Siegfried Verbeke (63) during intermission at his latest Belgian trial in September 2003, proudly wearing a T-shirt with the website founded by him, today the biggest revisionist website worldwide: www.vho.org.

Leading European Revisionist Siegfried Verbeke Arrested -- and Later Released

By Germar Rudolf

After seven years of persecution and harassment by the Belgian and German authorities, Flemish revisionist publisher Siegfried Verbeke (picture) was arrested on Nov. 27, 2004, following a German arrest warrant. On Friday, Dec. 12, 2004, the judges of a Belgian court of Courtrai decided, however, that Verbeke is not to be extradited to Germany, because as a Belgian citizen he has a right to be tried in his own country, where the same criminal offense exists for which Germany wants to prosecute him (Holocaust denial).

In 1983, Siegfried Verbeke had established his Flemish Foundation for Free Historical Research (Stichting Vrij Historisch Onderzoek, VHO), which ever since was focusing on promoting historical research and publications that bring the writing of history about World War II in general and the so-called Holocaust in particular into accord with the facts. In 1996, Siegfried Verbeke agreed to cooperate with German revisionist publisher to launch a German language division of VHO under its umbrella, headed by German Rudolf. In September 1997, Germar Rudolf launched VHO's Internet presence with the website www.vho.org, which in the meantime has risen to be the largest revisionist website in the World. As a result of these activities, Verbeke became the target of persecution by the Belgian government:

• Four of Verbeke's premises were searched three times in a row on Nov. 21 and 29, 1997, as well as on Jan. 7, 1998, on the request of the well known Belgian witch-hunter Johan Leman. Leman must have felt provoked, because during a panel discussion in Antwerp on Nov. 6, 1997, Siegfried Verbeke had distributed several hundred copies of his quite successful revisionist brochure "Goldhagen and Spielberg Lies" to the audience. During this raid, a huge number of books and other writings were seized, But since the Belgian police did not expect to find entire warehouses full of material, they left most of the material in place and sealed it. By an unfortunate coincident, the material stored in the sealed warehouses got stolen the next night and disappeared mysteriously. J The German language division of VHO became independent in early 1998 under the name of Castle Hill Publishers in order to secure it from such persecution.
• In 1998, criminal proceedings were launched against Siegfried Verbeke by the public prosecution of Frankfurt, Germany (ref. 50 Js 10328.2/98), on the initiative of the head of Central Council of Jews in Germany, Ignatz Bubis, for distributing the German version of "Goldhagen and Spielberg Lies" in tens of thousands of copies to German addresses. This brochure was ordered confiscated and destroyed (District Court Munich II, ref. 2 Ds 11 Js 24173/97).
• After a two years lasting court battle, Siegfried Verbeke was sentenced by the Amsterdam Court of Appeal (Netherlands) on April 27, 2000, to abstain from distributing a brochure authored by Prof. R. Faurisson that challenges the authenticity of the Diary of Anne Frank, not because it challenges the diary's authenticity, but because it is authored and published by revisionists (see here for more).
• On May 16, 2001, Belgian Minister for Culture Bert Anciaux demanded that all Belgian libraries cleanse their shelves from revisionist literature, which was subsequently silently enacted.

• On Feb. 12, 2002, the Belgian authorities officially banned Verbeke's revisionist organization Vrij Historisch Onderzoek. Mail to its PO Box 60 at B-26000 Berchem 2, was temporarily confiscated. The premises of Siegfried Verbeke were once more searched and Mr. Verbeke was arrested for 24 hours and intensely interrogated. In the following months, Verbekes's premises are frequently "visited" by the Belgian police. After he was released, Siegfried Verbeke reorganized his foundation, renamed it into "Vogelvrij Historisch Onderzoek" (=outlawed historical research) and got himself a new PO Box 46, at B-2600 Berchem 1. The French section of VHO became independent as "Vision Historique Objective" (V.H.O.), Boîte Postale 256, B-1050 Brussels 5. Several months after this, the confiscation of mail sent to his old PO Box was lifted, and Verbeke's organization reassumed its old name and address.

• On Sept. 9, 2003, Siegfried Verbeke (63) was sentenced to one year in prison on probation by the Antwerp criminal court for distributing material "minimizing the Nazi genocide against the Jews." Verbeke was also deprived of his civil rights for ten years (e.g., his active and passive right to vote).
• Only three weeks later, end of September 2003, the Belgian police once more raids his premises in search of evidence that revisionist material carrying Verbeke's name and address is indeed distributed by him. During these raids, the premise of French revisionist Vincent Reynouard, living in Exile in Belgium, were also raided.
• The last step so far was reached on Saturday, Nov. 27, 2004, when Siegfried Verbeke was arrested in his Flemish town of residence Kortrijk following a German arrest warrant, which since the beginning of 2004 can be executed without further legal ado in all member countries of the European Union. It may be expected that the German authorities will set a precedent by sentencing him to the maximum penalty of confiscation of his property and five years imprisonment.
• On Friday, Dec. 12, 2004, the judges of a Belgian court of Courtrai decided, however, that Verbeke is not to be extradited to Germany, because as a Belgian citizen he has a right to be tried in his own country, where the same criminal offense exists for which Germany wants to prosecute him (Holocaust denial). Whereas this "thought crime" is punishable with up to five years in prison in Germany, the maximum sentence in Belgium is "only" one year. In order to satisfy their mighty eastern neighbor, the Belgian authorities humbly initiated legal procedures against Siegfried Verbeke to punish him for his historical dissent as expected by the German government.

Western governments are complaining about human rights violations in China, Iran, North Korea, and what have you, but they'd better clean up their own back yard before complaining about the dirt in their neighbor's yard.