Irving wins appeal on Holocaust denial in Austria

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"British historian David Irving was set to leave Austria after winning an appeal on Wednesday against a three-year prison sentence for denying the Holocaust.

Irving had been in jail since his arrest in November 2005 on a visit to Austria and was convicted in February for denying the Nazis' organized mass murder of 6 million Jews.

The 68-year-old appealed for a reduced sentence while the prosecutor wanted his prison term extended.

The Vienna court ruled the remainder of his three-year sentence should be changed from a jail term to probation.

"The fact that the offence was committed a long time ago, seventeen years, was a mitigating circumstance," said judge Ernest Maurer. "We expect Irving will leave Austria immediately. We don't suspect he will commit another offence."

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-12-20T152413Z_01_L20505444_RTRUKOC_0_US-AUSTRIA-IRVING.xml&WTmodLoc=IntNewsHome_C2_worldNews-6


Judge who freed Holocaust denier Irving has close ties to far-rightist Haider

<snip>

"The Austrian judge who ruled in favor of the early release of British Holocaust denier David Irving from jail is considered to be a supporter of Jorg Heider's rightist Austrian Freedom Party, the Austrian news agency APA reported on Wednesday.

When Haider's party was a coalition member, judge Ernest Mauer was appointed as member of the Austrian Broadcasting authority Osterriechischer Rudfunk."

<snip>

"Austria had issued an arrest warrant for Irving in 1989 for denying the Holocaust in lectures and in a press interview he gave the same year.

Denying the Holocaust in Austria, which provided a significant number of top Nazi leaders including Adolf Hitler, is a crime punishable by up to 10years in prison."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/803636.html

[jus_the_facts]

1. Don't exile over here fucktard....

....Austria doesn't exist because I've never been there to see it for myself...it's just a figment of my imagination...the earth is flat...we never went to the moon...and there never were two world wars and our gov't would NEVER start another one for $$$$$$ :wtf: :banghead:

[krispos42]

2. and once again, the other 6 million people killed are fogotten...

The Holocaust involved the killing of 12 million people, possibly as many as 20 million. Six million or so were Jews, the balance was Slavs, Gypsies, Africans, and other 'udesirable' races, as well as homosexuals and political enemies.

[atreides1]

3. Don't Forget

The physically and mentally handicapped as well, went to their deaths guided by the Nazis and their helpers.

[krispos42]

7. You should read "In the Presence of Mine Enemies"

by Harry Turtledove.

It takes place in 2009 Berlin, the heart of the Greater Germen Reich. The Nazis under Hitler conquered Europe and the USSR because America never entered World War Two. A generation later, America fell under the mushroom clouds of Nazi thermonuclear weapons.

The thought of concentration camps set up in America... you could imagine the 'cleansing' that would occur here?

The book is written from the viewpoints of several Jewish families living in Berlin, keeping their faith, lineage, and traditions a deep, dark secret.

It was very informative and a little scary. Part of the story is from the viewpoint of a 13-year-old schoolgirl, and the school propaganda is unbelievable.

<snip>
The Jew is pictured in the manner of a typical Nazi caricature with a huge nose, thick lips, bleary eyes and fat fingers. The stereotypical representation of the Jew: grotesque face, sneering expression, hook nose is identical to the image of the Devil in Christian folklore. The words conveying associations the young readers are expected to remember are printed in red: Devil, thick lips, ganster, Jew; handsome, courageous, proud, German. The illustration showing the Jew and the German, side by side, represents the situation under Nazism and draws the observer's attention to the Nazi perception of racial differences between the Aryan and the Jew.

The German is depicted as the tall, blond, slender and powerful Aryan ideal With regular features and a high forehead. His shovel indicates that he is a worker. In contrast to the Aryan ideal, the Jew is shown as short, dark-haired, misshapen, bulky, with a sloping forehead and a crooked nose and embodies the Jewish racial characteristics set forth by the Nazis. At the same time, she uses this image to convey the stereotype of the money-hungry Jew, well-clothed and carrying an attach case in his hand and a financial newspaper in his pocket. The figure of the Aryan appears proud and looks down upon the Jew, who gives him a shifty look and makes a somewhat concealed fist with his hand as though challenging him with respect to money.

(boldface mine)
http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/m/mills-mary/mills-00.html

[Zynx]

4. Indeed, and the total killed by WWII in Europe is upwards of 50 million

in total.

[cali]

5. Yes, the approximately

5 million people who were also killed by the Nazis are too often ignored, but Irving's focus of denial was particularly regarding the Jews, just as Hitler's focus was ridding the world of Jews. I'm sure you've read Mein Kampf. And Hitler did not target Slavic people for death. Many, many Slavs were murdered, and their murder is no less tragic that most of them were killed for their ideology or that they died from disease and starvation in "work" camps. The Roma were targeted purely for their ethnicity, but Africans were not. Homosexuals like the Roma and Jews were targeted simply for who they were. And as someone else pointed out, the disabled were targeted. Indeed they were murdered first. It was only the outrage of so many Germans that halted that program.

All that said, I'm not comfortable with imprisoning people for Holocaust denial.

[Matilda]

6. I don't really understand where the Austrians are coming from.

Denying the Holocaust, or the annihilation of any other group, may be offensive, but criminal?

I think they're way over the top. Irving's a nutter, but he shouldn't be imprisoned because of
it.

[LaBanty]

8. this guy sounds like

presidential material for Iran. They're always up for some spirited Jew-bashing and Holocaust denial. Perhaps he and Ahmadinejad could plan their own little Holocaust together under the pretense of "peaceful nuclear energy".

F*ck them both.

[earlybelle]

9. So what do they do to people who denied that 30 million Africans were killed or died

as slaves coming to or arriving in America?

[treestar]

10. Wonder what would happen to me if I denied the witch trials occurred

in Salem?

Let alone think of the jail term I could get in Britain for denying that Richard III killed his nephews.

Anyone who denies the potato famine should be locked up, too!

Punishing people for saying crazy shit is crazier than saying the crazy shit in the first place.