Sylvia Stolz (born 16 August 1963) is a German

neo nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), attack r ...

, convicted Holocaust denier and former lawyer. Denial of the Holocaust is a criminal offense in Germany.

Ernst Zündel and Stolz trials

Stolz was a member of the defense team of Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel, who was tried in March 2006 for distributing antisemitic literature, including Holocaust denial material, via a website."Holocaust denier in Germany sentenced to five years in prison"
''The New York Times'' (''International Herald Tribune''), 15 February 2007 Stolz disrupted Zündel's initial trial and was barred from the courtroom because of her behavior. She had said the judges deserved the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

for "offering succour to the enemy" and had signed a legal document " Heil Hitler"."German Neo-Nazi Lawyer Sentenced for Denying Holocaust"
''dw'' (Germany), 14 January 2008 In her view, Germany has been under a "foreign occupation which has portrayed

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

as a devil for 60 years, but that is not true." After ignoring the bar, Stolz had to be physically removed from the court. During the March 2006 trial she called

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 ...

"the biggest lie in world history". She also defended Holocaust denier

Horst Mahler Horst Mahler (born 23 January 1936) is a German former lawyer and political activist. He once was a far-left militant and a founding member of the Red Army Faction who later became a Maoist, before switching to neo-Nazism. Between 2000 and 2003, ...

. Zündel was eventually convicted in February 2007, and served a five-year term of imprisonment. Stolz was convicted in January 2008 of the same, and additional offenses, and sentenced to a 3½-year prison term. She was also banned from practicing law for five years. As of May 2009, Stolz was the partner of the German Nazi, Horst Mahler.

Since 2011

Stolz was released from Aichach Prison on 13 April 2011. In 2012, she was invited by Ivo Sasek, the founder of the Anti-Zensur-Koalition (AZK) (Anti-Censorship Coalition), as a guest speaker at the AZK's 8th conference held at Chur, Graubünden,

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, where she spoke on 24 November 2012. In January 2013, Daniel Kettiger, a

Bernese Bernese is the adjectival form for the canton of Bern or for Bern. Bernese may also refer to: * Bernese German, a Swiss German dialect of Alemannic origin generally spoken in the canton of Bern and its capital, and in some neighbouring regions * ...

lawyer, filed a criminal complaint with the Graubünden Prosecutor's Office against both Stolz and Sasek. He accused Stolz of violating Swiss race law, Art. 261^bis of the Swiss Criminal Code, in that she stated that the Holocaust has never been proved by a court of law, that findings on the location of the crime, method of murder, number killed, time period of crime, perpetrators, bodies or evidence of murder are lacking as is finding as fact that there was

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

intention to kill

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. Sasek was accused of failing to act as a responsible moderator.''Strafanzeige gegen Stolz und Sasek''
''

Die Südostschweiz ''Südostschweiz'' (Southeastern Switzerland) is a Swiss German-language daily newspaper, published by Südostschweiz Mediengruppe in Chur, Graubünden. Profile The ''Südostschweiz'' has the following regional editions: * since 1997 ''Regional ...

'', 17 January 2013''Stolz und Sasek in den Mühlen der Justiz''
''

'', 18 January 2013 On 25 February 2015, Stolz was sentenced to 20 months' imprisonment by a court in Munich for the speech she delivered in 2012."German ex-lawyer jailed for Holocaust denial - again"
''Ha'aretz'' (Associated Press), 25 February 2015 On 15 February 2018, the sentence was reduced to 18 months, time served to be reckoned from 23 May 2019, the date of arrest.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stolz, Sylvia 1963 births Living people Articles containing video clips People from Munich German people convicted of Holocaust denial 20th-century German lawyers 21st-century German lawyers