Fredrick Toben
With a background in teaching and a doctorate on the philosophy of Karl Popper and C.S. Peirce, Toben is the pre-eminent Australian Holocaust denier at the start of the 21st century. In 1994 he founded the self-described 'think-tank', the "Adelaide Institute" with the assistance of like-minded individuals, most noticeably David Brockschmidt - son of Oskar Schindler helpers Heinrich and Hertha Brockschmidt. In what is essentially a one-man operation - despite Toben's claims to the contrary, the Adelaide Institute has succeeded in publicising the Holocaust denial movement's propaganda more widely in Australia than any other single Australian group or individual had previously. The Adelaide Institute does not produce any material of its own, with the exception of its newsletters, but instead primarily relies on the texts written by fellow Holocaust deniers, which form the bulk of the newsletters' content. Vitriolic polemics and so-called 'insightful' examinations of its favourite topics are provided by Adelaide Institute supporters. Aside from denying the Holocaust, these topics include anti-immigration texts, those with antisemitic content, as well as the belief that Communism is an inherently Jewish political ideology. Arguably the most important contribution the Adelaide Institute has made to the worldwide Holocaust denial movement was in the form of its 1998 'International Revisionist Symposium', which was the first such event since the IHR's previous conference in California in 1993. Holocaust deniers who attended included Arthur Butz, Jürgen Graf, and John Bennett, with others such as Germar Rudolf, Friedrich Berg and David Irving participating via telephone and video presentations. Also scheduled to participate, but eventually did not, was the New Zealander Joel Hayward. The ambassador to Australia of the United Arab Emirates was also in attendance. The other large contribution the Adelaide Institute has made to the worldwide Holocaust denial movement was Richard Krege's visit to the site of the Treblinka death camp in October 1999. Using ground-pentrating radar, Krege 'claimed' that he could not find any evidence of mass graves at the site; however, more controversial was his claim that he could find no evidence of there ever having been a camp at the site. When Toben attempted to present Krege's findings at the 2000 IHR conference, he was prevented from so doing. Toben himself was not able to participate in Krege's visit to Treblinka because he was still incarcerated in Mannheim Prison in Germany. In early April 1999, Toben approached Hans-Heiko Klein, the German Public Prosecutor who has previously arrested Leuchter, claiming that he wished to discuss the German ban on Holocaust denial. However, at their second meeting, Toben was arrested - much to his alleged surprise. Toben alleges that he was entrapped; however, there exists substanital evidence to suggest that Toben aimed to be arrested, thereby becoming a martyr for the movement. In November of the same year Toben was convicted and sentenced to a ten-month prison sentence, of which the final three months were converted to a DM 6000 fine, pending appeal. Toben's arrest in Germany was not his only experience facing the court because of his Holocaust denial. Since 1995 the Adelaide Institute has maintained a web site that functions as its main method of propaganda distribution, and which contains electronic copies of its newsletters, as well as other material of interest to the group. Since mid-1996 the web site has been the focus of a complaint in front of the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, which alleged that the site breached Australia's racial discrimination laws. In 2000, Toben, on behalf of the Adelaide Institute, was found guilty and was ordered to apologise and to remove the offending material, agreeing not to re-publish it. Toben failed to obey the directive, which resulted in the case being referred to the Australian Federal Court. On September 17, 2002, the Australian Federal Court ruled against Toben, ordering that he [..] (a) within seven days of the date of this order do all acts and things necessary to remove from the website http://www.adelaideinstitute.org and from all other World Wide Web websites the content of which is controlled by him or by the Adelaide Institute:
(i) the document headed "About the Adelaide Institute"; A there is serious doubt that the Holocaust occurred; B it is unlikely that there were homicidal gas chambers at Auschwitz; C Jewish people who are offended by and challenge Holocaust denial are of limited intelligence; D some Jewish people, for improper purposes, including financial gain, have exaggerated the number of Jews killed during World War II and the circumstances in which they were killed. 3. The respondent be restrained, and is hereby restrained, from publishing or republishing to the public, by himself or by any agent or employee, on the World Wide Web or otherwise:
(i) the document headed "About the Adelaide Institute"; A there is serious doubt that the Holocaust occurred; B it is unlikely that there were homicidal gas chambers at Auschwitz; C Jewish people who are offended by and challenge Holocaust denial are of limited intelligence; D some Jewish people, for improper purposes, including financial gain, have exaggerated the number of Jews killed during World War II and the circumstances in which they were killed. This order is not intended to derogate from the time allowed by Order 2 hereof for the removal of material from World Wide Web websites controlled by the respondent or by the Adelaide Institute. 4. The respondent pay the applicant's costs of the proceeding, including reserved costs if any. [..] Despite the court ruling, Toben remains active publishing his views on his web site, albeit in a somewhat more restrained way than before. |
Full name: Gerald Fredrick Toben