Historian Facing Twenty Years in Austrian Prison...For Speaking

The following is my synopsis of a story published on several sites around the 'Net, most of them based on Associated Press, International Press, and similar releases.

David Irving, a well-known World War II historian and "revisionist" historian faces twenty years in Austrian prison (Mr. Irving is an American, by the way) for violations of Austria's "hate crime law" in 1989.

Mr. Irving visited Austria, not knowing he was "wanted" there, for personal reasons (he had no public speaking dates scheduled). Upon his arrival, he was greeted by police and arrested.

The warrant was issued in 1989 for speaches the historian gave in Vienna and Leoben. Apparently, Mr. Irving's scholarly views of World War II are not liked in Austria.

People with similar views have been arrested in Germany (Ernst Zundel, American Germar Rudolph), Belgium (Siegfried Verbeke, Vincent Reynouard), and others.

Not one of these people has committed anything more than to speak their minds and publish their thoughts and beliefs.

No, they haven't burned houses, blown up cars, shot at people, or beat people in the streets. They've only spoken their minds.

Yet they've been arrested for it.

Worse, at least two of them are Americans.

Funny, since these people don't have a popular viewpoint (i.e., they don't ascribe to the commonly-believed "holocaust" vision of WWII), no one seems adamant about helping them. No news stories in the popular press, no television interviews from prison, no investigative reports on talk radio... nothing.

It's only a matter of time before they stop worrying about whether Americans are here in the U.S. or not when they make these arrests for thought crimes...

I'd better shut up before someone kicks in my door and takes me to the gulag.

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