The Adelaide Institute was a

Holocaust denial 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: ...

group in Australia and is considered to be antisemitic by the

Australian Human Rights Commission The Australian Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution of Australia, established in 1986 as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and renamed in 2008. It is a statutory body funded by, but opera ...

and others. The Adelaide Institute was formed in 1995 from the former Truth Mission that was established in 1994 by

Fredrick Töben Gerald Fredrick Töben, more commonly known as Fredrick Töben (2 June 1944 – 29 June 2020), was a German-born Australian citizen who was director and founder of the Adelaide Institute, a Holocaust denial group in Australia. He was the auth ...

, later a convicted Holocaust denier. Töben directed the Institute until his incarceration in 2009 in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

for contempt of court.

Peter Hartung Peter Hartung (born 1959) is the director of the Holocaust denial organization Adelaide Institute having previously been a successful businessman and political adviser. He is a native of Adelaide, Australia. Hartung assumed the role o ...

assumed the role of director of the Adelaide Institute. On assuming the role from Töben, Hartung defied the Federal Court by publishing the revisionist material that led to Töben's three months jail time. In June 2009, the Adelaide Institute was linked with an American white supremacist,

James von Brunn James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

, charged with killing a security guard in Washington's Holocaust Museum. Töben and his associates at the Adelaide Institute have denied "being Holocaust deniers" in interviews conducted by Australian media, claiming they cannot deny that which never happened. The Institute's stated goal is to restore the honor of Nazism by convincing readers that

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; ...

is a Jewish lie, but the site stopped updating after Toben's sudden death in 2020, and is now officially defunct.

Activities

Supporters of the Institute have in the past been active in organizations such as Australians For Free Speech, which held a rally in 1994. The Institute has also been implicated in distributing

ist material through mainstream and alternative publications. Letters to the editor and talk radio appear to be the favourite means of disseminating the worldview of the Institute. Prior to the opening of the film ''

Schindler's List ''Schindler's List'' is a 1993 American epic historical drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Steven Zaillian. It is based on the 1982 novel ''Schindler's Ark'' by Australian novelist Thomas Keneally. The film f ...

'' in Adelaide, members of the institute distributed Holocaust denial pamphlets on the street and through the mail, apparently targeting those of Jewish background. Additionally, members of the Institute sent materials denying

to prominent Australian newspapers masquerading as objective movie reviews, some of which reached publication. The activity of the Institute appears to have declined since its initial burst of activity in the mid-1990s. The Institute did maintain a website on which statements on various issues were posted from time to time but the site itself went from barely active to inactive to defunct as Toben's declining health and lack of support led to him posting fewer items even before he died in 2020, and the site basically died along with him.

Legal action against Töben

The Adelaide Institute website triggered the arrest of

in Germany in 1998 for breaching Germany's Holocaust Law, Section 130, that outlaws "Incitement to hatred". Töben was sentenced in April 1999 to 10 months in prison, but had already served seven months during trial, and was released upon payment of a $5000 bond-Kaution. The Institute's website was drawn to the attention of the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (

HREOC The Australian Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution of Australia, established in 1986 as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and renamed in 2008. It is a statutory body funded by, but oper ...

) in 2000, which ruled in ''Jones v Toben''

000 Triple zero, Triple Zero, Zero Zero Zero, Triple 0, Triple-0, 000, or 0-0-0 may refer to: * 000 (emergency telephone number), the Australian emergency telephone number * "Triple Zero", a song by AFI from ''Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes'' * Th ...

HREOCA 39 that a person contravenes section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act when they refer to the treatment of Jews in the 1930s and 1940s as having been "mythologised". The HREOC found that the Adelaide Institute had breached section 18C by publishing material on the website the consequences of which were "vilificatory, bullying, insulting and offensive" to the Jewish population, and ordered Töben to close the site and apologise to the people he had offended. As rulings of the HREOC are not enforceable at law, the case went to the Federal Court of Australia to enforce the Commission's decision. The Court ordered in 2002 that Töben remove from the Adelaide Institute website any material which conveys one or any of the following imputations: * there is serious doubt that the Holocaust occurred * it is unlikely that there were homicidal

gas chambers A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or other animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. History ...

at Auschwitz * Jews who are offended by and challenge Holocaust denial are of limited intelligence * some Jews, for improper purposes, including financial gain, have exaggerated the number of Jews killed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and the circumstances in which they were killed. In ''Toben v Jones'' (2003) 129 FCR 515, 003FCAFC 137, the Full Court of the Federal Court dismissed an appeal from those orders, in which Töben challenged the constitutional validity of section 18C.

Electronic Frontiers Australia Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc. (EFA) is a non-profit Australian national non-government organisation representing Internet users concerned with online liberties and rights. It has been vocal on the issue of Internet censorship in Australia. ...

spoke out against the ruling, taking the view that "when encountering racist or hateful speech, the best remedy to be applied is generally more speech, not enforced silence." One of the reasons mentioned is that suppressing such content results in perception that the speaker must have something important to say, and "massively increased interest in what would otherwise be marginal ideas."

Associates

John Tuson Bennett John Tuson Bennett (12 November 1937 – 22 July 2013) was a solicitor in Victoria, Australia. He was one of Australia's longest and most active Holocaust deniers, active in the Holocaust denial movement from the late 1970s. He formed the Austra ...

(1937–2013), one of Australia's longest and most active Holocaust deniers, active in the Holocaust denial movement since the late 1970s. *

Kerry Bolton Kerry Raymond Bolton (born 1956) is a white supremacist and holocaust denier, and a published author and political activist on those subjects. He is involved in several nationalist and fascist political groups in New Zealand. Political activism ...

, a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Neo-nazi and holocaust denier who published many books promoting an extreme neo-Nazi, antisemitic viewpoint. He is widely cited as holding nationalist views and was involved in several nationalist and fascist political groups in New Zealand. * Arthur Butz, American Holocaust denier and author of ''

The Hoax of the Twentieth Century ''The Hoax of the Twentieth Century: The Case Against the Presumed Extermination of European Jewry'' is a book by Northwestern University electrical engineering professor and Holocaust denier Arthur Butz. The book was originally published in 19 ...

: The Case Against the Presumed Extermination of European Jewry'' (1976). * Doug Collins (1920–2001), a Canadian journalist who was fined over four articles he wrote about the Holocaust and Jews, and who called the Holocaust movie ''

'' "Swindler's List". * Robert Faurisson, France, Europe's leading Holocaust denier and known as the principal teacher of

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

, German Holocaust denier and pamphleteer who was jailed several times for publishing hate literature. *

Jürgen Graf Jürgen Graf (born 15 August 1951) is a Swiss author, former teacher and Holocaust denier. Since August 2000 he has been living in exile, and is currently living in Russia, working as a translator, with his wife. Background Born in Basel, Graf s ...

, as a Swiss citizen and author of several books about Holocaust denial, Graf was prosecuted, along with his publisher, Gerhard Förster, for denying the gas chambers and the six million figure. In July 1998 a Swiss court sentenced him to 15 months imprisonment, and to pay a large fine, because of his denial writings. *

Ingrid Rimland Ingrid A. Rimland, also known as Ingrid Zündel (May 22, 1936 – October 12, 2017), was an American writer. She wrote several novels based upon her own experiences growing up in a Mennonite community in Ukraine and as a refugee child during Wor ...

, a Canadian Holocaust denier, whose writings are regarded in Canada as hate material. *

Germar Rudolf Germar Rudolf (born 29 October 1964), also known as Germar Scheerer, is a German chemist and a convicted Holocaust denier. Background Rudolf was born in Limburg an der Lahn, Hesse. In 1983 he took his Abitur in Remscheid, then studied chemistr ...

, German Holocaust denier. *

, the current director of the Adelaide Institute.

References

External links

* *
Briefing Paper: The Adelaide Institute, published by the B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission, Melbourne, 1999
{{Falsification of history Far-right politics in Australia Jewish Australian history Organizations established in 1994 1994 establishments in Australia Holocaust denial in Australia Holocaust-denying websites Neo-Nazism in Australia Antisemitism in Australia