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.