German woman, 89, jailed for 14 months for Holocaust denial

Convictions upheld for Ursula Haverbeck, who said Auschwitz only a labor camp, denied Nazi genocide of Jews in court

By AP 28 November 2017, 9:38 pm Edit
Ursula Haverbeck, accused of hate speech, arrives in the court room of the District Court in Detmold for a appeal hearing, Germany, on November 23, 2017. (Bernd Thissen/dpa via AP, file)
Ursula Haverbeck, accused of hate speech, arrives in the court room of the District Court in Detmold for a appeal hearing, Germany, on November 23, 2017. (Bernd Thissen/dpa via AP, file)

BERLIN — 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 had appealed her 2016 conviction for writing to the Detmold mayor during the trial of an Auschwitz guard claiming the death camp was only a labor camp. In closing arguments at that trial she again denied the Holocaust, prompting another conviction.

Several courts have sentenced Haverbeck to prison sentences 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.

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