Jews, Others Criticize Compromise on German ‘auschwitz Lie’ Law

Proposed legislation that would criminalize the neo-Nazi propaganda claim that the Holocaust never occurred — the socalled “Auschwitz lie” — continued to bedevil officials and legislators here despite a compromise reached by the government coalition partners last Friday intended to avoid a bruising debate in the Bundestag.

The compomise was sharply attacked today by local Jewish and non-Jewish groups and by prominent individuals, including members of the coalition parties. Helmut Leonardy, chairman of the West German Association of Judges, called it a “bad compromise” likely to worsen rather than improve the present situation.

Heinz Galinski, head of the West Berlin Jewish community, said the compromise failed to take into account the unique character of the Third Reich’s annihilation policy against Jews. He also said that the bickering among the various parties over so grave a matter seriously damaged West Germany’s image. “As a former inmate of Auschwitz I feel myself offended by this continuous quarrel,” Galinski said.

EQUATES HOLOCAUST WITH ‘TERROR REGIMES’

The most offensive feature of the compromise legislation from the standpoint of German Jews and others is that it equates the Holocaust with the crimes of “terror regimes” against Germans during and after World War II. Persons who claim for example that millions of Germans were not expelled from the eastern regions of Germany after the war would be subject to the same penalties as those who allege the Holocaust was a hoax. Another dubious element of the compromise is that it does not consider the “Auschwitz lie” an offense perse but rather an insult to relatives of persons who perished in the Holocaust. The coalition parties agreed to empower State Prosecutors to initiate legal action against persons who propagate the insult. Until now, proceedings of this kind were possible only when initiated by the victims.

Leonardy said it would be “practically impossible” to prove that persons who deny the Holocaust as such, thereby insulted individual Jews. It would be appropriate for the “sense of decency” of the German people, he added, if the “Auschwitz lie” was not linked to denials that Germans in general suffered as a result of the war.

SPD REJECTS EQUATION

Han-Jochen Vogel, floor leader of the opposition Social Democratic Party (SPD) in the Bundestag took much the same position. He said his party rejected the equation of crimes against Jews with crimes against Germans. Heiner Giessler, Secretary General of the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU), urged a stronger law. He said any individuals who knowingly denied Nazi crimes against Jews, who claim Jews were not sent to the gas chambers, are liars and intellectual criminals and should be punished accordingly. He criticized the coalition compromise for waiving the prosecution of those who simply say there was no Holocaust.

The legislation, introduced by the CDU, ran into trouble almost immediately from coalition and opposition parties which insisted that the courts were not the proper place to fight the “Auschwitz lie.” That position was taken by elements of the CDU, its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the opposition Green Party.

The Social Democrats demanded a strong law but could not agree with the CDU over its contents. Justice Minister Hans Engelhard, of the Free Democratic Party (FDP), the CDU’s junior coalition partner, insisted that a law against denial of the Holocaust was absolutely necessary. The debate in the Bundestag promised to be fierce and the compromise was reached Friday only two hours before the floor debate was scheduled to begin.

One reason why a law is considered essential is widespread concern here over reactions abroad, particularly in Israel and in the American Jewish community if no legislation is passed. Coalition spokesmen said it intended to pass the law before May 8, the 40th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany.