Gaston-Armand "Guy" Amaudruz (21 December 1920 – 7 September 2018) was a Swiss

neo-fascist Neo-fascism is a post-World War II far-right ideology that includes significant elements of fascism. Neo-fascism usually includes ultranationalism, racial supremacy, populism, authoritarianism, nativism, xenophobia, and anti-immigration ...

political philosopher and

Holocaust denier Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements: * ...

Biography

Initially a supporter of the Swiss

fascist Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...

movement of

Arthur Fonjallaz Arthur Fonjallaz (2 January 1875 – 24 January 1944) was a Swiss military figure, publisher and fascist. The son of a vineyard owner from Lausanne (he was born in nearby Prilly) he attended the Military Academy of Modena and pursued a successful ...

, he came to wider attention in 1949 when he published ''Ubu Justicier au Premier Procès de Nuremberg'', one of the first works to question the veracity of

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europ ...

. Philip Rees, '' Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890'', Simon & Schuster, 1990, p. 10 Increasingly active in neo-fascism, he organized conferences in

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal popul ...

in 1951 which led to the formation of a pan-European nationalist group known as the European Social Movement and then led the more radical splinter group known as the New European Order later that year. This group sought the creation of a new

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

–

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

axis to unite Europe against

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, private ...

and

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

and in January 1953 set up a European Liaison Office under Amaudruz in Lausanne to co-ordinate the work of affiliated groups. He also became an early member of the '' Volkspartei der Schweiz'' but left the party over the issue of

South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous province , image_skyline = , image_alt ...

(where he was opposed to

irredentism Irredentism is usually understood as a desire that one state annexes a territory of a neighboring state. This desire is motivated by ethnic reasons (because the population of the territory is ethnically similar to the population of the parent sta ...

). Of all the groups involved Amaudruz was closest to '' Ordine Nuovo''. Conferences were held irregularly, although membership was fluid and Amaudruz devoted much of his time to writing for journals such as ''

Nation Europa ''Nation Europa'' (also called ''Nation und Europa'') was a far-right monthly magazine, published in Germany. It was founded in 1951 and was based in Coburg until its closure in 2009. It is also the name of the publishing house that developed th ...

''. In 1983 he set up ''Nationale Koordination'' as an umbrella group for figures on the Swiss far right. Bringing together various shades of extremist opinion, the group began to fall out of favour in the mid 1990s as younger activists saw it as an "old men's club". In 2000 Amaudruz was sentenced to a year in a Swiss jail for Holocaust denial, and returned to prison in 2003 on similar charges. However, as of 2005 he was continuing to publish a far right journal, ''Courrier du continent''. He died on 7 September 2018, at the age of 97.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amaudruz, Gaston 1920 births 2018 deaths People from Lausanne Pan-European nationalism Swiss neo-Nazis Swiss writers in French Swiss Holocaust deniers People convicted of Holocaust denial Swiss anti-communists