Ernst Zündel expelled from Canada

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Tuesday, March 1, 2005

White supremacist and Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel was expelled from Canada and arrived in Germany today. A Federal Court judge ruled that his anti-Semitic activities were "not only a threat to Canada's national security, but also a threat to the international community of nations."

In a press release given by B'nai Brith Canada, executive vice president Frank Dimant said that "For decades Zundel has spewed his venom and imbued his brand of hate in a new generation of white supremacist groups that had made him a hero ... Zundel's day of reckoning has finally come." Canadian Jewish Congress National President Ed Morgan was quoted as saying that “this is a significant day for the Jewish community (of Canada) and for all those who treasure tolerance in a multicultural society ... Zundel’s departure demonstrates Canada’s abhorrence for those who would propagate Holocaust denial and antisemitism. It brings closure to our efforts to bring this man to justice."

Zündel's Toronto lawyer, Peter Lindsay, said Zündel is "very disillusioned about the process and about being the victim of a secret trial, and now being deported based on evidence he's never seen."

Upon arriving in Germany, Zündel, 65, was immediately taken into custody by authorities on the grounds that he was running a web site denying the existence of the Holocaust, which is a crime in that country. Prosecutors in the city of Mannheim have issued a warrant for his arrest according to the Associated Press. A spokeswoman for the federal Justice Ministry, on condition of anonymity, said authorities were able to open a case against Zundel because his Holocaust-denying site can be accessed in Germany.

In 1977, Zündel founded a small press publishing house called Samisdat Publishers which issued such pamphlets as The Hitler We Loved and Why and Did Six Million Really Die? by Richard Harwood aka Richard Verrall (a British neo-Nazi leader) as well as booklets claiming that UFOs were actually Nazi secret weapons operated from secret Nazi military bases in Antarctica. Zundel lived in Canada for 42 years as a landed immigrant. His last two years were spent in a Toronto jail, where he was held under the Canadian security certificate law. The law was passed after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, and allows the Canadian government to hold suspects of terrorism without charge, based on secret evidence that does not have to be disclosed to a suspect or his defense.

Sources

Canada expels Holocaust denier, BBC News, March 1, 2005.
Canada returns Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel to Germany, Haaretz, March 02, 2005.
Ernst Zundel deported, now in German custody, CTV.ca, March 1 2005.
"Zundel’s day of reckoning has finally come," says B’nai Brith Canada, B'nai Brith Website, March 1 2005.
CJC comments on deportation of Ernst Zundel, Canadian Jewish Congress Website, March 1, 2005.

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