Video denying holocaust causes uproar
More than one million people are estimated to have been killed at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, located in southern Poland, during the Second World War. Creative Commons photo.
A video shot by a local resident denying the Holocaust has been widely condemned by the community and at least one resident has filed a formal complaint with the Alberta Human Rights Commission.
On June 17, Monika Schaefer, a well-known Jasper resident and former Green Party candidate, appeared in a video on Youtube denying the Holocaust. The video was subsequently posted on her Facebook page.
“This is the most persistent and pernicious lie in all of history,” said Schaefer, about the Holocaust.
In the video she described the Holocaust as the “the six-million lie” in reference to the six million Jews who lost their lives at the hands of the Nazis during the Second World War.
The six-minute video quickly went viral and garnered more than 30,000 views at the time of publishing.
At the end of the video Schaefer invited viewers to read several books published by Holocaust deniers, including Ernst Zündel, who lived in Canada for four decades before being deported to his native Germany where he was imprisoned for five years for denying the Holocaust.
Ken Kuzminski, president of the Jasper Royal Canadian Legion, described the video as hate speech.
“Monika has a right to say whatever she wants to say, but once she’s published it I feel that’s moved on to hate speech,” said Kuzminski.
“She can stand up and say whatever she wants, but she has to accept the consequences of doing that.”
He said he has written a formal complaint to the Alberta Human Rights Commission, contacted the local RCMP detachment and the German embassy.
“By her denying that this ever happened it perpetuates hatred, racism and discrimination,” said Kuzminski, adding he’s heard from several young people in town that they no longer feel safe.
“This is not the community we are and what we believe in.”
The Alberta Human Rights Commission neither confirmed nor denied it had received a formal complaint.
“All of the information that comes into the human rights commission with regards to complaints is confidential,” said Susan Coombes, with the Alberta Human Rights Commission.
With that said, she said any complaint involving hate would fall under section three of the Alberta Human Rights Act.
“It’s really difficult to prove,” said Coombes, about whether someone is in violation of the act. “What you have to do is say that there was intent to incite hate.”
The Jasper RCMP confirmed it was aware of the video, but said no formal investigation has been launched.
“At this time what I can say is that I’m aware the video exists and it was brought to my attention,” said RCMP Sgt. Rick Bidaisee. “Discussions are ongoing.”
Schaefer said she stood by her comments in the video during a telephone interview July 11.
“Right now the issue for me is freedom of speech,” said Schaefer. “Last I checked I thought we had freedom of speech in Canada and suddenly I’m the criminal.”
She confirmed she shot the video in Germany, where it is illegal to deny the Holocaust.
“If we don’t have the right to question a historical event then we don’t have freedom of speech,” said Schaefer.
Schaefer was slated to perform during Canada Day, but was pulled from the schedule after the Canada Day committee learned a group of residents were going to protest her performance.
“We had really reliable information that there was going to be a protest and in the interests of public safety and her safety for that matter, we decided it would just be in everybody’s best interests if she stood down for this year,” said Pattie Pavlov, general manager for the Jasper Park Chamber of Commerce.
Kuzminski confirmed she is also banned from the legion.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) quickly condemned the video after learning of its existence.
“As a Holocaust denier, Ms. Schaefer, who appears in this absurd video, has earned her place on the very margins of society,” wrote Martin Sampson, director of communications for CIJA.
“Her comments would be laughable but for the intense pain they cause the survivor community and their descendants. Denying the Holocaust exposes her as an anti-Semitic ignoramus.”
“The truth is the Holocaust was industrialized, state-sponsored murder committed by the Nazis against the Jewish people. It is the most well documented genocide—by both perpetrator and victim—in history. To deny this fact is to spit in the face of truth.”
News that a formal complaint was lodged with the Alberta Human Rights Commission, comes after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, on July 10 in Poland, where one million people, mostly Jews, were killed in the Second World War.
Paul Clarke
editor@fitzhugh.ca
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Judith Levine
That she could go to the Auschwitz camp site and still say that the Holocaust never happened is mind boggling. Perhaps a trip to the US to the United States Archives where she can read the nazi’s own documentation, or the the US Holocaust Museum or Yad Vashem would help unclog her brains. That haters like this woman still deny that 12,000,000 human beings were systematically murdered is the greatest insult to each and everyone of those souls.
Dr. Kevin Barrett
I challenge anyone who thinks Monika Schaefer is obviously wrong to go ahead and do some minimal research. Please read the two leading anti-holocaust-denial books, Shermer and Grobnik’s Denying History, and Deborah Lipstadt’s Denying the Holocaust. Then read Thomas Dalton’s Debating the Holocaust. Use your critical thinking skills. After reading those three books, you may discover that the historical arguments are not as clear-cut as you thought.
And if you are unwilling to do that kind of minimal research, why are you condemning someone who HAS done the research and drawn conclusions that you are not in a position to refute? Those who have researched the controversy (not just imbibed the orthodoxy) have the right to an opinion. Those who haven’t, don’t.
Vico DeMorgan
This is, to be clear, the same Dr. Kevin Barrett who thinks that 9/11 is an Israeli fraud, the Charlie Hebdo shootings were a Israeli fraud, the Boston Marathon bombings were an Israeli fraud, the attack in Nice was an Israeli fraud — why is it not a surprise he thinks the Holocaust is a Jewish fraud?
In other words, exactly the sort of tinfoiler you’d expect to come to a Holocaust denier’s defense.
While inventing a scholar named Grobnik, because to him apparently all Jewish names sound alike.
What meager living Barrett ekes out comes as the resident nut of Iranian state television, “Press TV.”
Harry Abrams
Monika is repeating a number of well-worn too-clever-by-half Holocaust denial “tropes” that have been calculated and re-used over many years. I think it’s reasonable to suggest that unless she’s clinically insane, that she is aware of this massive historical genocide and also intended to cause pain and aggravation to Jews and anyone else who fought or survived the Nazi regime, and deserves to be brought to book for this. My hat is off to the Jasper Legion, and the other good townspeople of Jasper who are taking measures to let this woman know that her pronouncements are deeply racist and ridicule the memory of the dead. Thank you Fitzhugh for publishing this article.
Mike Rivero
Only LIEs need laws to keep the bs going. Just the numbers alone tell you that Jews LIE about the cult of holocaustianity.
3.5 million Jews in all of europe in 1940s
2.5 million victim count
reduced at Auswitch
280,000 total work camp deaths of which 79000 were jews. As per International red cross who actually visited the WORK CAMPS
Rejoice that less then 80k jews perished. Be very upset at your lying
Jewish leadership that sold you this bs and havent looked fir your family members and their children that are still alive. That is the real travesty right there.
Continuing to sell lies make you part of this sad drama.
Anon
Hey Mike or Mr. American, Adjust your tinfoil hat a bit.. It is messing up your reception..
Tony Hall
“By her denying that this ever happened it perpetuates hatred, racism and discrimination,” said Kuzminski, adding he’s heard from several young people in town that they no longer feel safe.”
The Fitzhugh, 14 July 2016
Paul Clarke quotes Ken Kuzminski saying, “By her denying that this ever happened it perpetuates hatred, racism and discrimination.” What is “this” supposed to mean in the quoted sentence. If the biased and ill-informed Paul Clarke, along with his buddy Ken Kuzminski, are trying to invoke the aura of criminality here, which seems clear that they are, wording a little bit more specific than “this” would be well advised. The same thing applies to the word “it” in the key accusatory sentence. It is Monika Schaefer more than anyone else who would be right to not feel safe in Jasper, now in danger of becoming home to the witch hunt apparently being mounted by the Fitzhugh along with its favoured NDP politician Ken Kuzminski. I wonder what the actual veterans of the Jasper Legion might have to say about Mr. Kuzminski’s decision to use their organization to try to shut down the principles of freedom of speech and freedom of association that Canadian soldiers might have once thought they were fighting to defend. Are the Jasper Legion and Jasper’s war veterans Mr. Kuzminski’s political pawns to be played in his personal zeal to puff himself up politically by threatening Ms. Schaefer in social media with forceful eviction? Who is playing the part of bully here?
Sanita
How can this woman denied the Holocaust? it is truly terrible and I am sure it is upsetting many people.
David Raymond Amos
As I watched this latest Zionist versus Neo Nazi spit and chew unfold within another little known newsrag in Alberta that I crossed paths with in 2014 I figured I would handle it in the same fashion that I did with the Tony Hall matter in Lethbridge Alberta.. I called the editor and the the main players reported within the paper then made a few comments of my own and let it ride because I can no longer view it because of a paywall.
http://lethbridgeherald.com/news/local-news/2016/06/19/conspiracy-theories/
Trust that I don’t care about their argument but I will say that anyone who sings the praises of Hitler or Zionists would not be wise to do so in my presence
In a nut shell I am an agnostic Maritimer who has also run for public office five times and sued more lawyers etc that most folks can name. Right now I am rather busy arguing Her Majesty the Queen Dizzy Lizzy II and her many minions in Federal Court (File no T-1557-15). Thus this issue does not warrant much of my precious time. That said I must also say that I do respect other people’s right to free speech and their religious beliefs. However free speech does have its limits as defined my the Criminal Code of Canada Sections 300 and 319 in particular. I confess that I do not have any respect whatsoever for liars and spin doctors who use religion to prey about others for their own greedy ends. I have told them so in word and in writing and defy anyone to argue me in public or better ye a court of law.
For the PUBLIC RECORD I see no need challenge the Integrity of Monika Schaefer or her political foe Ken Kuzminsk or the RCMP or Susan Coombes of the Alberta Human Rights Commission.or the Christian Bible Pounder, Arty Baby Topham and his many buddies such as Byron Prior, Paul Fromm,Alex Hunter, Jim Fetzer, Frank Frost, Werner Bock, Wayne Prante, Brian Ruhe, Tony Hall, or the evil ghosts of Doug Christie Jim Townsend, John Boncore and Hans Krampe to name but a few The have all failed my simple ethical stress tests long ago just like the two wackos who have posted comments in here first.. In my humble opinion the sneaky Yankee Muslim Kevin Barrett or his Jewish foe Harry Abrams deserve each other just like their political heroes pals such as Irwin Cotler and Stevey Boy Harper, Barack Obama and Georgey Boy Bush do..
In all sincerity I am curious if this comment will be published and stand the test of time. You can bet dimes to dollars I will post it within my blog about the Federal Court lawsuit. In fact i have already done so
http://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.ca/2016/07/i-am-curious-if-this-comment-posted.html
Veritas Vincit
David Raymond Amos
902 800 0369
judy deol
Like Monika, I too am a “researcher” who has discovered some very unsettling truths (to mainstream thinkers, that is). It started with my investigations into 9/11 and realizing that we had been lied to in a very big way. I then discovered that a great deal of the history we have been taught is also untrue. For the past few years I have been outraged at the brutal Israeli occupation of Gaza and that led me to study the background of Zionism. I would recommend that people Google the name Miko Peled (an Israeli-born Jew) for some real facts about what is happening in Israel today. Only then, can one undertake the research needed to unravel the story of the holocaust. I have no respect for the opinions of people who seem to demonize others, ie Monika Schaefer, without doing any minimal study themselves. A way to “un-boggle” the mind is to do some serious research. Just believing the story we have been told (as I did for many years), is not good enough especially when you call someone a “hater”.
Monica Lansing
Many years ago, I lived upstairs from a sweet little German lady named Ollie who married a Polish man & emigrated to Canada after the war.
I asked her why the German people didn’t do something when they smelt the burning flesh from the ovens in the camps. She said “because we didn’t smell anything – we didn’t know! You have to believe me we didn’t know. We knew there were work camps, but we never smelt flesh being burned”
I had never known this little old lady to lie. I believe her now.
David Merlin
Hello from California-
Both my father and my uncle served in the US Army in WWII, saw combat and
were decorated. I discussed historical Revisionism with both prior to their deaths.
Their strong opinion was that they fought the Axis to protect and preserve civil rights
and Free Speech. They felt that discussion and freedom of expression is vital to
a democracy. I think they would appreciate the thoughtfulness and courage of Ms. Schaefer
History is never gotten right the first time around. To demand that there is only one story that must be believed
is as foolish as demanding that there is only one religion that must be followed.
The philosopher and scholar Bradley Smith wrote,
The enemies of tolerance are not always the same. Nor are their targets. However, one certain sign of bigotry is an unwillingness to allow others to speak.
Kai Kieferle
I’ve had one eyebrow raised about Monika Schaefer for a long time, and made sure the community knew she was hosting a virulent anti-semitic conspiracy theorist named Bollyn to give his talk on “Solving 9/11” (as if what happened was a mystery needing a solution). I wondered why Monika would entertain such a person? Then I found her relationship with Alfred Schaefer who makes unabashedly anti-semitic videos and puts them on youtube. They are brother and sister. I am glad Monika is being persecuted for her hate speech and hatefilled rhetotic, and I hope the community of Jasper makes it crystal clear that Monika does not represent them.