The French Court of Appeals today confirmed the sentence imposed by a lower court on Rene Faurisson, a senior lecturer at Lyon University who has denied, in public speeches and writings, that the Holocaust ever took place. He had been sued originally by several Jewish organizations.
Faurisson, convicted by a Paris court in July, 1981, of “insulting the memory of Nazi victims” was ordered by the Court of Appeals to pay one Franc (15 cents) in damages to organizations of former deportees and resistance fighters plus 14,000 Francs (about $2,000) in legal costs to the plaintiffs. Although the fine is a symbolic token, the verdict was hailed as a timely reminder to other apologists for the Nazis.
The Court of Appeals stressed in its ruling that the defendant and other persons un-named were trying to deny wartime Nazi atrocities as well as the Holocaust and the existence of death camps.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
