Historical interest

Ex-policeman accused of Holocaust denial

The defendant affirmed that he never wanted to condone Nazi crimes.

(Bild: Stockner, Krone KREATIV)

A retired police officer stood trial in Graz on Monday for National Socialist reactivation. He is said to have denied the Holocaust and glorified Nazi crimes on social media. The accused claimed that he only wanted to point out things that had not been mentioned before. His defense lawyer spoke of historical interest.

"From 2015, i.e. while he was still an active police officer, the accused deliberately spread Nazi propaganda via social media, denied the Holocaust and glorified Adolf Hitler," emphasized public prosecutor Alexandra Ibler in her plea. "He shared postings claiming that living conditions in Auschwitz were good, that the prisoners were well fed and that the mass murder of the Jews was a lie."

"People are greeting normally again"
He had made these postings accessible to a wide audience because everyone could see his profile and he had thousands of online friends. He had also forwarded messages via messenger services such as Adolf Hitler giving the Hitler salute and the text: Due to Corona, no more shaking hands, but normal greetings again.

 "Holocaust denial is not a historical debate, but a criminal offense," the prosecutor made very clear. "The Prohibition Act is 80 years old and you can see from the defendant, who as a police officer should have been a role model, how relevant it still is," the prosecutor concluded.

Holocaust denial is not a historical debate, but a criminal offense.

Staatsanwältin Alexandra Ibler

The 62-year-old's defense lawyer emphasized that his client only had a historical interest, especially in the k+k period. "Nothing from the Third Reich was found in his house during the search. He never wanted to glorify or promote anything. But even a policeman doesn't know the entire legal situation."

"I haven't looked through all the articles"
The pensioner himself emphasized that he never intended to spread Nazi ideologies. "I didn't even look through most of the posts, I just read the titles and then shared them." - "But that is your fault and does not serve to exonerate you. You should pay all the more attention to what you post or share," said the presiding judge Julia Noack, refusing to accept this justification.

I just wanted to point out the dead German soldiers who were never mentioned in this way.

Der Angeklagte

With a post about the Rhine meadow camps (where different groups of tens of thousands of prisoners were imprisoned in open fields in 1945, where they had to dig holes in the ground to sleep, note), for example, he only wanted to point out the dead German soldiers who were not mentioned in the media. "Every person who dies in a war is one too many. And every human life is worth the same, regardless of religion," says the pensioner.

The jury is expected to reach a verdict in the late afternoon.