Holocaust Denial and the Law: A Comparative Study

by R. Kahn

Overview

From 1978-1996 Holocaust denial emerged as a major concern for the liberal democracies of Europe and North America. This period also saw the first prosecutions of Holocaust deniers. But these prosecutions often ran into trouble. Holocaust Denial and the Law relates how courts in four countries (Canada, France, Germany and the United States) resolved the dilemmas posed by Holocaust-denial litigation. It also describes how, in the United States, student editors had to decide whether to run ads denying the Holocaust. The book concludes that a given country's resolution of these dilemmas turns on its specific legal traditions and historical experiences.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781349528301
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan US
Publication date:	07/06/2004
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2004
Pages:	207
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

ROBERT A. KAHN earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from Johns Hopkins University in 2000. He also holds a law degree from New York University School of Law and spent a year in Berlin as a Social Science Research Council Berlin Program Fellow. His articles have appeared in Patterns of Prejudice and the George Mason Civil Liberties Law Journal. After receiving his Doctorate, Dr. Kahn taught comparative law and politics at Connecticut College. He is currently an Instructor of Law at Brooklyn Law School, USA.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Political and Legal Factors Shaping Holocaust-Denial Litigation The Political Context of Holocaust-Denial Litigation The Legal Context of Holocaust-Denial Litigation Plan of the Book PART I: THE DILEMMA OF PROOF Adversarialism, Inquisitorialism, and Judicial Notice Germany: The Holocaust, Inquisitorialism and the Nazi Past The United States: A Departure from Adversarialism France: An Adversarial Bastion in the Civil Law World Canada: Adversarialism on Trial Conclusion The Holocaust as Hearsay The Rule Against Hearsay Witnessing the Holocaust Documentary Evidence Historians, Expertise and Fairness The Hearsay Rule Under Fire Conclusion PART II: THE DILEMMA OF TRIAL UNCERTAINTY Holocaust Denial, German Judges and Political Scandal The Nieland Case The Trial of Günter Deckert The Scandal-Verdict The 'Auschwitz-Myth' Case Conclusion The Zundel Trial The Judges: Too Important to Blame? Blaming Outsiders An Unlikely Scapegoat Conclusion The Limits of Symbolic Legislation - The Gayssot Law Holocaust Denial, Immigration and the National Front The Passage of the Gayssot Law The 1991 Faurisson Trial The Gayssot Law as Routine The Return to Controversy Conclusion PART III: THE DILEMMA OF TOLERATION A Panacea of Toleration? The Bradley Smith Ad Campaign A First-Amendment Mistake? Battling Over Censorship A Community Divided Letting in the Sunlight Toward a Revisionist Breakthrough? Conclusion The Hidden Benefit of Criminal Sanctions Canada: Free Speech vs. Hate Speech France: The Power of the State Germany: Militant Democracy and the Limits of Free Speech Conclusion Conclusion: The Dilemmas of Holocaust-Denial Litigation The Dilemma of the Unpopular Accused National Patterns of Holocaust-Denial Litigation The Exception that Proves The Rule: Irving v. Lipstadt Holocaust Denial and the Duality of Legal Norms Bibliography

Recipe

"Holocaust Denial and the Law is a very fine and impressive piece of work that deserves a wide audience. The book is very well-written, meticulously researched, and well-organized: it reads like a book, something one can rarely say these days about academic publications. Kahn makes a substantial contribution to the field of Holocaust denial studies with this elegant text about comparative criminal procedure." -- Lawrence Douglas, Author of The Memory of Judgment: Making Law and History in the Trials of the Holocaust

"Robert Kahn has written an important book on an important subject." --Anthony Julius, counsel for Deborah Lipstadt in the libel suit brought against her by David Irving

Editorial Reviews

"Holocaust Denial and the Law is a very fine and impressive piece of work that deserves a wide audience. The book is very well-written, meticulously researched, and well-organized: it reads like a book, something one can rarely say these days about academic publications. Kahn makes a substantial contribution to the field of Holocaust denial studies with this elegant text about comparative criminal procedure." - Lawrence Douglas, Author of The Memory of Judgment: Making Law and History in the Trials of the Holocaust

"Robert Kahn has written an important book on an important subject." - Anthony Julius, counsel for Deborah Lipstadt in the libel suit brought against her by David Irving"An incisive read into one of the thorniest problems of expression and interpretation of history. It is extensively researched and carefully written... Kahn writes the severity and complexity of the problem with clarity, painstakingly explaining every narrative, legal provision, code and related symbolic representation in the legal studies lucidly." - Rohee Dasgupta, Keele University

From the Publisher