Processes - Convicted Holocaust denier Haverbeck goes into revision
After the conviction of Holocaust denier Ursula Haverbeck, her defense filed for revision. "This means that the proceedings are not legally binding and will be reviewed by the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court at the request of a German Press Agency spokesperson.
The 95-year-old was sentenced to a total of one year and four months in prison on June 26 for incitement. According to the Hamburg Regional Court, a Berlin judgment from 2022 in another case of incitement against Haverbeck is included in the sentence. In that trial, she was sentenced to one year in prison, but she has not yet served the sentence. Four months of the sentence passed in Hamburg are also considered served due to prolonged procedural delays. According to the judgments in Berlin and Hamburg, Haverbeck will therefore continue to serve a total of one year in prison.
The prosecution accused the woman of incitement in two cases. The resident of North Rhine-Westphalia Haverbeck told journalists on the sidelines of the Lüneburg trial against the former SS man Oskar Gröning on April 21, 2015 that "Auschwitz was not a extermination, but a labor camp." In a NDR television program "Panorama" interview, she also denied that there was a mass killing of people there. Historians estimate that the Nazis killed at least 1.1 million people in Auschwitz-Birkenau alone.
Haverbeck, who is popular in right-wing circles, was sentenced to ten months in prison without probation by the Hamburg District Court in 2015. She appealed the verdict. The trial at the Land Court in Hamburg did not take place until nine years later.
For years, criminal courts have had to deal with statements from Haverbeck. She was first convicted in 2004 and received a fine. The latest penalties were without probation. Haverbeck served more than two years in prison for Holocaust denial.
The appeal against Ursula Haverbeck's conviction for Holocaust denial will be reviewed by the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court in Hamburg, following a request from a spokesperson of the German Press Agency. This review process is initiated due to the non-binding nature of her initial conviction.
Germany's Higher Regional Court Hamburg will reexamine Haverbeck's case, which stemmed from her statements denying Auschwitz as an extermination camp and questioning the mass killing of people there, as stated in a 2015 NDR television program.
Haverbeck's sentence of one year and four months in prison for incitement, handed down by the Hamburg Regional Court on June 26, also includes a Berlin judgment from 2022. In that trial, she was sentenced to another year in prison for similar charges, but has not served any time yet.
Ursula Haverbeck, a 95-year-old from North Rhine-Westphalia, gained popularity in right-wing circles despite being convicted multiple times for Holocaust denial. Her first conviction in 2004 resulted in a fine, and subsequent penalties were served without probation.
Haverbeck's latest conviction for incitement in 2015 saw her sentenced to ten months in prison by the Hamburg District Court. She appealed the verdict, which was eventually heard at the Land Court in Hamburg nine years later.
The implications of Haverbeck's case and subsequent condemnation for promoting extremist views aligned with National Socialism in contemporary Germany continue to spark debate in German and international press circles.
