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Ursula Haverbeck at the start of the process on March 18: imprisonment for the 93-year-old
Photo:
Olaf Wagner / IMAGO
For a moment, it looks as if the presiding judge's words are having an effect.
Ursula Haverbeck's cheeks are red, her eyes are lowered, she seems to be sinking further and further into her chair.
But the impression will deceive.
Ursula Haverbeck will not be dissuaded from her mission.
The 93-year-old denies the Holocaust with unbroken zeal.
The 60th Small Criminal Chamber of the Berlin Regional Court sentenced Ursula Haverbeck to one year in prison on Friday in the appeal process for hate speech in two cases.
The verdict is not yet final, revision is possible.
The presiding judge Lisa Jani finds clear words in the verdict.
She is noticeably trying to reach the notorious Holocaust denier.
She chooses a language that she assumes will resonate with Haverbeck.
"Ms. Haverbeck," says Judge Jani, "this judgment was made in the name of the people, the German people."
In 2016, Haverbeck claimed in a public lecture and in an interview in 2018 that the Holocaust did not exist.
The chamber found that she was guilty of incitement to hatred.
She denied the Shoah and downplayed the systematic mass murder of European Jews.
The 93-year-old had alternatively argued in court that she was only asking questions or that she was only quoting scientists.
Haverbeck is not lacking in hubris.
She had read "everything" about "this topic".
For 20, maybe 22 years, she "exclusively devoted herself to the subject."
You have studied selected literature, learned from experts.
A look at the chemistry book is enough for her to realize that Zyklon B is not suitable for mass murder.
She calls the systematic mass murder of the Nazis “just an assertion, without proof”.
"The German people" had been "lied to."
She whispers about "lobby groups" with "particular interests."
Judge Jani picks Haverbeck's pseudo-argument with verve.
"Intolerable" is the word she uses to sum up the statements made by the accused.
"What you say isn't science, it's poison." She looks at Haverbeck, who is sitting there in a black suit, white blouse, white hair pinned up, and cheeks red.
"You are not a Holocaust researcher, Ms. Haverbeck, you are simply a Holocaust denier," says the judge.
"You have strayed miles from historical truth."
If Ursula Haverbeck were actually interested in answers to her "so-called questions," if she could read well-founded treatises on German history, the judge tells her to go along.
She could drive to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and take in the "mountains of shoes and hair" of the murdered victims.
She could go to all the other places where Nazis tortured and killed people.
She could visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and read the list of murdered children.
"I can tell you, this will take some time." The judge senses the futility of her efforts.
It's good that she tries anyway.
Haverbeck presents herself in court not only as a researcher, she also presents herself as a victim.
The journey from her hometown of Vlotho in North Rhine-Westphalia to the court in Berlin was "ordeal," she had complained on a previous day of the hearing.
Haverbeck ignored the judge's suggestion that a medical certificate could have saved her from attending the hearing.
She crafts her own truth, both small and large.
The courtroom serves as a stage for their propaganda.
The 93-year-old also puts up with hours of car journeys for this.
Haverbeck is called the »grande dame of the freedom movement« in the right-wing scene.
Her defender, Wolfram Nahrath, who is well-known in the scene, speaks of her as a “humanist”.
Haverbeck herself says in her last word that the German people must "disconnect from the Holocaust so that we can free ourselves."
"You can't be stopped by anything," Judge Jani states.
Not even two and a half years in prison would have impressed Haverbeck.
»Ms. Haverbeck, your behavior leaves us shaking our heads and dismayed.«
Haverbeck damages the memory of millions of murdered people, hurts the Jewish people and damages Germany's reputation in the world.
The state must protect itself from people like you.
"Most citizens are happy and happy to live so freely in a democracy," says the judge.
They take care of their land, learn from history, keep memories alive and respect the laws.
"You, Mrs. Haverbeck, have broken our laws."
The chamber actually thought about "whether you are perhaps no longer of sound mind".
But Haverbeck is alert.
She knows exactly what she's doing.
The court came to this conclusion as well.
Despite Haverbeck's old age, the execution of the sentence could not be suspended because she showed no insight or remorse during the appeal hearing, the Chamber notes.
A prison sentence is "no alternative".
With its verdict, the court confirms the previous convictions for sedition from 2017 and 2020. The defense had demanded acquittal.
