Manfred Roeder Sentenced for Holocaust Comment

An outspoken German Nationalist was sentenced Thursday to two years in prison without parole for “denying” the Holocaust. Manfred Roeder, 70, was sentenced for having referred to the Holocaust as “humbug” during an August 1998 election rally in the eastern German city of Stralsund.

With no First Amendment to protect them, Germans face legal action for questioning the orthodox Holocaust story. The rally at which Roeder spoke part of his parliamentary campaign as a candidate for the National Party of Germany. His imprisonment clearly makes him a “political prisoner” in Germany.

During his trial, Roeder said a tape of his speech had been “manipulated and falsified.” Roeder asserted that statements that would have cleared him were edited out. The judge, however, agreed with three witnesses who said the tape was genuine. The Roeder case exemplifies the lack of freedom in today's Germany.