<
FREE hit counter and Internet traffic statistics from freestats.com
(DV) Petersen: The Martyring of a Nazi Sympathizer -- In Defense of Free Speech


HOME 

SEARCH 

NEWS SERVICE 

LETTERS 

ABOUT DV CONTACT SUBMISSIONS

 

The Martyring of a Nazi Sympathizer
In Defense of Free Speech  

by Kim Petersen
www.dissidentvoice.org
February 18, 2007

Send this page to a friend! (click here)

 

Ernst Zündel is not a man that I want to defend. I certainly do not share his strident anti-communist views, attitude on race, or sympathy for Adolf Hitler.

 

Where I do share a view with Zündel is on everyone’s right to free speech. Zündel exercised this right and has been persecuted for it. Progressives have mainly remained silent on this assault against free speech.

 

The German media calls Zündel a World War II Holocaust liar. If Zündel is lying, then his lies have killed no one; nonetheless, he is sentenced to five years imprisonment on 14 counts of sedition. On the other hand, George W. Bush and Tony Blair, who clearly lied to carry out genocide (what else would one term 655,000 plus excess killings?) in Iraq, escape punishment and carry the blessings of sizeable segments of their country’s electorate. Is this justice?

 

What particularly inflamed the anti-free speech crowd is that during the heavy media coverage of the early Zündel Trials in Canada, Zündel’s lawyer Doug Christie threw much of the imposed WWII Holocaust history into serious doubt. [1]

 

The trial generated serious skepticism for claims of an order from Hitler for the extermination of Jews, for the six million fatalities usually cited, and for the use of gas chambers. This was embarrassing for people who seek to maintain an unchallengeable view of the WWII Holocaust that conforms to the Holocaust Industry’s extortion racket. [2]

 

Presiding judge Ulrich Meinerzhagen declared Zündel had “endangered the public peace.” In other words, the German “justice” system determined that free speech is a danger to public peace. [3]

 

Zündel’s demonized lawyer [4], Ludwig Bock, was astounded: “What is notable is the iron-hard refusal of the court to allow consideration of new scientific findings or expert opinions.” [5]

 

Indeed. In his closing statement, Zündel challenged the district court to initiate an investigate of the WWII Holocaust by an independent, international committee of experts. He offered to publicly apologize in a press conference to Jews, Israelis and the world if the committee disproved his claims.

 

Imprisonment for speaking controversially is a travesty for justice and human rights. A public apology seems a much fairer punishment for speaking falsely.

 

Yet, a burning question remains: why will the authorities not accept a forensic  challenge that should silence WWII Holocaust skeptics? Refusal to do so only deepens suspicion of the imposed verisimilitude.

 

Meanwhile, the injustice is turning Zündel into a free speech martyr.

 

Kim Petersen, Co-Editor of Dissident Voice, lives in southern Korea. He can be reached at: kim@dissidentvoice.org

 

ENDNOTES

 

[1] “CBC Zundel Trial (#1), (#2), (#3),” YouTube.

 

[2] See Norman Finkelstein, The Holocaust Industry (Verso, 2000).

 

[3] AP, “Rechtsextremismus: Höchststrafe für Holocaust-Leugner,” FAZ.net, 15 February 2007.

 

[4] Thomas Seythal, “Holocaust Denier Sentenced to 5 Years,” Guardian, 16 February 2007.

 

[5] Klaus-Peter Klingelschmitt,Aufmarsch der rechtsextremen Advokaten,” die tagezeitung, 16 February 2007.
 

Other Recent Articles by Kim Petersen

 

* Zionist Appeasement: A Blight on the Canadian Political Landscape
* Money Trumps Democracy
* The Evil of Collaboration
* Zionists Lay the Groundwork for a Military Strike Against Iran
* An Uncompromising Leftist Position
* Elephants Not in the Room
* Platitudes Are No Defense Against Zionist Terrorism
* Principles Over Realism: The Zero-State Solution
* Let’s Not Support Lesser Evilism: Much Ado About Nothing Election Results
* The Reciprocity Principle: Questions That Need to be Asked
* Genocide in Iraq
* Going Nuclear: Northern Korea’s Ace
* An Unacceptable Nuclear Gamble
* Canada: The Honest Broker?
* Progressive Duty is to Speak Out Against Oppressors Not Excoriate Resisting Victims
* Subtle Loyalties to Zionism
* Inside the Madhouse
* A Higher Standard
* Whither Elementary Morality?
* Optimistic Progressivism
* The Analytical Skewer
* Inequality Matters
* There is No “Israel Lobby”
* South American Paradigms: Revolutionary Change Through Mass Social Movements
* "Insurgents": Hermeneutics Are Not a Substitute for Clarity!
* The Inalienable Right to Self Defense: Balancing the Power

* This Is Not Progressivism
* Europe's Free Speech Paradox

* Remembering with Shame and Horror
* Before Columbus: Revisionism and Enlightenment
* Desperately Seeking Victory in a War Already Lost
* Progressivism, Skepticism, and Historical Revisionism
* Resisting Capitalist-Imperialist Assimilation: Interview with Stewart Steinhauer
* The Morbid Symbolism of the Yasukuni Shrine
* Elementary Morality and Torture
* Darkness Over Empire
* Anti-Israel?
* Syria in the Imperialist Crosshairs 

* The Struggle to Restore the Dignity of Labor
* Gizen: Perverted Principle in Japan
* The Need to Speak Out: Canada’s Governor Generalship
* Antithetical Heroism
* Progressives and the Imperialist Line

HOME