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German Neo-Nazi Lawyer Gets Prison

An attorney who was supposed to defend a prominent Holocaust denier instead found herself headed to a German jail in January after calling the extermination of Jews during World War II "the biggest lie in world history."

An attorney who was supposed to defend a prominent Holocaust denier instead found herself headed to a German jail in January after calling the extermination of Jews during World War II "the biggest lie in world history."

Sylvia Stolz, known for her courtroom antics, was convicted of inciting racial hatred and sentenced to three and a half years in prison. She also was forbidden to practice law for five years. (Unlike in the United States, Holocaust denial is a crime in many European countries, including Germany.)

Stolz's remarks came during the 2006 trial of Ernst Zundel, 69. The German-born Zundel, a publisher of Holocaust revisionist materials, lived in Canada for many years before he was deported to Germany.

Stolz was kicked off the case after an outburst in which she said the judges should get the death penalty for "offering succor to the enemy." But she wouldn't leave Zundel and had to be physically removed from the courtroom. After a new trial in February 2007, Zundel received the maximum prison sentence of five years for disputing that the Holocaust is historical fact.

The judge who sentenced Stolz said the lawyer used the Zundel trial as a forum to promote revisionist theories. While representing Zundel, Stolz frequently claimed the Holocaust never happened, signed a legal document with "Heil Hitler" and advocated hatred of Jews.