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cadenas -> RE: German court fines British bishop for Holocaust denial (4/17/2010 8:15:11 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: LadyEllen
But I am not sure that it is as simple a matter as making denial a crime in this instance. Rather I see this particular prohibition as part and parcel of something larger that was seen to be necessary to the rehabilitation of the German and certain other European peoples - the rendering impossible, by use of law, of any possibility of rehabilitation of the nazi movement; branded forever with its crimes, unable whether at one stroke or incrementally to shake itself free of association with them.
There may come a time when this law, and similar laws designed to this end, are relaxed or repealed. But as long as we have those who, for whatever reason, seek to rehabilitate naziism to show it as anything other than a philosophy of inhumanity that led to the deaths in repression, war and industrialised genocide of millions, I see no reason to criticise those who take an approach which includes such prohibition.
I lived in Germany for more than half my life. From that experience, I can say that their laws about holocaust denials don't help to rehabilitate them, quite in the contrary. If you have to threaten your own population with longer prison terms than most murderers receive, the government is effectively saying "German subjects don't believe the holocaust happened, and can't be trusted not to say so in polite company." And it's true - growing up I learned the official position in school - and at home learned that the holocaust was based on a bunch of lies (it's one of the reasons I left Germany - I happen to believe that the holocaust was real).
Another important point: not only was the bishop convicted. His attorney was also convicted and is now serving three years in prison just for defending him (technically she was actually convicted for repeating what he said, which of course is essential for an effective defense).
Germany does not have freedom of speech in their Grundgesetz (constitution). In fact, the whole concept is quite foreign to Germans. The Grundgesetz only guarantees freedom of the press, freedom of opinion and freedom to obtain publicly accessible information, and then only as long as it doesn't conflict with any laws. The Bundesverfassungsgericht (German supreme court) decided that the question of whether the holocaust took place or not is a question of fact rather than opinion, and therefore not protected by the Grundgesetz.
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