I personally think all holocaust deniers are at least slightly deranged but, as many Jewish thinkers do, I don't think holocaust denial should be a crime. If anything, it helps keep alive detailed awareness of the holocaust. In Germany, however, holocaust denial has long been a crime.
In some strange way, however, a German pro-lifer seems to have fallen foul of the law:
"A city court in Erlangen, Bavaria, gave Lutheran Pastor Johannes Lerle a one year jail sentence for the "crime" of comparing abortion to the Nazi holocaust.
Pastor Johannes Lerle compared the annual murder of 150,000 babies through abortion in Germany to the murder of thousands of innocent Jews in Auschwitz. The court, which consisted of no jury and a single judge, ruled that this statement made Lerle a holocaust denier.
On 14 June, Judge Erda Erdenhofner convicted Lerle of a particular crime known as "volksverhetzung", or "incitement of the people".
Source
I understand that the pastor doubts the extent of the holocaust -- putting the death toll at half a million rather than six million but why that makes any difference escapes me. Half a million or six million is still a towering crime. But however you look at he is not denying the holocaust, just talking about the details. And how can he be denying it if he is comparing Germany's abortions to it?
The report above says he was sentenced for Volkverhetzung but I believe that he was in fact sentenced under the holocaust denial laws. Totally illogical but I think it shows that speaking out of place is still dangerous in Germany.
