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Klaus Beier, speaker of the National Party of Germany
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BERLIN (EJP)--- The Iranian-hosted revisionist conference on the Holocaust, organized earlier this week in Tehran, took place without the participation of prominent German extremists.
The most prominent members of Germany’s anti-Semitic scene are currently in jail.
And, according to Frank Jansen of the German weekly Die Zeit, others had cancelled their plans, for fears that their passports will be confiscated once they would return home to Germany.
German government officials do know for certain that the Iranian government had sent out invitations to leaders of the various extreme right wing parties, including to the speaker of the National Party of Germany, Klaus Beier.
Beier, whose party is currently represented in several state legislatures and municipal councils, called the conference “worthwhile… since historical research is always interesting”.
However, Beier denied rumours that he or other party members were planning to fly to Tehran.
Since taking over Iran’s presidency two years ago, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has continually called for the destruction of the State of Israel.
He has also used rhetoric which puts into question the extent at which the Holocaust happened, calling the Nazi slaughter of millions of Jews “a fabricated pretence for subjugating the Palestinian people”.
Extreme right wing groups in Germany have openly applauded the Iranian president’s stance. During their summertime demonstrations against Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, several extreme right wing groups even went so far as to rally around images of Ahmadinejad – their new-found role model and mascot.
Horst Mahler, the former legal advisor of the NPD and perhaps Germany’s most vocal anti-Semite, as well as his protégé Ernst Zuendel had both intended on travelling to Teheran.
The German authorities, however, had confiscated their passports and sent them to jail for inciting violence against Jews.