"Hi, I am German and in my mid-40s.
It is the exact opposite to ?just another fact? in German school teaching. It preoccupies the largest part of all subjects taught in history and social science lessons.
In Germany every detail of WW1, Weimar Republic, WW2 and the Holocaust is taught in history lessons in detail. Every school year there is a special activity on the holocaust with seminars and workshops.
It is rather intense and sobering if you sit in school and from the age of 13-18 years old, every year you hear about your country?s morbid history.
But because of it, you understand better how the situation came about, what people did or did not do and leaned to understand why the sentence ?Never in this country again? is so important.
We can only walk the earth with our heads held up high, if we admit to the atrocities that were committed in our name or our ancestors name.
This is the reason why the denial of the Holocaust is a criminal offensive in Germany and punished by imprisonment.
It is illegal in Germany for the reason that it was a crime committed on German soil by the German government 1933-1945.
Volksverhetzung: ?stirring up the populace?, ?agitation of the people?) is a concept in German criminal law that bans the incitement of hatred against a segment of the population. It often applies in, though it is not limited to, trials relating to Holocaust denial in Germany. The German penal code (Strafgesetzbuch) establishes that someone is guilty of Volksverhetzung if he:
in a manner that is capable of disturbing the public peace:
1. incites hatred against segments of the population or calls for violent or arbitrary measures against them; or
2. assaults the human dignity of others by insulting, maliciously maligning, or defaming segments of the population
There are also special provisions for holocaust denial (added in the 1990s) and speech justifying or glorifying the Nazi government 1933-1945.
Although freedom of speech is mentioned by Article 5 of the Grundgesetz (Germany?s constitution), said article basically protects any non-outlawed speech. Restrictions exist, e.g. against personal insults, use of symbols of unconstitutional organizations, or Volksverhetzung. It is a common misconception that Volksverhetzung includes any spreading of nazism, racist, or other discriminatory ideas. For any hate speech to be punishable as Volksverhetzung, the law requires that said speech be ?qualified for disturbing public peace? either by inciting ?hatred against parts of the populace? or calling for ?acts of violence or despotism against them?, or by attacking ?the human dignity of others by reviling, maliciously making contemptible or slandering parts of the populace?.
Volksverhetzung is a punishable offense under Germany?s criminal code and can lead to up to five years imprisonment. Volksverhetzung is punishable in Germany even if committed abroad and even if committed by non-German citizens, if the incitement of hatred takes effect on German territory?that is, the seditious sentiment was expressed in written or spoken German and disseminated in Germany.
Similar laws exist in UK, Ireland, Sweden and Finland.
?But if someone chooses to believe that it didn?t happen..whats the problem, why should it be a crime?? many people ask.
If someone believes that Jewish people are not humans and should be killed in concentrations camps, that is a problem and it is a crime. Holocaust deniers do not deny it because they have not seen the proof, they deny it because they sympathise with Nazis. Someone has to make a stand against Neo-Nazis and the German people have taken up that task.
If you deny the Holocaust existed then you can argue it should not be taught in history lessons in schools and the likelyhood of it re-occurring is higher. If nobody sees it to be a problem because they are kept ignorant, dictators and manipulators have it easy again.
Link for reference.