Holocaust.

Irving had tried to win his provisional release on $24,000 bail, but a Vienna court refused, saying it considered him a flight risk.

Within two weeks of his arrest, he asserted through his lawyer that he had come to acknowledge the existence of Nazi-era gas chambers.

In the past, however, he has claimed that Adolf Hitler knew little if anything about the Holocaust, and has been quoted as saying there was "not one shred of evidence" the Nazis carried out their "Final Solution" to exterminate the Jewish population on such a massive scale.

Vienna's national court, where the trial is being held, ordered the balcony gallery closed to prevent projectiles from being thrown down at the bench, the newspaper Die Presse reported Sunday.

It quoted officials as saying they were bracing for Irving's supporters to give him the Nazi salute or shout out pro-Hitler slogans during the trial, which will continue into Tuesday if a verdict is not reached on Monday.

Irving is the author of nearly 30 books, including "Hitler's War," which challenges the extent of the Holocaust, and has contended most of those who died at concentration camps such as Auschwitz succumbed to diseases such as typhus rather than execution.

In 2000, Irving sued American Holocaust scholar Deborah Lipstadt for libel in a British court, but lost. The presiding judge in that case, Charles Gray, wrote that Irving was "an active Holocaust denier ... anti-Semitic and racist."

Irving has had numerous run-ins with the law over the years.

In 1992, a judge in Germany fined him the equivalent of $6,000 for publicly insisting the Nazi gas chambers at Auschwitz were a hoax.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,185384,00.html

 

[rtwngAvngr]

SO you can't depict mohammed, You can't question the official jew line on things. Christianity is the only victim left. This war is already over.

 

[dilloduck]

SO you can't depict mohammed, You can't question the official jew line on things. Christianity is the only victim left. This war is already over.

You got it ! Do you think it will be legal for Christians to even defend themselves? Gun control----hmmmmmmmmmm.

 

[Hobbit]

This is a bit...extreme. I know the Holocaust happened. I've been to the museum in D.C. My uncle's been to Auschwitz. I know it's a real hot button in central Europe. I just wish they valued free speech as much as we do.

 

[GotZoom]

Looks like his change of mind saved him 7 years.

----

VIENNA, Austria -- Right-wing British historian David Irving was convicted in Austria on Monday of denying the Holocaust _ a crime in this country once run by the Nazis _ and was sentenced to three years in prison.

Irving, who had pleaded guilty and insisted during his one-day trial that he had a change of heart and now acknowledged the Nazis' World War II slaughter of 6 million Jews, had faced up to 10 years behind bars for the offense.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/20/AR2006022000151_pf.html

 

[William Joyce]

Un-fucking-believable. I cannot conceive how in this day and age a human being can be imprisoned by a modern government for their beliefs. Jews have way, way too much power of us if we're not even free to questions them or think for ourselves.

 

[dilloduck]

Un-fucking-believable. I cannot conceive how in this day and age a human being can be imprisoned by a modern government for their beliefs. Jews have way, way too much power of us if we're not even free to questions them or think for ourselves.

I gotta admit---this sure gives me a little insight into European thought. Whew--talk about scared and guilty people.

 

[theHawk]

Wow. What does this say about society. Do they have such a lack of self-confidence in their own ability to logically look at any debate/opinion and dismiss idiocy?


Jeez I'm glad I don't live in Europe. Just say No to Thought Police.