Adelaide Institute
Encyclopedia
Established in 1994, the Adelaide Institute was formed from the former Truth Mission that was established in 1994 by Dr. Gerald Fredrick Töben
. The Adelaide Institute is a Holocaust denial
group in Australia
and is considered to be anti-Semitic by the Australian government's human rights commission. and international human rights
groups. The group also advocates AIDS denialism.
in Adelaide, members of the institute distributed Holocaust denial pamphlets on the street and through the mail, apparently targeting those of Jewish background. Additionally, members of the Institute sent materials denying to the Holocaust to prominent Australian newspapers masquerading as objective movie reviews, some of which reached publication.
The Institute's stated goal is exposing "the Holocaust myth". The activity of the Institute seems to have declined since its initial burst of activity in the middle 1990s. The Institute does however still maintain a website on which statements on various issues are regularly posted.
The Institute's website drew the attention of the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) in 2000 after HREOC found that the Adelaide Institute had breached section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act by publishing material on the website, the consequences of which were "vilificatory, bullying, insulting and offensive" to the Jewish population; HREOC ordered Töben to close the site and apologise to the people he had offended but because rulings of the HREOC are not enforceable at law, the case was then brought before the Federal Court of Australia
, which ordered in 2002 that certain material be removed from the Adelaide Institute web site.
The Order of the Federal Court of Australia was that the Adelaide Institute should remove from its website any material which conveys one or any of the following imputations:
Electronic Frontiers Australia
spoke out against the ruling, taking the view that "when encountering racist or hateful speech, the best remedy to be applied is generally more speech, not enforced silence." One of the reasons mentioned is that suppressing such content results in perception that the speaker must have something important to say, and "massively increased interest in what would otherwise be marginal ideas."
Gerald Fredrick Töben
Gerald Fredrick Töben is a German-born Australian citizen and founder and former director of the Adelaide Institute. He is the author of numerous works on education, political science and history, although he is best known for his Holocaust denial. Töben claims he cannot deny that which never...
. The Adelaide Institute is a Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...
group in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and is considered to be anti-Semitic by the Australian government's human rights commission. and international human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
groups. The group also advocates AIDS denialism.
Activities
Supporters of the Institute have in the past been active in organisations such as Australians For Free Speech, which held a rally in 1994. The Institute has also been implicated in distributing Holocaust denialist material through mainstream and alternative publications. Letters to the editor and talk radio appear to be the favourite means of disseminating the worldview of the Institute. Prior to the opening of the film Schindler's ListSchindler's List
Schindler's List is a 1993 American film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg, and based on the novel Schindler's Ark...
in Adelaide, members of the institute distributed Holocaust denial pamphlets on the street and through the mail, apparently targeting those of Jewish background. Additionally, members of the Institute sent materials denying to the Holocaust to prominent Australian newspapers masquerading as objective movie reviews, some of which reached publication.
The Institute's stated goal is exposing "the Holocaust myth". The activity of the Institute seems to have declined since its initial burst of activity in the middle 1990s. The Institute does however still maintain a website on which statements on various issues are regularly posted.
Legal action against the Institute
The Adelaide Institute website triggered the arrest of Fredrick Töben in Germany in April 1999. Töben was sentenced to 7 months in prison, but had already served seven months during trial, and was released upon payment of a $5000 bond-Kaution.The Institute's website drew the attention of the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) in 2000 after HREOC found that the Adelaide Institute had breached section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act by publishing material on the website, the consequences of which were "vilificatory, bullying, insulting and offensive" to the Jewish population; HREOC ordered Töben to close the site and apologise to the people he had offended but because rulings of the HREOC are not enforceable at law, the case was then brought before the Federal Court of Australia
Federal Court of Australia
The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court of record which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law , along with some summary criminal matters. Cases are heard at first instance by single Judges...
, which ordered in 2002 that certain material be removed from the Adelaide Institute web site.
The Order of the Federal Court of Australia was that the Adelaide Institute should remove from its website any material which conveys one or any of the following imputations:
- there is serious doubt that the Holocaust occurred
- it is unlikely that there were homicidal gas chambersGas ChambersGas Chambers is a fast, hollow and shallow point break type of wave. Being that it is a high performance wave it is well suited for the average to pro level surfer. Gas Chambers is located on the North Shore of Oahu about a 1/4 of a mile north of Ehukai Beach Park and 1/2 a mile west of Sunset...
at Auschwitz - Jewish people who are offended by and challenge Holocaust denial are of limited intelligence
- some Jewish people, for improper purposes, including financial gain, have exaggerated the number of Jews killed during World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and the circumstances in which they were killed
Electronic Frontiers Australia
Electronic Frontiers Australia
Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc. is a non-profit Australian national non-government organisation representing Internet users concerned with online liberties and rights...
spoke out against the ruling, taking the view that "when encountering racist or hateful speech, the best remedy to be applied is generally more speech, not enforced silence." One of the reasons mentioned is that suppressing such content results in perception that the speaker must have something important to say, and "massively increased interest in what would otherwise be marginal ideas."
Associates
- John Tuson BennettJohn Tuson BennettJohn Tucson Bennett is a solicitor and president of the Australian Civil Liberties Union, who is most notable for being a leader in the Holocaust denial movement in Australia....
, one of Australia's longest and most active Holocaust deniers, active in the Holocaust denial movement since the late 1970s. - Kerry BoltonKerry BoltonKerry Raymond Bolton is a far-right , conservative and social credit writer in New Zealand who has been active in several organisations...
- Arthur ButzArthur ButzArthur R. Butz is a Holocaust denier and associate professor of electrical engineering at Northwestern University. He achieved tenure in 1974 and currently teaches classes in control system theory and digital signal processing.-Education:...
, author of The Hoax of the Twentieth CenturyThe Hoax of the Twentieth CenturyThe Hoax of the Twentieth Century: The Case Against the Presumed Extermination of European Jewry is a book by electrical engineering professor Arthur Butz. First published in 1976 by Historical Review Press, it denied that Nazi Germany tried to exterminate the Jews during the Holocaust, and was...
: The Case Against the Presumed Extermination of European Jewry. - Doug CollinsDoug Collins (journalist)Doug Collins was a British-born Canadian journalist. He was also a figure of Canada's far-right and a Holocaust denier.-Military service:At the start of World War II he joined the British Army...
, the first journalist to face a human rights complaint over four articles he wrote about the Holocaust and Jews, and who the called the Holocaust movie Schindler's List "Swindler's List". - Robert FaurissonRobert FaurissonRobert Faurisson is a French academic who is a Holocaust denier. Faurisson generated much controversy with a number of articles, published in the Journal of Historical Review and elsewhere, as well as various letters he has sent to French newspapers , which deny various aspects of the Holocaust,...
, France, Europe's leading Holocaust denier and known as the principal teacher of Ernst ZündelErnst ZündelErnst Christof Friedrich Zündel is a German Holocaust denier and pamphleteer who was jailed several times in Canada for publishing literature which "is likely to incite hatred against an identifiable group" and for being a threat to national security, in the United States for overstaying his visa,...
, German Holocaust denier and pamphleteer who was jailed several times for publishing hate literature. - Jürgen GrafJürgen GrafJürgen Graf is a Swiss Holocaust denier and researcher. He studied philology at the University of Basel studying French, English, and Scandinavian languages and spent several years working as a school teacher at a prestigious private school. He is fluent in 15 languages...
, as a Swiss citizen and author of several books about Holocaust denial, Graf was prosecuted, along with his publisher, Gerhard Förster, for denying the gas chambers and the six million figure. In July 1998 a Swiss court sentenced him to 15 months imprisonment, and to pay a large fine, because of his denial writings. - Ingrid RimlandIngrid RimlandIngrid Rimland, Ed.D. is a Ukrainian-born American author, child psychologist, activist and former social worker. She has written several novels loosely based upon her own experiences from growing up in a Mennonite community in Ukraine and as a refugee child during WWII...
, a Canadian Holocaust denier, whose writings are regarded in Canada as hate material - Germar RudolfGermar RudolfGermar Rudolf is a German chemist and Holocaust denier.-Background:Rudolf was born in Limburg an der Lahn, Hesse. After finishing secondary education in 1983 in Remscheid, Rudolf studied chemistry in Bonn, completing his studies in 1989. As a student, he joined A.V. Tuisconia Königsberg zu Bonn...
, German Holocaust denier. - Olga Scully, Tasmanian woman, who has faced legal proceedings for her distribution of Holocaust denial propaganda.
- David Thomas, member of the Campaign to Decriminalize Holocaust History.
- Mark WeberMark WeberMark Edward Weber is the director of the Institute for Historical Review, an American Holocaust denial organization based in southern California....
, the current head of the Institute for Historical ReviewInstitute for Historical ReviewThe Institute for Historical Review , founded in 1978, is an American organization that describes itself as a "public-interest educational, research and publishing center dedicated to promoting greater public awareness of history." Critics have accused it of being an antisemitic "pseudo-scholarly...
(IHR). - Peter HartungPeter HartungPeter Hartung is the director of the Holocaust denial organization Adelaide Institute having previously been a successful businessman and political adviser...
, the current director of the Adelaide Institute.
See also
- AIDS denialism
- Antisemitism
- Black supremacyBlack supremacyThe term black supremacy is a blanket term for various ideologies which hold that black people are superior to people of other races.-Overview:...
- The HolocaustThe HolocaustThe Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
- Holocaust denialHolocaust denialHolocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...
- Nation of Islam and antisemitism
- RacismRacismRacism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
- White supremacyWhite supremacyWhite supremacy is the belief, and promotion of the belief, that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates the social and political dominance by whites.White supremacy, as with racial...
External links
- BBC News article about 1999 arrest
- Australian Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission 2000 Media Releases
- Australian Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission 2000 Reasons for Decision
- Federal Court of Australia Toben v Jones (2002)
- The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism
- Letter from Electronic Frontiers Australia to Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission