"So that made me realize that not all was black and not all was white. I was beginning to mature intellectually. And when I finally decided to go to university to night courses to advance my education, I found that in Canadian textbooks that I was naturally forced to take, the Germans were depicted in a totally false, negative stereotype manner. And I have been all my life, I suppose, somewhat of an active type. When I saw that I thought that this wasn't right, because I knew that although there were Germans, undoubtedly, which had been cruel or were anything less than virtuous, the great mass of the German people were like the rest of the people of the world, like Canadians or Americans, decent, law-abiding, hard-working people. And I did not want to be a member of an ethnic group or be associated with a nation that had such a bad public image. And I thought, what was wrong ought to be corrected through truth. And my research which I had done up until then led me to write to various politicians, to, in those days, the Board of Broadcast Governors, letters to editors, and letters to politicians, to public figures, to poets - I remember Irving Layton was one of them - trying to stop the negative stereotyping and to bring out the truth, whatever the truth was. (...)

I then appealed to other German Canadians, and in a kind of ad hoc fashion we decided to have letter-writing campaigns, too, but citizens, actions groups, or the kind of today we call them human rights activists too." (Vol. 17, p. 3799-3800)

Zündel found that anti-German stereotyping had become more prevalent and vicious as World War II receded, not less as one would expect. It disturbed him that his sons were being exposed to this negative stereotyping even in comic books and school textbooks. He began to collect examples of negative German ethnic stereotyping and during his trial in 1985 brought a box of such publications to show the court. (Vol. 17, p. 3805):

"There is virtually a publication or a book or magazine or a comic book for every warped taste from sadomasochism to pornography in the outright sense. Here is one that was very prevalent in the sixties called, 'Man's Epic', 'Nazi Torture Cult Lust Orgy of the Wild Nymphos', and it shows these semi-nude women with swastikas on their thighs, German soldiers with swastikas on their arm, whips, man with dogs." (Vol. 17, p. 3806)

"So we have looked at comic books which are very serious problems, especially for our children. We have looked at men's magazines which are no longer prevalent because of videos, but nevertheless, they were in the sixties. Then there are other specialty magazines that misrepresent Germans, and then there are, I think, the biggest offender, apart from television, are pocket books." (Vol. 17, p. 3813)

Zündel did approximately 150 open line talk shows a year in Canada and the U.S.A. during this period. Because of his increasingly high profile, Zündel was contacted by German parents from across Canada with problems they had with school textbooks, university textbooks and some with physical attacks on their children in school after Holocaust-related films were shown on TV or the movies. He gave them comfort and advice on how to rectify the situation.

"First of all, I calmed them down, because many of them were near hysterics. Some of them had taken their children out of school, and I advised them to talk to the principals, talk to the teachers, try to get a line to the parents of the kids that had threatened them with cruel exterminators and stuff like this. I usually cautioned them not to take the legal route or take legal action, because children in school become very easily hostages. You know, kids get picked on in school. If kids, we come too stridently to their defence, I have enough experience in this to know that that is the case. So I try to use a kind of a conciliatory method of making some teachers see the errors of their ways, and some kids to calm down. And in a number of cases I was successful." (Vol. 17, p. 3812)

One of the biggest influences on Zündel at this time was the Rumanian Jewish author Joseph Ginsburg, author of many books and booklets as well as articles, who published under the name "J.G. Burg."

"The one man in West Germany who had a profound influence on me in the sixties was Joseph Ginsburg who publishes under the name of J.G. Burg, and he is a non-Zionist, a Talmud scholar coming from a long family of Talmud scholars, and he wrote a book, 'Schuld und Schicksal.' The English translation of the title would be, 'Guilt and destiny.' Well, in it he reproduced documents about the Madagascar Plan and the official German policy of emigration, not extermination. And his book had a tremendous impact on me because here was, for the first time, a Jewish author that spelled out in detail what the German policy really was." (Vol. 17, p. 3814)

"And he flatly said to me, and he says it in his books, that there were no gas chambers in German concentration camps for killing Jewish people." (Vol. 17, p. 3815)

J.G. Burg had himself been uprooted and interned during the war in one of the Jewish settlements in the East. Zündel corresponded with Burg and promoted his books. Burg subsequently came to Canada to do some educational video films with Zündel in German and was a guest in Zündel's home for a month during the period the film was made. In 1988, Burg testified for Zündel's defence in his second "false news" trial. He stated at that time:

"If the Holocaust story - if the Holocaust story goes on the way it's going, there will never be a sincere relationship between the Jews and the Germans. That's what - the Zionist leaders will see to that." (Vol. 25, p. 6851)

"So that [Zündel's] duty is to fight against it. I will help. That's what I'm doing. Why? Because otherwise it will never come to a reconciliation of the people." (Vol. 26, p. 6885)

Burg described Zündel as a "fighter for the truth" for his people:

"He only had the problems - if he had - if he had gone along with the current he wouldn't have the problems he has. It would have been much easier, much easier in life for him. If there were another two or three Zündels, it would be better for us Jews as well." (Transcript Vol. 26, p. 6892)

Another Jewish author that deeply influenced Zündel was a French psychologist Professor Dommerque. Zündel had corresponded with him for years and finally interviewed him during this time period.

"Because he had written on the Holocaust, and I had received his publication in which he calls the Holocaust a mensonge historique, which means a historical lie, which is the same thing Dr. Faurisson said. And I republished his letter...he made tape recordings for me of his viewpoint, and his independent research comes to the conclusion that approximately seven to eight hundred thousand Jewish people died of all causes during the Second World War. He does not believe in the gas chambers, and he certainly does not believe that the Nazi Government were in totality ogres." (Vol. 17, p. 3828)

Other Jewish authors which Zündel sought out during this period were Benjamin Freedman and Rabbi Elmer Berger of the American Council of Judaism whom Zündel met in 1967 in New York. Berger gave Zündel a number of insights on Zionism, "because Zionism is very much part of the Holocaust legend", Zündel testified later in his court cases.

"Because Zionism is the chief beneficiary of the Holocaust legend. Financially, propagandistically, politically - even, to a certain amount, morally - they seem to have a copyright on pain because of this propaganda. So I sought out Rabbi Elmer Berger because he had published formerly in the Toronto Sun in his publication called 'Current Events and Issues', Jewish issues in 1968. And that fascinated me, so I travelled to New York and interviewed Rabbi Berger who I've met since. He is the one that, for the first time, made very clear to me what the difference is between Judaism and Zionism. His particular philosophy of life and the people that he represent is that they are Americans first and foremost, and Jews by religion, whereas the Zionists are Jews first, at least that is the way I understand it, and virtually to the exclusion of anything else. They happen to reside in a different country, but their first loyalty is to Zionist tenets, Zionist goals, Zionist politics, and he felt it was a dangerous ideology because it questioned in the eyes of the general public the loyalty of Jews living in America or in Canada." (Vol. 17, p. 3855)

In 1975, Zündel presented a brief to the Task Force on Human Relations headed by Walter Pitman. In the brief, Zündel reviewed and graphically documented with many examples the negative stereotypes of Germans in the media carried on from wartime propaganda, listing examples and reproducing cartoons and article front pages to illustrate his points. He made this brief available to many members of the Canadian Parliament, newspaper editors and columnists all over Canada.

"We see continuous reruns of World War II propaganda movies piped into every home via television, often during prime time, exposing untold millions of people to the same emotional pitch which once made them go and kill their fellow man by the millions. The next day the TV audience goes to school, university or to work, still stirred up with righteous indignation by anti-German propaganda and there meet their stereotype, i.e., their classmates or co-workers who may happen to be German by birth or post war immigrants. Doesn't anybody in this world ever ask what the outcome on society is of this madness? Of course it causes friction and hatred between people. We Germans know precisely what awaits us the day after such movies as North of the 49th Parallel, Judgement at Nuremberg, Battle of the Bulge have been shown on TV the night before. You can cut the tension with a knife."

Zündel concluded the brief by stating that the time was long overdue for a change in attitudes and behaviour:

"The German Canadians have a right to equality and fair treatment in the media. This most sacred and common right has long been denied us with YOUR hypocritical acquiescence.

We expect the full protection accorded to all members of this society against discrimination and vilification because of our ethnic and national origin."

In 1969 Zündel and his family had moved back to Toronto because of separatist violence in Montreal. He started anew and built one more time his own commercial graphic arts business and advertising agency. In 1972 he published a book on UFO's which became a run-away best seller marketed by direct mail and through advertisements, mainly in large circulation U.S. magazines. The success of the book convinced Zündel to enter the direct mail business selling other books on UFO's and eventually original, uncensored tapes of Nazi-era songs by German soldiers and SS (which contained no annoying commentaries distorting the music), historical speeches in their uncut form by Adolf Hitler and interviews he had done with various writers and historians on Zionism and the developing area of Holocaust revisionism including Dr. Robert Faurisson, French expert in ancient texts and documents at the University of Lyon II and Rabbi Elmer Berger, head of the American Council for Judaism.

Berger directed Zündel to the work of Peter Worthington, well known Canadian journalist, who had written some articles in Rabbi Berger's journal of Jewish thought entitled "Issues" about the life of Soviet Jewry and their influence in Soviet Russia. Worthington had been unable to get these articles published in the Toronto Telegram.

In 1978 Zündel incorporated Samisdat Publishers Ltd.. The word "samisdat" to Zündel meant "dissident"; an alternative form of communication usually self-published by the author himself. (Postal Transcript, p. 430)

Samisdat published three types of publications, an informational newsletter titled "Samisdat" which was published about once a month, the papers of Concerned Parents of German Descent and the papers of the German-Jewish Historical Society. The papers of the latter two groups were published irregularly from 9 to 12 times throughout the year.

The German-Jewish Historical Society was formed by Zündel "to set up a symposia where Jews, both Zionist and non-Zionist, anti-Zionist and Gentiles, some Germans, Frenchmen, Swedes and so on could meet at our headquarters at Samisdat, in our hall, and have an exchange of ideas. I invited Mr. Kayfetz, Simon Wiesenthal, Irwin Cotler, and other prominent people of Jewish background in Toronto, people like Morton Shulman, Barbara Frum and so on, to participate and thrash out some of these ideas. One of the speakers from Europe was Professor Dommerque who is one of my Jewish collaborators." (Postal transcript, p. 470)

Barbara Frum had interviewed Zündel at length on her radio program "As It Happens" about his UFO books. When he later asked her to chair a such symposium on German-Jewish issues, she declined, telling Zündel that it was "too hot a potato" for her.

When in April of 1978, the TV mini-series "The Holocaust" was aired across North America and later in Germany, Zündel and members of the Concerned Parents of German Descent demonstrated outside the German consulate to protest the film. Other Germans did the same in over sixteen countries at the time. Zündel termed the series a "hate message":

"It shows Christians in a bad light, it shows Ukrainians in a bad light, it shows Latvians in a bad light...It shows them torturing, beating people, burning people in synagogues, and it really shows the Germans in one heck of a bad light, so much so that the Toronto German community and German Club and businesses were threatened with arson, bombings and had to be evacuated, and German stores threatened with boycotts. German newspapers were being harangued and harassed. (Postal transcript, p. 557-8)

Zündel and members of Concerned Parents of German Descent also gave press conferences and demonstrated outside movie theatres which showed films with anti-German stereotyping such as "The Boys from Brazil". Zündel was quoted in a Sunday Star article on October 8, 1978 covering one such demonstration: "Canadians love to hate Germans. And Canadians are hypocrites because they preach freedom and equality - but there are no equal rights for Germans in this country. We are second-class citizens."

During this time, Zündel won support for his efforts in some quarters. In an article in the September 1977 Legion, a magazine for Canadian war veterans, columnist Douglas Fisher quoted West German Social Democratic Chancellor Helmut Schmidt as asking "Why do Canadians cling to stereotypes of Germany and Germans going back more than 30 years to the second war?..." Fisher went on:

"This intervention by Herr Schmidt happens to follow a campaign being promoted from Toronto by one Ernst Zündel for 'concerned citizens of German background.' His argument is that in the name of anti-Nazi war propaganda (a war long over and lost by the Nazis) a steady diatribe of anti-German material is flogged in film, books, magazines and on TV.

'German Canadians," Zündel proclaims, 'have a right to equality and fair treatment in the media. This most sacred and common right has long been denied us with your hypocritical acquiescence.'

Zündel goes on in a number of newsletters and briefs to give scores of examples of anti-German propaganda represented by feature films shown in theatres or on TV in Canada recently - The Eagle Has Landed, The Diary of Anne Frank, Battle of the Bulge, Stalag 17, The Devil's Brigade, Ilse - She-Wolf of the SS, Hitler: The Last 10 Days, and on and on.

...I can see what Schmidt and Zündel complain about. I give myself self-examinations on why I am still leery about the place and role of Germans in today's world, not yesterday's. There's no doubt that the popular media perpetrate the image and the memories of wartime propaganda. For example, the brutal series on Sunday night TV in June depicting the story of the Nazi concentration camps and what the Jews call 'the Holocaust.' If one can be fair about a country and a people with such a modern history, and let us try to be, I think we really should be conceiving of the Germans and the Japanese for that matter, in a much different way, one appropriate to the passage of time and their relations with us as allies."

In February of 1977, CBC Television invited Zündel to participate in a program called "The Kowalski Report" which dealt with the stereotyping of Germans. The program showed that many children interviewed for the program could not draw a distinction between Nazis and Germans. (Postal Transcript, p. 334)

In April of 1978, Toronto Sun columnist Mark Bonokoski alleged that Zündel, while posing as the "seemingly harmless leader of the new Concerned Parents of German Descent who has played his way onto the front pages of newspapers, plus air time on radio and television, to condemn the movie, Holocaust", was in fact a "fanatical neo-Nazi" who wrote hate literature such as "The Hitler We Loved and Why" published by Liberty Bell in West Virginia (owned by George Dietz) under the pen name "Christof Friedrich". Ben Kayfetz, president of the Canadian Jewish Congress was quoted as saying that Zündel had come to his attention as for back as 1966 when he was told Zündel had one of the largest collections of Nazi memorabilia in North America.

Zündel replied in a news release:

"Apparently, the editorial policy of the Toronto Sun is to generate heat rather than light on the subject of anti-German hate propaganda, namely the 'Holocaust' series. It would also appear that Mr. Mark Bonokoski has been selected as a journalistic hatchetman in conducting a smear campaign directed against me as a person which is calculated to distract the public from the important issues which are of concern to all Canadians of every ethnic group."

Zündel listed the distortions and fictions in Bonokoski's article: what was a "neo-Nazi" other than a smear term?; Zündel had no collection and had never possessed any Nazi uniforms, insignia or military accouterments of any kind except his father's wartime medal. Regarding his work with George Dietz of Liberty Bell, Zündel stated:

"The much-touted Zündel-Dietz connection is certainly exaggerated. I have had occasion to supply Dietz with some historical photographs and Red Cross documents plus some newspaper clippings, all of which material has been in the public domain for around 40 years. Some of this background material may have been used by Dietz for the publication of a book entitled "The Hitler We Loved and Why." I can state from firsthand knowledge, however, that I did not write such a book, nor did I write a review of it.

It is sadly typical of Mr. Bonokoski's efforts at aping his yellow journalist predecessors that he makes it appear as if Mr. Dietz, whose political ideas are not very well known to me, is the only politically-oriented person with whom I have corresponded or with whom I have exchanged photographic and documentary material. Surely Mr. Bonokoski's 'police sources' (KGB?) would reveal the long, cordial and mutually informative communications I have enjoyed with Canadian politicians and journalists and with such fine Jewish gentlemen as Rabbi Elmer Berger of the American Council for Judaism and the noted historian, Benjamin Freedman whom I have known and worked with far longer than I have been acquainted with Mr. Dietz. The people all over the world who have consulted me on political matters number into the thousands, as Mr. Bonokoski's alleged 'sources' will undoubtedly reveal if there is an iota of truth in them."

Continue . . .