I promised you yesterday I would tell you about Saturday's Free Speech
League meeting in Vancouver that was being beset by the mob "invited"
at the behest of we can guess what interests. There have been what seems
rather desperate moves to contain free people from speaking the truth -
and I will let you know just as soon as I know additional info. I have
not been able to contact my main source for details
In the meantime, I want to do some follow-up on the Guenther Deckert ZGram I did a few days ago. The injustice done to that German right wing leader, imprisoned for no worse "crime" than that of having translated the Leuchter Report and introduced David Irving at some meeting, really shocked and incensed a lot of people.
One ZGram reader took up my suggestion and wrote as follows to the Ambassador of Germany in Washington:
"Dear Ambassador:
"I have just learned of the imprisonment in Germany of Guenther Deckert. The circumstances as related to me are so bizarre that if even only partly true they would cast a deep shadow on the reputation of your country.
"What I have been told is that this man is in prison for challenging certain "facts" about the "Holocaust"; that he was retried after being found not guilty; that his sentence has been increased during his term in prison; and that he is now being harassed by prison authorities by withholding mail.
"These actions would be shocking if committed by a third-world government. Do individuals in Germany today have no Constitutional protection against such government actions?
"I'm not holding up the United States as perfect in the area of rights but I'm sure you know that none of the things done to Deckert (if true) would have passed our Constitutional protections for the individual in the area of free speech and legal rights. I would appreciate a clear answer to my question. Do individual Germans have such protection, and if not, why not?"
The answer received was a typical non-answer:
"This is in response to your letter, dated June 8, Ambassador Chrobog, who has asked me to reply.
"In response to the issues addressed in your letter, I have enclosed two official papers which might be of interest to you. The first one is titled "Combating Right-Wing Violence and Hate Crimes in Germany." The other paper is an excerpt from Germany's official website - http://www.germany-info.org - titled "Freedom of Speech and Recent Legal Controversies in Germany." This paper documents the German authorities' recent efforts to combat abuse of the Internet by right-wing organizations. Please feel free to visit this home page for any additional information."
Thereupon my ZGram reader wrote to me:
"I took up your suggestion to write the Embassy of the (Federal Republic of Germany) about the case of Guenther Deckert. Just got their response and, as you might have expected, it's awful.
"The response was a letter from "Terstegen, Consul General" (apparently he is an Indonesian as he has no first name) enclosing two papers, one a statistical compilation about "hate crimes" in Germany which doesn't relate in any way to my questions about Deckert's mistreatment.
"As a matter of fact it seems to imply that Deckert's offense has little to do with the anti-foreigner violence, etc. dwelt on in the paper. It contains this interesting sentence, "Nearly all acts of violence were committed under the influence of alcohol. Only a very small number of perpetrators seem to be motivated by a coherent right-wing ideology. About 4% of convicted offenders are actual members of extreme-right parties or organizations."
"No examples of violence committed by 'Holocaust deniers' is presented.
"In other words 'Holocaust denial' has nothing to do with these acts of violence. Nevertheless, despite this internally admitted fact, the paper goes on to state that 'In Germany it is a federal crime punishable by up to five years in prison to deny the Holocaust's existence.'
"Well, we knew that, didn't we? Too bad they can't explain why such a law is needed to imprison Guenther Deckert. Or why it's needed at all.
"But worse, also enclosed is a paper entitled 'Freedom of Speech and Recent Legal Controversies in Germany', prepared by the German Information Center in New York and apparently authored by 'Susan Steiner, Cornelius Becker and David Lazar', otherwise unidentified. I'll fax you a copy. It's right out of the ADL press release department containing all the usual smears.
"Anyone questioning any fact about the Holocaust is an anti-semite (Arthur Butz and Ernst Zundel are specifically named), everything about the big H is 'proven', etc.
"It's nauseating and should have been an embarrassment to the FRG. Apparently it's not."
Here are some statistics supplied to my reader, titled "Combating Right-Wing Violence and Hate Crimes in Germany" which, in a country of 81 million, has a resident foreigner population of 7.2 million.
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Year Number of violent offenders cases of murder
1990 309 0
1991 1492 3
1992 2639 17
1993 2232 3
1994 1489 0
1995 837 0
1996 781 1
(All statistics provided by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution)
A small number of the violent offences were motivated by anti-Semitism (29). In 1996, there was a decrease of 27% in the total number of offences motivated by anti-Semitism (from 1,155 in 1995 to 846 in 1996)
Major incidents:
August 1992 Rostock arson attack against an asylum shelter
November 1992 Moelln three Turks are killed in an arson attack
May 1993 Solingen five Turks are killed in an arson attack
March 1994 and
May 1995 Luebeck arson attacks against a synagogue
Measures taken:
December 1993 Moelln: One arsonist was sentenced to life in prison. The other received the maximum juvenile sentence of 10 years.
October 1995 Solingen The one adult received 15 years, and the three juveniles received maximum sentences of 10 years.
April 1995 Luebeck Four arsonists were sentenced to terms ranging from two-and-a-half years to four-and-a-half years.
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Now I ask you: Wasn't 1996 the year when all hell broke loose around the Zundelsite because Germany saw itself threatened by the documents we had put up under the heading "Did Six Million Really Die?" Where is the evidence that Revisionism was (or is) a threat to Jews in Germany? Where is the justification for imprisoning a man like Guenther Deckert for translating the Leuchter Report?
For further study of the official attitude of Germany regarding "Holocaust Deniers" such as Guenther Deckert, I highly recommend you download and study the document titled "Freedom and Speech and Recent Legal Controversies in Germany". It is a fascinating piece of attempted thought control and can be found at http://www.germany-info.org
Ingrid
Thought for the Day:
"Liberals plead for tolerance and compassion, except for people they define as intolerant."
(Nelson Waller)