Holocaust Denial and the Law

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.

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