Sabina Citron (born 1928) is a

Holocaust survivor Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universally accep ...

. She is a founder and spokesperson of the Canadian Holocaust Remembrance Association, charged a Nazi propagandist under the Canadian ''Criminal Code'' with spreading false news in relation to

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 Europe; a ...

, and prevailed in a civil lawsuit for libel against Hungarian war criminal

Imre Finta Imre Finta (2 September 1912 – 1 December 2003) was the first person prosecuted under Canada's war crimes legislation. He was charged in 1987 and acquitted in 1990. Early life Finta was born in Kolozsvár (modern-day Cluj-Napoca, Romania). He s ...

. She authored ''The Indictment''.

Early life

Citron was born in

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of canti ...

, Poland. She performed

forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

in an ammunition factory during World War II. Later during

, she was incarcerated in

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

, where her oldest brother died. Although the rest of Citron's close relatives managed to survive, almost all of her extended family were killed. She moved to Israel in 1948, later immigrated to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Canada, and now lives in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, Israel.

Later life

Citron became a founder and spokesperson of the Canadian Holocaust Remembrance Association. In 1983 Citron began a

private prosecution A private prosecution is a criminal law, criminal proceeding initiated by an individual private citizen or private organisation (such as a prosecution association) instead of by a public prosecutor who represents the State (polity), state. Private p ...

under the Canadian

Criminal Code A criminal code (or penal code) is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that migh ...

against Nazi propagandist

Ernst Zündel Ernst Christof Friedrich Zündel (; 24 April 1939 – 5 August 2017) was a German neo-Nazi publisher and pamphleteer of Holocaust denial literature.

, a

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: * ...

and pamphleteer, charging him with spreading false news. The charges were based on two pamphlets he had published. Citron alleged that the publications were "likely to cause mischief to the public interest in social and racial tolerance".''R v Zundel'', 1987 CanLII 121 (ON CA).
/ref> The case was taken over by the Crown Attorney's office, and Zündel was convicted and sentenced to 15 months in jail. However, on appeal to the

Ontario Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal for Ontario (frequently referred to as the Ontario Court of Appeal or ONCA) is the appellate court for the province of Ontario, Canada. The seat of the court is Osgoode Hall in downtown Toronto, also the seat of the Law Societ ...

, the conviction was set aside and a re-trial ordered, due to procedural errors made by the trial judge. Zündel was again convicted at the re-trial and appealed, first to the Ontario Court of Appeal, which dismissed the appeal, and then to the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...

, which allowed the appeal, overturning the decisions of the courts below. In its decision, the Supreme Court held that the charge of spreading false news was unconstitutional, because it infringed the guarantee of

freedom of expression Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...

in the

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms The ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' (french: Charte canadienne des droits et libertés), often simply referred to as the ''Charter'' in Canada, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada, forming the first part o ...

. Citron also prevailed in a civil lawsuit for libel against

, after he accused her of being a liar for saying that he had committed war crimes. Citron is the author of ''The Indictment: The Arab-Israeli Conflict in Historical Perspective'' (Gefen Publishing House Ltd, 2006).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Citron, Sabina Auschwitz concentration camp survivors 1928 births Living people People from Jerusalem People from Łódź Polish emigrants to Canada Polish emigrants to Israel Canadian non-fiction writers Writers from Toronto Jewish Canadian writers Holocaust denial in Canada Canadian women non-fiction writers Jewish women writers