Posted on 11/17/2005 5:17:01 PM PST by Anti-Bubba182
VIENNA (Reuters) - Historian David Irving, known for his controversial views on World War Two, has been arrested in Austria on suspicion of denying the Holocaust, an interior ministry spokesman said on Thursday.
Irving was arrested on November 11 near the town of Hartberg in the southern province of Styria under a warrant issued in 1989, interior ministry spokesman Rudolf Gollia said.
"He is on remand in Vienna," Gollia said.
Asked what Irving had been arrested for, Gollia said: "It is to do with ... Holocaust denial."
The spokesman declined to comment on whether or when he would be charged.
A High Court ruling in 2000 rejecting Irving's libel action against an American professor and her publishers declared Irving "an active Holocaust denier ... anti-Semitic and racist".
Denying the holocaust is a crime in Austria which carries a sentence of 1-10 years.
Irving's Web site (www.fpp.co.uk) said he had been invited by students to address a university association in Vienna. In a message dated November 11, it said he was on a one-day visit to the Austrian capital.
Irving oughta get on the gulag denial program. It's a much more profitable shtick. Tenure at American universities, pundit chair on the idiot box, congressional seats, all await.
thought provoking holocaust denial books, yes, lovely.
amazing thing to me about holocaust deniers is that they all will very quickly argue that all the Jews SHOULD be killed, but that when a regime took over Europe with that mission at its core, they claim that they never got around to it, or something.
I am refering about the American First Amendment.
We all know Europeans(generally) believe in no such creature.
Gee....sounds like something out of a Michael Moore film.
"But moreover, I'm a friend of truth."
Yeah, State controlled "truth". With friends like this, who needs enemies.
I don't believe in a government (i.e. socicist) agency being the judge of what the truth is.
The Truth doen't need a vangurard of bullyboys to reveal it.
Just defenders willing to stand up and counter such idiocies as Irving promotes.
You only cheapen the virtue of truth with such heavy handed tactics.
Much like the Nazis would use to enforce their version of "Truth" of which Mr. Irving is a big fan of.
"He wasn't arrested here, so no freedom of speech violated."
You have a Very LIMITED view of freedom. The Holocaust didn't happen here. Does that make it any less of a crime?
Completely illogical.
Twenty years? Why not the death penalty for "thought crimes".
Hitler and Goebbels would be soooooo proud of you and the Austrians today.
Am I the only one here who's amused by the irony of the Austrians arresting a Holocaust-denier...and by the thought that in whatever grave he's occupying, Adolf Hitler is probably spinning right now?
The Hitlers and the Gobbels of the world would not have been able to get as far as they did had people stood up for truth at the time. Now, likely out of societal guilt for what DID happen, the Austrians have laws to see that the holocaust doesn't happen again. Google recent polls asking Americans whether or not the holocaust happened. You might be surprised at what the Truth needs to have itself revealed. "vanguard of bullyboys"? Gosh, that's some writing.
Here in my country, I wouldn't be in favor of locking Irving up, but I'm also not in favor of telling the Austrians to live by our Constitution. They can freely decide that for themselves, as if I had anything to say about how they run their country! If they don't like people lying about the holocaust, it's their right to 'splain that to them. If you don't like that, don't go there. If you think it's ok to say the holocaust didn't happen, then we're done talking.
But we Americans do have the first Amendment and you can say whatever you feel like saying, regardless of how ignorant it might be. You don't have the right to be heard, but I support your first amendment right to freely express yourself. Just don't be surprised if someone takes offense and violates your pursuit of happiness.
Well that's nice. You'd be amazed to learn that the First Amendment doesn't apply anywhere except in the United States. So bringing up the US Constitution is rather pointless.
It is quite evident you have no concept of what the Constitution and Declaration of Independence were all about. Yeah, let's round up the people who we disagree with and violate their pursuit of happiness.
Did David Irving really kill 30 million folks?....damn, he's better than Pol Pot, Stalin, Hitler, and Jeffrey Damler put together. Had I known I would be voting your party ticket. Based upon what I've read he's a historian who has written a number of well-read books on the second world war with no criminal record. Perhaps you can enlighten me. As for "Pedro" picking lima beans you might be interested to know that 25% of the criminal prison population in California is made up of illegal aliens. But now we're talking about real criminals, as opposed to "thought criminals"...a distinction you obviously don't get.
It must really suck to live in a Nation with no 1st amendment rights.
Here in Atlanta we recently had a real criminal sentenced to only 30 years for murdering a mother and her two-year old child...shot the child in the head and then burned both of them in the trunk of their car. Two of the twelve jurors (both "minorities") would not vote for the death penalty. Now we have a man with no criminal record facing 20 years in prison for an opinion. What has Western Civilizian come to. The sad and pathetic fact is that here on a "conservative" web site folks are supporting the "thought crime" arrest. George Orwell is loving this stuff.
Long live the 1st amendment in america!
~ Long live the 1st amendment in America! ~
If their was no Lenin or Russian Revolution I believe their would have never been a Hitler and no Jewish mass murders.
Cause and Effect.
Anyway, global abortion deaths will superseded the list below someday.
Talking about killing Jews is worse than killing them?
It is quite evident you read into things what you want to see and enjoy emotional hyperbole. I never once advocated rounding people up and violating their pursuit of happiness. But as a student of human nature, I've noticed that INDIVIDUALS often become offended when beliefs they hold dear are slandered and sometimes they will act out. Is that right? Well no, but it's not surprising either.
Just so you know, there are limits to freedom. You can say anything about anybody, but you may discover that there are laws regarding slander.
Stick to the FACTS and I've got no problem with whatever you want to say, regardless of how offensive it might be at the moment.
Why, are you a Holocaust denier? You are aware, I hope, that the First Amendment applies only to the United States?
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