Holocaust denial - should it be illegal?

[arightcharlie]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4730832.stm

A holocaust denial trial (some guy said that it didn't happen in the conventional interpretation) has just begun in Austria.

Did you know that in these countries it is actually ILLEGAL to say it never happened. (even if for whatever reason, you believe that)

Austria
Belgium
Czech Republic
France
Germany
Israel
Lithuania
Poland
Slovakia
Switzerland

Whatever your thoughts on the actual holocaust, do you think it right that people aren't allowed to say what they might think? I mean, isn't it a freedom of speech issue?

(btw, I've been to dachau, it certainly looks to me like it happened...)

[MadcatwomanEnterprises]

I couldn't believe this when I heard it this morning. Some people like to believe there are little green men on the moon, doesn't mean we have to jail them for saying it (although a strait-jacket would be helpful).

It's his opinion and he is entitled to hold it, whether it is right or wrong.

Personally, I would like to believe I am a glamorous 19 year old blonde and a size 10. Doesn't mean it's anywhere near true, but it would be my right to believe it was ;-)

[shezz]

Believe is a funny thing, it can cause so much trouble not just between Religion or Nations but also between you and I, just because I don't believe what someone else's believe is, should not make me right or them wrong, and vice versa.

I do not believe in god, but at the same time I do not dis-believe in god either I have no proof of his existance, but on the other hand I do believe that there is some sort of life force outside of the world, even though there has been no proof of existance.

Should I be locked up

[cutpricegoodies]

I think it's somewhat ridiculous that laws should be passed on belief, what next, will not believing in the Koran be a crime.
It's a possibility if the other thread becomes true.
Will we have different laws in different counties?
Like America has with it's states.

[emma5721]

on aol today
the whole story
he has retracted what he said apparently 17 years ago
sensitive subject i know but how does jailing someone for 3 years gonna change anything - i suppose in austria and many other countires its entirely understandable to be illegal
just sad and horrid the whole thing


British historian David Irving has been jailed for three years after admitting a charge of denying the Holocaust.
Irving insisted during his one-day hearing in the Austrian capital Vienna that he had a change of heart and now acknowledged the Nazis' Second World War slaughter of six million Jews.
Irving, 67, was arrested in Austria on November 11 when he arrived to give a lecture to students.
He was detained on a warrant issued in 1989 under Austrian laws that make Holocaust denial a crime, and has remained in custody.
The charges stemmed from speeches which Irving delivered that year in Vienna and in the southern town of Leoben

The historian conceded in court that he erred in contending there were no Nazi gas chambers at Auschwitz.
Irving told the jury of six women and two men the Holocaust was "just a fragment of my area of interest'', adding: "In no way did I deny the killings of millions of people by the Nazis.''
But the historian, handcuffed and wearing a navy blue suit, arrived at court carrying a copy of one of his most controversial books - Hitler's War, which challenges the extent of the Holocaust.
Earlier, he told journalists he considered it "ridiculous'' that he was standing trial for remarks made 17 years ago.
Before the trial began, Irving told reporters he now acknowledges the Nazis systematically slaughtered Jews during the Second World War.
In 1992, a judge in Germany fined Irving the equivalent of £4,000 for publicly insisting the Nazi gas chambers at Auschwitz were a hoax.

[MadcatwomanEnterprises]

Austria - the country that only recently outlawed compulsory sterilisation of people with mental problems (Downs etc).

[damian_steele]

The Austrians are doing very well at showing how little they have learned from history. After all, it was one of their own who created a society where the views of the ruling elite were inflexible and unchanging; where a rule made had to be followed no matter how ridiculous it was and the punishment for breaching those laws was imprisonment or death.

After such recent battles over freedom of speech and how the western world accepts that everyone may have their own opinions, the Austrians clearly demonstrate that they do not wish to be part of a more liberal society. They show to the world that they are prepared to punish a man not for what he has done, but what he has said. How soon will they make it illegal to even think about issues in a manner which is not state sanctioned?