Holocaust Denial?

[flobadob]

Apparently Holocaust denial is a crime? Is this only in certain countries or in all countries? Also wjy is it a crime, surely it comes under freedom of speech.

[askyourgran]

I haven't heard about it being a crime, but anyone who denies there was a Holocaust needs sectioning, with all the evidence and the witnesses.

[reefer]

http://en.wikipedia.o...inst_Holocaust_denial

[naomi24]

As far as I'm aware it's not illegal in this country although it is in several others. See here:

http://en.wikipedia.o...inst_Holocaust_denial

I'm reluctant to endorse banning opinions because whilst we can legislate to stop people speaking we can't stop them thinking and stifling opinions doesn't change them however inaccurate they may be.

[Coobeastie]

Its only in some countries & mainly those that had a part in the Holocaust although quite a few more European countries have generalised laws banning genocide denial.

Very efficient records were kept by the Nazis of what they were doing in addition to witness evidence so find it hard to fathom how people can deny that it took place.

[askyourgran]

Question it if you wish wyz, but if you are anywhere around Austwizch or Dachau have a look around at the piles of shoes glasses suitcases etc taken from those poor people who ended their days in the gas chambers. Or perhaps see the old film footage of the Jews in the camps when liberated by the Allies. There are still people around who can tell you about those days.

[cazzz1975]

unlike "creation" there is tangible proof of the holocaust

[steg]

i went to visit Buchenwald, Weimar, when i worked in Germany, the amount of Germans that said in the condolence book (especially people from Weimar) that they never new about it, was staggering and it was just outside the town

[reefer]

I think the argument people have is about the figure of 6 million not that people were gassed and killed in camps.

[tastymorsel]

I think the tangible proof of creation is the fact we are all here "created"

[keyplus90]

The argument I usually have is what reefer mentioned. As for freedom of speech then I know this slogan does not go too far in certain cases.

[jomifl]

There is no doubt in my mind that the 'holocaust' took place though I don't know how many Jews , Romanies, or Homosexuals were actualy burnt. The Zionist lobby seems to have hijacked the 'holocaust', forgetting the other minorites that were murdered by the nazis. I believe that about 10 million Russians were killed when the Germans invaded Russia but nobody gives a damn about them, no fancy memorials designed by famous architects, no days of remembrance throughout the world. The Israelis may remember the 'holocaust' but they haven't learnt much from it.

[LazyGun]

Whilst I can sympathise with the motives of those countries that have made "holocaust denial" a criminal offence, since in the main the topic has been hijacked by nazi sympathisers, and/or racists and obviously some countries would be particularly sensitive to such views, given their own recent history.I remain troubled by the censorship and control that such a law implies however.

Once you start drawing red lines around topics, or issues, and proscribing by law the airing of alternative viewpoints - however wrong-headed and absurd - where do you stop? And who should be responsible for drawing up such limitations? This is why we still have ridiculous, outdated laws such as the blasphemy laws, to protect the tender sensibilities of religious fundamentalists against those devilish cartoonists, or writers or whatever.
So,on balance, repugnant though some of these expressed views are, in countries that hold to the democratic ideal, those that hold extremist views should be allowed to air them, if only so that people can point fingers and laugh at the whackaloons and their prejudices, or their fantastical, unsubstantiated conspiracy theories.

[naomi24]

^^ I agree. Let them speak - and let them face the consequences of reasoned argument. (By the way, LG, the UK blasphemy laws were abolished a couple of years ago).

Keyplus, yes you always put forward that argument, but you never back it up with any reason or evidence for thinking that.

[jomifl]

I got off thread a bit in my previous posting, Free speech means just that and in the west we have free speech but not so free in Germany where a nazi salute is a crime and not a joke. If controversial views are suppressed they go underground and fester in secret societies. Far better to let the idiot and the genius say their piece and we can deride or applaud accordingly.

[sandyRoe]

Only an idiot would deny The holocaust. The Jews weren't the only people to suffer, 20 million Russians died in the war.
Why treat one set of outrages as special?