From 1978 onwards, after the publication of Bonokoski's article and the German government raids, Jewish organizations began a steady and relentless campaign to harass and silence Zündel through political lobbying in both Canada and Germany and the use of the judicial system in both countries. The means used was to criminalize his dissenting views on the Holocaust, by repeated charges of "inciting hatred" and "spreading false news" and to discredit him in the eyes of the public as a "fanatical neo-Nazi." Jewish lobby groups worked closely with governments and the media, both of which played crucial roles in their effort to stop any questioning of the Holocaust and to whip up public indignation and "anti-Nazi" hysteria.

This time period also saw an increasing and escalating pattern of violence against Zündel from the terrorist organization, the Jewish Defence League, and in later years Anti-Racist Action. The Jewish Defence League had long been listed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the U.S. as a terrorist organization which over the years had claimed responsibility for numerous fire bombings, pipe bombings and shootings resulting in deaths and injuries to those perceived to be "enemies of the Jewish people". The FBI 1981 report of claimed terrorist incidents in the U.S. described the Jewish Defence League as follows:

"The JDL was organized in September of 1968, by Rabbi Meir D. Kahane, who proclaimed that violence is necessary to accomplish the objectives of the JDL. Headquartered in New York City, the JDL is composed primarily of young Jewish-American extremists who consider themselves to be protectors of 'Jewish rights' and supporters of the State of Israel. Chapters of the JDL are located in several of the larger metropolitan areas of the United States. Many JDL members have been trained in self-defence and the use of firearms. (FBI, "Analysis of Claimed Terrorist Incidents in the U.S. 1981", p. 22)

Significantly, during this time of violent demonstrations by anti-Zündel groups in front of his house, attacks on Zündel and his supporters in front of courthouses, watching and besetting of his home by JDL members who would patrol the sidewalk with German Shepherd dogs, JDL members pounding on the walls and roof of his house around the clock or shining powerful lights in the windows at night, and years of terror telephone harassment and death threats (resulting in at least three charges and criminal convictions of Jewish individuals in Toronto), neither Zündel nor his supporters were ever charged with any violent offence, nor in aiding, abetting or counselling such offences. At all times Zündel worked with police authorities and respected the judicial constraints imposed upon him by his bail conditions over a nine year period.

'DID SIX MILLION REALLY DIE?" In 1979 the Attorney General of British Columbia asked the Attorney General of Ontario Roy McMurtry to consider laying charges of inciting hatred against Samisdat Publishing Ltd. based on pamphlets they had received from Zündel's firm. This was reported in the Toronto Sun on November 22, 1979.

In response to this threat, Zündel mailed out thousands of copies of a 32 page booklet entitled "Did Six Million Really Die?" written by a British author, to Canadian lawyers, politicians, media representatives, school teachers and clergymen with an appeal that Canadians "evaluate this information for yourself, before your right to be informed is denied you through official action." In forewords and afterwords published with the booklet Zündel stated:

"This booklet has been sent to you free of charge as a public service. After reading it, you are perfectly free to agree or to disagree with its content. You may even ignore it and leave it unread. Truth has no need of coercion. Those who choose to ignore the truth are not punished by law - they punish themselves. We of Samisdat Publishers do not believe that you should be forced to read something, any more than we believe that you should be forced not to read something. Obviously, we have much more faith in your soundness of mind and good judgment than do the enactors and enforcers of the 'Hate Law!' Whether you agree or disagree with the facts presented in this booklet, we invite you to assist us in reclaiming and safeguarding the freedoms we have all so long enjoyed, until now, in Canada."

"I believe that Zionists and their sympathisers are using the letter of the law to defy the spirit of the law; that they are using words like 'hate' and 'racism' to conceal their very real attempt to suppress the truth. I do not believe that the so-called 'Hate Law' section of the Criminal Code was intended to be an instrument for the suppression of free enquiry and discussion. The 'Hate Law' was adopted by the Canadian Parliament as a result of almost exclusively Jewish-Zionist agitation. Now it appears that it is being invoked to prevent the exposure of the biggest money-raising racket of all time, namely the Holocaust Lie. The real issues in this matter are not 'anti-semitism', 'racism' or 'hate' but Truth, Freedom of Speech and Press, Freedom of Enquiry and ultimately, Justice. Help us safeguard these precious freedoms now! EXERCISE YOUR RIGHTS AND DUTIES AS FREE CITIZENS WHILE THERE IS STILL TIME BY GIVING THIS ISSUE MAXIMUM ATTENTION AND PUBLICITY! CONTACT ME FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, INTERVIEWS AND ARRANGEMENTS FOR PUBLIC SPEAKING APPEARANCES:"

The booklet "Did Six Million Really Die?" set out the thesis of what is now known as Holocaust revisionism. The thesis holds that there was no policy by Nazi Germany to exterminate the Jews, that no order from Hitler to do so exists, that there were no homicidal gas chambers for the killing of Jews and others in Nazi-occupied Europe, that the allegation of homicidal gas chambers was Allied wartime atrocity propaganda, that six million Jews in reality did not die during the war, that the figure is much less, probably in the hundreds of thousands. These Jewish losses were due to epidemics and malnutrition in the concentration camps to which they had been deported for forced labour and due also to the vagaries of war.

GERMAN ACTIONS AGAINST ZÜNDEL

Seizure of Bank Accounts and Charges of "Agitating the People" ("Volkoverhetzung")

In January of 1981, the West German government seized Zündel's postal banking account in Stuttgart through which Zündel had received many donations and payments for books and tapes. The seizure was done without any charges being laid.

On March 23-24, 1981, the German Ministry of the Interior ordered the largest police raid in German history into some two thousand private homes for the purpose of seizing books and tapes as "Nazi literature." Some ten thousand police officers, three hundred prosecutors and fifty judges were involved in these raids.

Zündel testified:

"The police obtained the addresses of people who had donated money to me by breaking the German bank laws and taking the addresses off donation slips and then raiding these people's homes." (Postal transcript, p. 140)

Large amounts of materials and books were seized in raids all over Germany and were taken to Stuttgart where they were examined for a year. Zündel was charged with "agitating the people", a crime in West Germany.

Hysterical press reports of the raids in Canada and Germany stated that the bulk of neo-Nazi material circulating in West Germany originated from Zündel's publishing house. In Canada, large headlines screamed "Metro man branded a Nazi - His pamphlets nabbed in W. German raids" and "German raids find Metro Nazi propaganda."

On August 26, 1982, Zündel was acquitted by the Stuttgart District Court which held that Zündel's writings were not hate literature. The court ordered the West German government to pay Zündel's legal expenses and to return the money in the seized bank accounts to Zündel together with interest.

This vindication of Zündel was not reported in the Canadian media except in the ethnic press. The media continued to label Zündel as a "neo-Nazi" who sent "Nazi propaganda" to West Germany.

Denial of German Passport

In 1982, the German government refused to renew Zündel's passport under a section of the German law first promulgated by the Hitler government against Jewish refugees who published anti-Nazi material while in exile. The law stated that a passport may be withheld if "the security or other serious interests of the Federal Republic of Germany are in danger." In 1985 the West German government again refused to renew the passport.

An official with the West German consulate in Toronto, Guenther Overfeld, explained in an interview with the Globe & Mail how Zündel threatened the security of West Germany:

"It has been the consistent policy of all West German governments since 1949 to reconcile with the Jews as well as the State of Israel. The positions of Mr. Zündel are greatly contradictory to that policy and the feeling of the German public....[Zündel] is aiming at a broad Canadian public and declaring himself as a German citizen - obviously the interests of (West Germany) are threatened." Globe & Mail, April 2, 1985)

Zündel's lawyer in Germany had appealed the 1982 refusal to renew. During the appeal process in 1985, his lawyer was allowed, in the presence of a policeman at the courthouse, to study (but not copy) various documents in the West German government's files used in the passport proceedings against Zündel which indicated that the Ministry of the Interior, which had no jurisdiction in passport matters, had pressured the German Foreign Office relentlessly since at least 1980 to have Zündel's passport withdrawn.

The files showed that high level officials from the German Federal Intelligence Service had visited Ottawa for talks aimed at getting the Canadian government to ban Zündel's use of the postal system.

The German government files also indicated that Ben Kayfetz of the Canadian Jewish Congress had written to the German consulate general Koch in Toronto, requesting copies of Zündel's materials as they wished to inspect them. Koch replied that "I had to answer this question in the negative." Kayfetz then asked Koch to get samples from Germany. Diplomatic telegrams were dispatched back and forth between the consulate, the embassy and Germany and ultimately sample letters of Zündel's newsletters from 1980 and 1981 were provided by the Federal Ministry of the Interior and turned over to the CJC.

German officials appeared to be under the impression that if Zündel was deprived of his passport, he would be subject to deportation by the Canadian authorities. On September 10, 1981, the Public Prosecutor of Stuttgart, Vogt-Binnet, intervened in the Zündel passport question and demanded that "the extension of validity of his passport be denied to Zündel and that restrictive steps be taken against him in terms of time and location... According to information received at this office, the Canadian authorities have the intention of deporting Mr. Zündel from Canada when he is no longer in possession of a valid German passport."

In reply, the consul general indicated that he had already re-issued Zündel's passport for a period of one year:

"On 18 August 1981, Mr. Zündel's passport was extended upon application for the duration of one year. At this time, the comments of the Public Prosecutor's in Stuttgart which had been asked for by letters dated 3 June and 17 July, 1981, had not yet been received by the consulate general.

Also after having received the information contained in the telex from the Public Prosecutor's Office referred to, the consulate general does not see its way for the time being, to take passport restricting measures, since the element of avoiding criminal prosecution is absent here. The consulate general therefore leaves it up to the Public Prosecutor's Office to have a 'wanted' notice written out against him in the police gazette and to summon him via the consulate general to return to Germany. The consulate general will then once again investigate into the reasons for refusing to extend the validity of his passport. (Signed) Dr. Koch."

In 1982, the question of whether or not Zündel's passport should be renewed was again examined by the consul general in Toronto. By letter dated April 19, 1982 to the German Foreign Office, the consul general stated that "a renewed detailed examination" had revealed that measures in pursuance of s. 7(1)(a) of the law governing passports was not possible in his view. It was explained that the intended purpose, namely a removal of Zündel from Canada, could not be achieved by a withdrawal of the passport. The letter explained that because of his legal status as landed immigrant, Zündel would be allowed to remain in Canada even in the case of a withdrawal of his passport. It was therefore not a suitable means of eliminating an impairment to the reputation of the Federal Republic of Germany.

In a second letter, in November of 1982, the consul general indicated that he would be extending the passport unless he received a directive to the contrary from higher authority. He received a directive given by the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs which in turn acted under pressure from the Ministry of the Interior. The files showed that the Ministry of the Interior wanted to stop the importation of Zündel's material into Germany and was determined to use every means possible, including the refusal to extend the validity of the passport. (Submissions by attorney Jürgen Rieger, in the administrative law proceedings Zündel/FRG, 18 A 1746/84, dated August 7, 1985)

Zündel appealed the refusal of the consul general to renew the passport. On May 9, 1984, the Administrative Court of Cologne decided that West Germany was not obliged to renew the passport. Zündel appealed to the Administrative High Court for North Rhine-Westphalia, which allowed his appeal on March 31, 1987 (Ref. 18 A 1746/84 - 9 K 2757/83 Cologne). The court stated in its reasons:

"The High Court does not consider that under the pertinent law, particularly of the Federal Constitutional Court, the conduct of the appellant has posed any danger to significant interests of the Federal Republic of Germany or her lands."

An appeal of this decision by the Federal Republic of Germany was rejected by the Federal Administrative Court on July 7, 1987 (Ref. BVerwG 1 B 66.87) on the grounds that it did not constitute a matter of fundamental significance. Zündel obtained his German passport which he retains to this day.

Seizure of Postal Banking Account - 1984

The Prosecuting Attorney's Office of Stuttgart investigated Zündel because of his "Samisdat Newsletters" No. 59 of November 20, 1984 and No. 80 of November 12, 1986. As a result of the investigations, the West German government seized Zündel's postal banking account. The investigation did not result in any charges being laid.

On December 9, 1992, the District Court of Stuttgart (9 Qe 42/92 - 4 Js 86061/87) determined that Zündel was entitled to be compensated for the criminal investigation to which he had been subjected.

Laws Against "Auschwitz Lie"

In 1985, the West German government, following the example of Israel which had passed a similar law in the Knesset, passed a law making it a criminal offence to "deny Nazi Germany's systemic annihilation of most of Europe's Jews." (Globe & Mail, March 15, 1985)

In 1991, Zündel was convicted of denigrating the memory of the dead and agitating the people for video tapes on Holocaust revisionism distributed in Germany. These tapes were not distributed by Zündel in Germany but by anonymous people using no return addresses or return addresses that turned out to be false. At his trial he testified he had not distributed the tapes and the German prosecutors produced no evidence that he had done so. Nevertheless, he was convicted.

In December of 1991, the judge sharply reduced the fine Zündel had been sentenced to pay by two-thirds and refused to issue a prison sentence on the grounds that "no serious danger emanates from the accused." (Revisionismus, Der Verfassungsschutz Informiert, Bavarian Minister of Internal Affairs, 1995; Toronto Sun, December 18, 1991)

Zündel appealed to the District Court of Munich. Although both Zündel and his attorney were advised that the hearing date had been cancelled due to health reasons of both Zündel and his lawyer, the court in fact went ahead and heard the appeal in their absence and dismissed it in November of 1993.

The Bavarian Provincial High Court and Court of Appeal (Ref. 0dSs I 1352/94) dismissed an appeal from this decision on October 10, 1994 on the grounds that Zündel's physician's statement had been insufficient to document his inability to travel. The adequacy of the physician's statement had not been questioned before the appeals nor had supplementary medical reports been demanded by the court.

Zündel appealed the decision to the Secretary of the European Human Rights Commission in Strassbourg. The case is still pending.

Anonynous Letter - 1994

Proceedings against Zündel were initiated in the District Court of Nürnberg- Fürth (Ref. 403 Js 34911/94) on the basis of an anonymous letter from Canada which German prosecutors assumed had been written by Zündel. The proceedings were subsequently abandoned when it was shown that Zündel did not write the letter. Charges of false accusation were brought against the person who had reported the letter to the police but were later dropped on the grounds that the person had not acted with the intent to deceive.

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