Bishop Richard Williamson: Holocaust Denier Convicted

BERLIN — A German court convicted ultraconservative British Bishop Richard Williamson on Friday of denying the Holocaust in a television interview.

A court in the Bavarian city of Regensburg found Williamson guilty of incitement for saying in a 2008 interview with Swedish television that he did not believe Jews were killed in gas chambers during World War II.

The court ordered Williamson to pay a fine of euro10,000 ($13,544).

The Roman Catholic bishop was barred by his order from attending Friday's proceedings or making statements to the media.

His lawyer, Matthias Lossmann, told The Associated Press after the court ruling that Williamson has yet to decide whether he would appeal.

Denying the Holocaust is a criminal offense in Germany.

The court ordered a fine of euro12,000 for Williamson last year, without a trial. But the bishop appealed, forcing his case to be tried publicly.

Lossmann said that Williamson had explicitly asked the Swedish television crew conducting the interview not to broadcast it in Germany.

In issuing her ruling, Judge Karin Frahm said the bishop could not have expected that the clip would show up on YouTube and be seen directly in Germany, and that led her to reduce the fine, court spokesman Bernhard Schneider told the AP.

The journalists who conducted the interview ignored a court order to attend the trial, Lossmann said, leaving the judge to rely on written statements as testimony.

"That does not do a case like this justice," Lossmann said.

The interview was conducted near Regensburg and was granted shortly before Williamson's excommunication was lifted by Pope Benedict XVI, along with that of three other bishops from the anti-modernization movement of the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

The American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors said in a statement it welcomed the ruling as "a symbol of modern German determination to prohibit the dissemination of Holocaust denial on its soil."

The U.S.-based group's vice president, Elan Steinberg, called Williamson's remarks vile and craven and called upon his order and the Vatican to cut all ties with him.

The lifting of Williamson's excommunication sparked outrage among Jewish groups and in Israel. The Vatican's handling of the affair prompted criticism from German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Six million Jews were killed during the Nazi Holocaust, many of them murdered in gas chambers.

Williamson lives in Britain.

Comments

[Peter Walker]

04:28 PM on 04/29/2010

Let's do the math here. The story use to state 6 million spread as follows 4 million in Auschwitz-Birkenau and 2 million in Sorbibor-Treblinka. In 1989 everything changed at the Auschwitz-Birkenau compound.. the bronze plaque was removed and the new one indicated 1.1 million. a 2.9 million reduction in the victims tally. The mainstream media never made headlines of this...and worse the total was maintained at 6 million!?! Furthermore the gag laws in Germany & France were put in place AFTER that 1989 event. Bishop Williamson seems to be on the mark here. It is a hoax people and people ae finding out.

[cweinbl]

01:57 PM on 04/20/2010

No event in human history has been studied more thoroughly and carefully than the Holocaust. Wannsee Conference records prove that Nazis planned the extermination of Jews as, "The Final Solution." German concentration camp records prove that it was carried out.

Virtually everyone with a PhD in History will stake their career on the fact that millions of Jews were systematically exterminated by Nazi Germany. Nazi leaders confirmed this after the war. Such a confession is accepted in virtually every court of law.

Whenever we stand up to those who deny or minimize genocide we send a critical message to the world. As we continue to live in an age of genocide and ethnic cleansing, we must repel the broken ethics of our ancestors, or risk a dreadful repeat of past transgressions.

Freedom of speech and the press is a symbol of a healthy society. Yet, since no crime in history is so heinous as the Holocaust, its memory must be accurately preserved.

A world that continues to allow genocide requires ethical remediation. We must insist that religious, racial, ethnic, gender and orientation persecution is wrong; and that tolerance is our progeny's only hope. Only through such efforts can we reveal the true horror of genocide and promote the triumphant spirit of humankind.

Charles Weinblatt
Author, "Jacob's Courage"
http://jacobscourage.wordpress.com/

[MalloMel]

02:10 PM on 04/19/2010

I don't get this at all. Here's a guy who lives in Britain, makes a statement denying some part of the holocaust in Sweden, and is tried and convicted in Germany. What's that all about. I wonder if an American citizen can exercise their free speech in the US and be tried in a German court for doing so. What's that all about??

I'm serious. What's going on here.

[TestingTheWater]

11:17 AM on 04/19/2010

In a response to another poster I noted that it is almost criminally naive to think that this issue has anything to do with free speech. The Holocaust deniers are implementing a political strategy designed to disassociate the Nazi party from genocide and murder, exploit the fascination some people have with the Nazis, undermine the existing political structures and put a bunch of sociopathic thugs back into power. Holocaust denial is illegal in many countries in Western Europe, particularly those who suffered the most under Nazi Germany.

Evidence for what actually happened has never stopped foolish people from believing in the patently absurd (for example, 9/11 truthers" who claim US government involvement in 9/11, those who claim that the US moon landings did not happen, aliens built the pyramids, etc.),. Honestly, there seems no end to the human tendency to ignore the facts in favor of far-fetched fantasies.

Although the Nazi atrocities are well documented with eye witness accounts, including accounts from President Eisenhower who visited the death camps as a general at the end of WWII, many people naively believe Holocaust denials and those with their own agendas are eager to exploit this.

These people have every right to protect themselves from those who visited so much horrific death and destruction on the world. And don't try to tell me the US government is just as bad. As bad as they were, Cheney and Bush were still rank amateurs compared to Nazi Germany.

[Oleg1]

11:15 AM on 04/19/2010

Bishop Williamson:" I believe there were no gas chamber. Yes."

'Nough said.

[Rock Brasiliano]

07:31 AM on 04/19/2010

Many European countries and Canada have set up similar "hate speech" judicial and extrajudicial procedures. For example, Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders' opinions on Islamic fundamentalism have landed him before a Dutch appeals court. Say something unflattering about Muslims in Canada and you may find yourself before their ironically named Human Rights Commissions. Nutters like Williamson should be allowed to say what they wish, their ridiculous claims are easy to refute.

[TestingTheWater]

10:58 AM on 04/19/2010

That is naive to the point of criminality. Holocaust deniers are not "nutters" and they are not expressing an opinion. It is not an issue of free speech. It is an issue of deliberate criminal subversion. Holocaust denial is a well-defined political strategy designed to undermine and overthrow existing political structures, with the intent of putting a criminal group back into power.

There are three lies that are central to the strategy - the Nazis did not attempt to systemically destroy the Jews, they did not use gas chambers and the number of 5-7 million is an exaggeration. They argue quite falsely that there were a handful of German soldiers who killed a few hundred thousand who were acting on their own, outside of the supervision of the military. The point is that if they can disassociate the party from murdering and genocide, they can use the attraction people have to the party to rise to power again (i.e., fools like that Jesse James character).

And if you think their claims should be ignored because they are easily disproven, I would suggest that you look at a single documentary that has been easily disproven that says the US moon landing was all staged here on earth. Millions of people now believe the lies in that single documentary and say the missions were a fraud, rather than believe the well established evidence and the testimony of 400,000 workers involved in the Apollo missions.

[b1rd67]

11:20 AM on 04/19/2010

"I would suggest that you look at a single documentary that has been easily disproven that says the US moon landing was all staged here on earth. Millions of people now believe the lies in that single documentary and say the missions were a fraud..."

Where are you getting the statistic that millions of people now believe the missions were a fraud?

[ScienceFTW]

02:16 PM on 04/19/2010

yes, and if someone who thought the moon landing was a hoax ran for office they would be laughed off stage. You've made your point.

[greatscot]

03:25 AM on 04/19/2010

The guy stated his opinion. He asked that the interview not be broadcast in Germany. Soooooo....we are all to be constrained in our speech by German law no matter where we live? To which I say, Bring it on!

Now I happen to believe that Jews, Roma, Communists, gays, and political opponents were all murdered at Nazi death camps, and that opinion is based on historical information that I have viewed, read, and even discussed with a fellow student in 1970 who had a number on her arm. Also 1.5 milliionj Greeks were murdered or starved to death 1942-1945 under German occupation, 18% of the Greek population!

The Bishop is entitled to his opinion, and he is entitled to state his opinion, but the court of public opinion will prevail, I have no doubt, and it will prevail as it always has, by having the majority of informed, intelligent people believing the truth! Forget the lunatic fringe!

This German court will be overturned by the European Court Of Justice, mark my words!

[Rock Brasiliano]

07:33 AM on 04/19/2010

Banning books like Mein Kampf is actually counterproductive. If more people had actually read it in the early 1930's Hitler probably would never have gained power.

[hippie4ever]

01:44 AM on 04/19/2010

That's PRESIDENT Almondookiejihad to you and I ;-)

[gsteinum]

11:52 PM on 04/18/2010

guess the germans take their history very seriously. now if they could invite almondookiejihad over for a speech that would be nice too.

[greatscot]

04:32 AM on 04/19/2010

Children are easily amused. Mock all you want. Achmadinejad is your worst nightmare.

[valhalladad]

08:12 PM on 04/18/2010

"Denying the Holocaust is a criminal offense in Germany."

Coming to a country near you! What would be the difference in saying,"I don't think slavery was that bad" or "Men didn't land on the moon"? This policy of jailing people for speaking their minds is in itself criminal. Not only because of the 'free speech' angle but because of the times throughout history that 'facts' have changed once more light is shone upon the subject. For example, people used to believe the Earth was flat or that the Earth was the center of the universe and people were put to death for their belief. If that is where we are headed then we can look forward to being told what to believe by our governments under penalty of prison or even death in extreme cases.

[gsteinum]

12:02 AM on 04/19/2010

valhalla: not about speaking your mind. it's about perpetuating lies. your examples aren't germaine as the holocost happened. williamson, cited in the article was not put to death. he was fined. read the article again if you doubt that. you have a distorted sense of what free speech really is - legally. also, that tactic doesn't wash in germany. and your next "rationale" is??? just when looks like the catholics are beginning to recover slightly, williamson figures it's a good time to shoot his mouth off. the devout just can't seem to catch a break. maybe they should pray more.

[greatscot]

04:20 AM on 04/19/2010

Boy, you're relly hot! Just try getting hot about my 1st Amendment Rights buddy and I'll teach you a thing or two about FREEDOM, and DON'T TREAD ON ME!

[valhalladad]

05:21 AM on 04/19/2010

So when is someone/anyone going to jail for perpetuating WMD's in Iraq lies? Or the 'Peace' process being carried out against the Palestinians?

Probably never, and those examples are beside the point. The point is, the 'truth' doesn't need legal protections. No other period of history has this type of 'protection' and if there were nothing to hide why isn't it open to debate?

[pulmonary something]

07:57 PM on 04/18/2010

So when do we start jailing 9/11 truthers?

[Oleg1]

08:24 PM on 04/18/2010

It's about time.

[Hirnlego]

05:28 AM on 04/19/2010

There have been tons of cases where neocons and others wish for another attack and not just the New Pearl harbor thing in the the PNAC rebuilding america's defenses.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/may2008/300508Strauss.htm

And oboy have have they benefited from 9/11.

Much much worse than questioning 9/11.

They also lied about the air-quality, about pre-warnings
And they from getgo set out to make the 9/11 commission a white wash.

[ZDuck]

07:43 PM on 04/18/2010

I bet the teabaggers are welcoming the priests with open arms.

[Courtney250]

07:32 PM on 04/18/2010

In Germany it is illegal to deny the Holocaust. It is not a free speech issue. Can you blame them for not wanting to appear as if they are appeasing these lunatics?

This Bishop should be removed from the church. What next, Inquisition fans?

[ScienceFTW]

02:26 PM on 04/19/2010

so you're not allowed to say something, and somehow thats not a free speech issue?

/headdesk

[Courtney250]

05:47 PM on 04/19/2010

No, it is not because in Germany in regards to that issue there is no free speech, that is their law. That is not our law, but that is theirs and I think it makes sense on that issue.

We do not have absolute free speech either, since you are not allowed to freely incite violence or panic, threaten the President, slander someone, and many other forms of speech. I think those restrictions make sense too.

[Ospree19]

04:48 PM on 04/18/2010

The Bishop is right!

[Aedh Wishes]

05:16 PM on 04/18/2010

You mean the bishop is "right" as in ultra-right / ekstreem-right / rightwingnut ... right?

[Oleg1]

10:45 PM on 04/18/2010

Failure has gone to shitspree19's head.

[Carlos Manuel]

03:23 PM on 04/18/2010

Next he will say that there are no pedophile priests and that the Catholic Church did not engage in the protection of deviant criminals

[Amryxx]

03:27 PM on 04/18/2010

If he did say that, should he be jailed for it as well?

[GhiaccioPronto]

05:15 PM on 04/18/2010

no doubt in your world laws against suborning perjury and obstruction of justice are oppressive "thought crimes", and everything is an opinion- nothing is a fact, so their is no such thing as ly-ng