Holocaust Denial
Holocaust denier and A. Hitler's fan Silvia Stolz.
In Germany, criminal law outlaws Holocaust denial as well as Nazi symbols, such as the Swastika and the SS runes.
According to the Jewish World News from 25th February 2015, the ex-lawyer Sylvia Stolz, who is well known in Germany for her far right views and connections with the neo-Nazi groups, has been sentenced to 20 months in prison for Holocaust denial. She had already served prison sentence for the same offence. In 2008 she was convicted of Holocaust denial, following the 2007 trial of the infamous Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel, whom she had unsuccessfully defended in her then role as a defence attorney. Jewish World News further reports that “Stolz repeatedly denied the Holocaust” in the course of the trial and “ended a legal document with ‘Heil Hitler’”.
However, opinion polls indicate that German society is getting tired of the topic. October survey showed that 55% of respondents believe that there is no need to bring up the Holocaust 70 years after World War Two. 66% are unhappy that all Germans are accused of crimes against Jews (80% among youth) .
This attitude results in attempts to remove Germany’s responsibility for the Holocaust. Statement of the Left Party from December 19 mentioned that there have been attempts to equate the Nazi and Soviet regimes in Germany (often pointing to the fact that the Soviet regime reincorporated Nazi concentration camps as its own prison camps .
It is possible also to mention the 89-year-old Ursula Haverbek, who for many years has been trying to challenge the mass extermination of Jews during the Nazis' reign. In 2017, she was once again sentenced to imprisonment. [3] Haverbeck appeals against every guilty verdict, thus trying to attract more media attention.
