Germany to arrest Holocaust denier Zundel

Associated Press/February 28, 2005

As Canadian authorities prepared to deport Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel back to his native Germany, authorities there said Monday he faces arrest on charges of inciting racial hatred upon his return.

Zundel, author of "The Hitler We Loved and Why," has been held in a Toronto jail for two years while authorities determined whether he posed a security risk to Canadian society.

Federal Court Justice Pierre Blais ruled last Friday that Zundel's activities were a threat to national security and "the international community of nations."

Zundel's attorney Peter Lindsay said his client would not appeal and was expected to be deported as early as Tuesday. Immigration officials did not return calls regarding the timing and details of the deportation.

Zundel, a leading proponent of white supremacy, claims the Holocaust never happened.

That's a crime in Germany and prosecutors in the southwestern city of Mannheim have issued a warrant for Zundel's arrest, the federal Justice Ministry told The Associated Press on Monday.

Authorities were able to open the case because Zundel's Web site is available in Germany, so he is considered to be spreading his message to Germans as well, said a spokeswomen for the Mannheim prosecutor's office, speaking on customary condition of anonymity.

"It could be any prosecutor's office in Germany," she said in a telephone call. "If one looks at the Web site in Mannheim then the crime scene is also here."

Zundel would be taken into custody when he returns to Germany while a judge reviews the case against him, the spokeswoman said.