Blais on Holocaust Denial and Free Speech

e Speech If Holocaust deniers breach the laws and are convicted, tack on an additional sentence — 1,000 hours community service as a tour guide at Dachau, Treblinka, Buchenwald, Auschwitz or Belzek.

Ottawa, Canada, Sunday, March 27, 2005 The anatomy of horror By Pat MacAdam For the Ottawa Sun I was in the Mulroney residence in Westmount last September as a guest at Mila’s surprise party for Brian [Mulroney former Canadian prime minister] on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of his landslide 1984 victory. David Irving comments: WE MAY raise our eyebrows at the spectacle of a Canadian judge discussing a case over which he is presiding with third parties at a convivial social gathering.

But overlooking that for a moment, this article is riddled with popular myths and ignorant misconceptions (and I am not even talking about The Holocaust).

The jocular tone of the judge suggests that his mind was already fixed, regardless of the evidence; it reminds us of the British Judge Sir Norman Birkett , who at Nuremberg in 1946 passed caustic and witty poems about former foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop to the prosecution bench during the war crimes trial, according to the private papers of US prosecutor Robert H Jackson which I researched for my book, ” Nuremberg, the Last Battle “.

Such folks bring the entire judiciary into disrespect. The words “Abandon hope all ye who enter here” should stand over their courtroom, cast in the same iron as the words “Arbeit Macht frei” hoisted over the gates at Auschwitz. The writer dwells briefly on the scandalous events during the American liberation of the camp at Dachau .

The facts are these: In the last days of World War II American troops lined up against a wall some 500 German regular troops (not SS) who had taken over duties at the wretched camp. It was filled with dying typhus victims. The troops, mostly youngsters, had formally surrendered. The Americans machine gunned them to death while cameras rolled. Unlike The Holocaust, there are vivid photos of the crime, and even a 16mm colour film, taken by the Americans themselves.

It ill behooved Dwight D Eisenhower to boast of the crime later; the US Seventh Army recognized it as a war crime and conducted a lengthy secret investigation of the events that day. I WOULD willingly serve a thousand hours as a tour guide at any of the camps this ignorant Schmierfink journalist mentions, but I think I would soon be yanked off the job for the Real History that I would find myself obliged to convey.

In fact I am banned since 1998 from setting foot in Auschwitz to consult its archives and scrutinize its remains, just as the maths experts and other tricksters are turfed out of Bellaggio’s in Las Vegas. Tourist money-spinners like Auschwitz and the big casinos just want the gullible and the losers to come. Dachau : I believe I am right in saying that 27,000 of the 35,000 recorded in this article died in the camp after it was liberated and came into American hands.

The murderous typhus epidemic raged on out of control. Perhaps it would not have started if the German pharmaceutical factories and transportation system had not been carpet-bombed out of existence. But that is another story. One of the 100 invited quests was Federal Court Judge Pierre Blais , a former justice minister in the Mulroney government. At the time, Pierre was presiding over the lengthy Ernst Zündel hearing.

A couple of us were chatting with Pierre and we were all very circumspect about discussing a matter that was sub judice with a judge. Either Charlie Mayer or Bill McKnight asked Pierre: “Does Zündel appear in court every day?” His answer was: “Every day!” “Does he wear his yellow construction hard hat?” Pierre rocked back and answered: “Not in my courtroom.” Good answer!

I thought, at the time that, by not emulating Pierre Blais’ common sense approach, Canada’s electronic and print media created a monster. Had the media ignored Zündel from Day 1, he would have been perceived as just another nutbar who just happened to own a soapbox and a yellow construction helmet.

Right to be ignored Holocaust naysayers such as Zündel and David Irving have earned the right to be ignored. [ Website: So why keep yattering on about them? ] Sometimes I have flashes of brilliance. The hamster isn’t always asleep in the wheel.

My advice to judges everywhere: If Holocaust deniers and purveyors of hate literature breach the laws of any country and are convicted, tack on an additional sentence — 1,000 hours community service as a tour guide at Dachau, Treblinka, Buchenwald, Auschwitz or Belzek. The word “holocaust” goes