Frau Haverbeck in Berlin court: “I consider this procedure highly questionable”

92-year old Ursula Haverbeck at court in Berlin on 17 November 2020: "I have denied nothing at all". (Photo: Filip Singer/Shutterstock)

By Carolyn Yeager

Wiebke Ramm writes on 17 November 2020 for Spiegel magazine from the Berlin trial of Ursula Haverbeck. She again stands accused of  “denying the mass murder of six million Jews,” this time in a video posted on youtube. I have machine translated Ramm's article from German to English and published it here with very little editing, but with some added commentary in red. It seems better to just give you his article than to try to write my own based on his.

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IT IS ALMOST TWO WEEKS since Ursula Haverbeck was able to leave Bielefeld prison after two and a half years. Haverbeck is now 92 years old and was convicted of sedition (incitement of the people). And it is once again for sedition that she is now on trial this Tuesday at the Berlin-Tiergarten district court. She is again threatened with a prison sentence.

The woman with the grey bun is a notorious Holocaust denier. She is widowed, has no children and does not want to tell the judge how much her pension is. "I won't tell." When asked what profession she had, she says she had been active in "political adult education." First she and her husband dealt with "environmental" issues, then "realized more and more how much German legal life had been destroyed. [In 1963, they jointly founded the Heimvolkshochschule Collegium Humanum in Vlotho, North Rhine-Westphalia.] A few of her admirers gathered in front of the hall that day. One woman hands Haverbeck a yellow rose and gives her a kiss on the cheek.

In the 2019 European elections she ran for the Nazi party "Die Rechte". [She did not “run.” Her name was put on the ballot by members of the Right Party even though she was serving a prison sentence in Bielfeld at that time. Ursula has never run for a political office.] According to the prosecution, Haverbeck trivialized Nazi crimes and denied the Holocaust in an interview with a YouTuber who calls himself “Volkslehrer” (a people's teacher). In the video, she called for "efforts to ensure that this lie, this burden of debt", which lay on the German people, was "lifted". The video was published on the internet in March 2018. In it, Haverbeck denies the mass murder of six million Jews, industrially organized by the Nazis. [These people won't tell you that so do millions of other people around the world deny that! If so many millions deny it (and they do) isn't that reason enough for it to be studied? Of course, but that's also why they refuse to consider it.] When the Second World War began, Haverbeck was ten years old.

The judge plays the approximately 15-minute [Volkslehrer] video in the courtroom. In it you can hear Haverbeck say that she never got an answer to the question "where the six million Jews were gassed". Haverbeck is standing at the judge's table, looking at the judge's laptop and appears cheerful or amused.

"Yes, I would like to speak out"

The 92-year-old comes from North Rhine-Westphalia and says in court that this is now the tenth trial against her. Two other convictions for sedition - one for six months, the other for ten months - are not yet final. It cannot be determined that the convictions impress the old woman. On the contrary. She even uses the courtroom as a stage for her propaganda.

The judge instructs the defendant that she does not have to comment on the accusations. "But I would like to comment," says Haverbeck. Then she repeats the statements for which she is accused. "I want to know where the six million were allegedly gassed. Please say now: Where did this take place?" Neither the prosecutor nor the judge could present the Holocaust as a fact. "You did not experience it." Haverbeck says that Auschwitz was not an extermination camp, and Zyklon B was "not at all suitable” for mass murder.

"Extremely hard of hearing"

She merely asks questions, says Haverbeck: "I have denied nothing at all. Haverbeck sees herself as a fighter for freedom of opinion - this has been her staging for years - and as a victim. "I consider this procedure highly questionable," she explains. Next to her sits her defense attorney, Wolfram Nahrath. The lawyer was once the "federal leader" of the now banned right-wing "Viking Youth", as his father and grandfather had been before. On this day, Nahrath calls the six million murdered Jews a "globally circulated death toll".

Even before the prosecution was read out, Nahrath had requested that the trial be suspended. "In the course of her imprisonment, Haverbeck had" become extremely hard of hearing.

He told the judge: "She cannot understand you."

"I don't understand a word", his client affirms.

But the judge is prepared. Haverbeck is given headphones and the judge speaks into a microphone from now on. "Yes, now I understand you," says Haverbeck.

Nahrath will file several motions for suspension or termination of the proceedings on this day. Without success.

The judge had scheduled only one day of trial. But Nahrath does not want to plead yet. Instead, he is filing a new motion. The "People's Teacher" should testify as a witness. He would testify that he had not informed his client that the interview would be published. And Haverbeck had not agreed to publication either

The YouTuber called "Volkslehrer" was already in the courthouse that day. He was filming in front of the courtroom. A court spokesperson asked him to show her his filming permit and press card. The press card seemed dubious to her. Nikolai N., a former primary school teacher in Berlin, protested loudly. He too was already on trial for sedition. Because of his interview with Haverbeck, the public prosecutor's office is also investigating him. Judicial officials called on Nikolai N. to leave the court. When he did not follow the request, they took him by the arms, Nikolai N. let himself fall, called "harassment" - and was carried out. His camera continued to run. On December 4, he is now to be heard as a witness.

Much more to come, stay tuned ...