German court upholds ‘Nazi grandma’ Holocaust denial conviction

Ursula Haverbeck, an infamous German neo-Nazi, was sent to prison for 14 months for denying the Holocaust.

By: AP and World Israel News Staff

A German court has upheld two convictions of a well-known neo-Nazi for Holocaust denial and sentenced her to 14 months in prison.

Ursula Haverbeck, 89, was sentenced Tuesday by a district appeals court in Detmold for repeatedly denying the Holocaust, which is a crime in Germany.

Haverbeck was convicted of Holocaust denial in September 2016 for a letter she wrote to the mayor of Detmold when Reinhold Hanning, a former SS Auschwitz guard, was on trial, claiming the notorious Nazi death camp was merely a labor camp and calling survivors “alleged witnesses.”

In 2015 she was convicted for a similar statement in an interview outside the trial of Oskar Groening, another former SS Auschwitz guard, in Lueneburg. She was convicted of Holocaust denial in November 2016 as well.

In closing arguments at that appeals trial, she again denied the Holocaust, prompting another conviction.

Several courts have sentenced Haverbeck to prison terms in the past, including a Berlin district court in October, but Haverbeck has remained free pending appeals.

The German news agency dpa reported Haverbeck’s lawyers would again appeal this latest conviction.