British Bishop Richard Williamson to Go on Trial in Germany for Holocaust Denial
Accused: Roman Catholic bishop Richard Williamson (centre) arriving at Heathrow airport in London in February this year. Photo: Mail Online
MAIL ONLINE: British Holocaust-denying bishop Richard Williamson faces trial in Germany for an outspoken TV interview in which he denied that the wartime extermination of the Jews took place.

The ultra-conservative Catholic cleric was hit with a fine of nearly £12,000 today by a court for his comments made to a Swedish television interviewer - but he refused to pay it.

Because Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany - and because he gave the interview while on German soil - he was prosecuted in Regensburg, near to the birthplace of Pope Benedict XVI, where he gave the interview.

Under the German legal system, he was served with an ‘order of punishment’ informing him of the penalty.

Such orders are intended to cut down on bureaucracy and costs if both sides agree with the fine, which also would mean a criminal conviction.

But Williamson did not agree. He is to appeal, paving the way for a full hearing which could prove highly embarrassing for the church once more - even though Williamson can absent himself from proceedings to be represented just by his lawyer.

A trial judge will demand to know why he believes that six million Jews were not murdered by the Nazis and on what facts he bases his views on.

In the controversial interview, Williamson alleged that Nazi gas chambers had never existed and 'only 200,000 to 300,000 Jews' had been killed by the Nazis.

He went on to claim that historical evidence was 'hugely against six million having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler... I believe there were no gas chambers.'

He added: 'I think that 200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in the Nazi concentration camps but none of them in gas chambers.' >>> Allan Hall | Wednesday, November 10, 2009

Priest in Italy Defends Holocaust-denier
ASSOCIATED PRESS: ROME — A priest in an ultraconservative society recently rehabilitated by Pope Benedict XVI has defended a bishop in his group and joined him in expressing doubts about the Holocaust.

While making more cautious remarks than Bishop Richard Williamson, the Rev. Floriano Abrahamowicz echoed, in an interview published Thursday by an Italian daily, the prelate's doubts that Jews were gassed during World War II.

"I know gas chambers existed at least to disinfect, I can't say if anybody was killed in them or not," Abrahamowicz told La Tribuna di Treviso, a newspaper in northern Italy.

Contacted by phone in Treviso, Abrahamowicz said the report of his interview was accurate, but declined to elaborate.

Benedict lifted Williamson's excommunication and those of three other members of the Society of St. Pius X last week as part of his efforts to bring the group, which opposes many of the liberalizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council, back into the church.

Williamson's superiors at the society have distanced themselves from his comments.

Asked for comment about Abrahamowicz' remarks, a Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, noted that Benedict had warned Wednesday against any denial of the full horror of the Nazi genocide and had expressed his unquestioned solidarity with Jews.

The spokesman also reiterated the Holy See's position that rehabilitating Williamson by no means implies that the Vatican shares his views. >>> By Ariel David | Thursday, January 29, 2009

ZEIT ONLINE: Holocaust-Leugnung: Antisemitismus unterm Kreuz

Die Wiederaufnahme des Holocaust-Leugners Bischof Williamson in die katholische Kirche steht in unseliger biblischer Tradition, schreibt die Theologin Uta Ranke-Heinemann

Seit Benedikt XVI. den Holocaustleugner und britischen Bischof Williamson ex-exkommunizierte und wie einen Heimkehrer herzlich umarmte, reißt die Debatte über diesen Schritt des Papstes nicht ab. Die Juden fühlen sich zutiefst verletzt, viele Deutschen schämen sich, dass es ein deutscher Papst war, der diesen schweren Fehltritt beging.

Alle Verteidigungen des Papstes, der für sich in Anspruch nimmt, unfehlbar in Glaubens- und Moralfragen zu sein, überzeugen nicht: Moralisch gesehen bedeutete seine Entscheidung eine unerträgliche Bagatellisierung unendlichen menschlichen Leides, das den Juden unter Hitler angetan wurde.

Die Wurzeln des Antisemitismus reichen im Christentum aber viel weiter zurück. Sie sind schon im Neuen Testament angelegt, und zwar in der Darstellung der Passion Christi. >>> © Zeit Online | Freitag, 30. Januar 2009

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Pope Could Welcome Holocaust Denier Back into the Fold
TIMES ONLINE: The Pope is preparing to cancel the excommunication of four traditionalist Catholic bishops including one who believes the Holocaust never happened and the gas chambers were a myth.

Pope Benedict XVI has already signed the decree lifting the excommunication of the four bishops of the ultra-conservative Society of St Pius X, according to well-sourced reports in the Italian press today.

One of the bishops, Richard Williamson, an English former Anglican and graduate of Winchester and Cambridge, gave an interview to Swedish TV this week in which he said: “There were no gas chambers.” >>> Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent | Thursday, January 22, 2009

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Lest We Should Ever Forget the Cruelty of Which Man Is So Capable

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