Main focus of Tuesday, February 21, 2006

The imprisonment of Holocaust denier David Irving

An Austrian court sentenced the British historian David Irving to three years in prison on Monday, February 20 for denying the Holocaust during several lectures and a press interview he gave in Austria in 1989. He had been wanted on an arrest warrant ever since and was arrested last November during a visit to Austria. He pleaded guilty in court, asserting that he now acknowledged the existence of the Nazi's gas chambers.

La Repubblica - Italy

Editorial writer Miriam Mafai sees David Irving's jailing as symbolic. "The sentence passed by the Vienna correctional tribunal has put an end once and for all to the debate about the Holocaust and the extermination of the Jews during the Second World War, in the heart of our very civilised Europe. The Holocaust is an acknowledged fact and those who try to deny it are guilty. ... Most of us did not need this: numerous are those who have seen the barracks and cremation ovens at Auschwitz, numerous are those who have been overcome with emotion reading witnesses' accounts. ... This sentence is not only intended to resolve a historical debate, but also to strengthen the determination to prevent the revival of right-wing Nazi groups in Europe and reaffirm the inviolability of the State of Israel."   (21/02/2006)

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Sydsvenskan - Sweden

The southern Swedish newspaper welcomes the fact that David Irving has been sentenced to three years in jail: "For Irving's 'research' to have been so effectively discredited and exposed is an important step... It's impossible to say whether the Austrian sentence will have a preventive effect in the future. Misjudgements and distortions of history are to be found everywhere and in all kinds of situations. The main thing is that false claims – such as claims that the gas chambers and the extermination [of the Jews] never existed – are being refuted and exposed as such in open public debate." (21/02/2006)

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Der Standard - Austria

In his column, Hans Rauscher says that those who argue that neo-Nazis are also entitled to freedom of speech are "mostly people who haven't had much to do with them. (...) The popular argument that 'crimes of opinion' can't be punished is unfounded. 'Holocaust deniers' like David Irving have no 'opinion'. They know – or they can if they want to – that these terrible crimes were committed and how they were committed. But they want to deny them, trivialise them and make them politically acceptable. That's the crucial point. Those who constantly play down the crimes of National Socialism and go to great trouble to find arguments to support their theories want to see it reinstalled as a political alternative. This is nothing less than the reactivation of National Socialism." (21/02/2006)

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Neue Zürcher Zeitung - Switzerland

"By banning freedom of speech, the State assumes the role of guardian of public morals. Discussion about certain events in the past is transferred from the local pub to the courtroom," comments Andres Wysling, who doubts this is a good thing. "There are good reasons for protecting freedom of speech in historical discussion and avoiding laws which have the effect of gagging such discussion. People like Irving are living testimony that false doctrines also have their adherents. They force the public to confront the most unpleasant historical issues on a regular basis and – hopefully – to learn lessons from that history." (21/02/2006)

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The Independent - United Kingdom

The progressive daily says it has "deep misgivings" about classifying Holocaust denial as a criminally punishable offence. However, the editorial continues: "We understand why Austria, in common with Germany and half a dozen other European countries, as well as Israel, should have such a law on its statute book. It stands as a perpetual reminder of the past and as a declaration of intent, enshrined with all seriousness in the legal instruments of the state, that nothing like the Holocaust will be allowed to happen ever again. And it is arguable that Austria, which was never called upon to purge its Nazi past as profoundly as was Germany, still has need of such a law." (21/02/2006)

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El Mundo - Spain

"The Irving affair would undoubtedly have gone unnoticed by international public opinion had it not been for the Muhammad cartoon controversy," writes the daily. "Europe's laws against anti-semitism have become a poisonous exception that Islamic intellectuals have used as a lightning rod in recent days to denounce the West's double-standard argument. Far from bowing to the demands of those who wish to see more bans in order to fight "Islamophobia", European governments must abolish an obsolete set of laws and reaffirm the West's commitment to freedom of expression." (21/02/2006)

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