ThoughtCrime: 11/26/95
Swiss To Expel Christophersen
Thies Christophersen, a writer and journalist has been ordered to leave
Switzerland, according to Swiss newspapers. The aging Christophersen, now
77 years old, was a member of the German army and served in an agricultural
research department at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. He is
best known as the author of a volume, Die Auschwitz-Luege (The Auschwitz
Lie), which recounts his personal wartime experiences. It is estimated
that his book, which is banned in many countries throughout Europe has sold
in excess of 100,000 copies since its appearance in 1973.
The Swiss, mass-circulation daily Blick and other newspapers
wrote that Christophersen probably arrived in Switzerland last summer and
wanted to settle there.
Last year, Christophersen was forced out of Denmark by various extremist
protesters. While in Denmark, Christophersen had been distributing literature
which expressed his views on the Holocaust story. Christophersen has written,
"I never in the least observed anything that even indicated mass killings
in gas chambers."
Christophersen went to Denmark to escape charges in his native Germany
of incitement to violence and racial hatred in 1986. Although Germany attempted
to have Christophersen extradited, Denmark turned down the requests because
he held a Danish residency permit.
A spokesman for the federal prosecutor's office has said that Christophersen
only has until the end of the year to leave Switzerland.
Adapted from The Associated Press 26 Nov. 1995.
"Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime IS death."
George Orwell
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