Thies Christophersen

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Thies Christophersen (born January 27, 1918 in Kiel , † February 13, 1997 in Molfsee ) was a German Holocaust denier , publicist, publisher and farmer .

Life

Christophersen was the son of a farmer. After completing his school career, he completed an apprenticeship in agriculture. He joined the German Young People in 1931 . At the time of National Socialism he belonged to several Nazi organizations.

At the beginning of the Second World War he signed up for military service, but suffered a war wound in 1940 and was then unfit for front in the Ukraine . From January 1944 he was employed as SS special leader in the Rajsko Research Center for Plant Breeding of the SS Economic and Administrative Main Office near the Auschwitz concentration camp . There, in particular, Russian dandelions were grown for the production of natural rubber . In the greenhouses he was responsible for the supervision of the prisoners who were employed there, who called him Locher . His superior there was the head of the agricultural operations of the Auschwitz concentration camp Joachim Caesar .

After 1945, Christophersen said he was politically active in the CDU and the German party before joining the NPD . At the end of the 1960s he took part in the establishment of the Notgemeinschaft Deutscher Bauern , which was later named a citizens 'and farmers' initiative . Christophersen worked as a farmer in Kälberhagen near Mohrkirch in the state of Schleswig-Holstein . From 1965 he published the monthly newspaper Deutscher Bauer , which he later sold to Gerhard Frey . In 1969 Christophersen was the founder of the magazine Die Bauernschaft - For Law and Justice and later of the Critique Publishing House , in which he published the magazine Critique - The Voice of the People . From 1975 he ran the Nordwind publishing bookstore.

In the 1970s he was one of the key players in circles of the neo and former Nazis . With his friends Manfred Roeder and Erwin Schönborn he carried out a number of high-profile campaigns. He was also on good terms with Gary Lauck , Michael Kühnen and Ernst Zündel . Christophersen incited in his magazine Die Bauernschaft against the Basic Law and campaigned for a fourth empire . Otto Ernst Remer , Christian Worch and the French neo-Nazi Robert Faurisson visited the readers 'meetings and Nordic Poets' Days that he held .

In 1973, at the suggestion of Manfred Roeder , he published the booklet Die Auschwitz Lie in Mohrkirch in his “Criticism Publishing House” , the title of which became synonymous with Holocaust denial. Christophersen tried to prove in his writing that the prisoners were treated well in Auschwitz concentration camp. That is how people danced and sang at work. The prisoners were properly fed. He also didn't notice anything about mass gassings. The pamphlet appeared in several editions and languages ​​with an anti-Semitic preface by Roeder.

For spreading Nazi propaganda , Christophersen was sentenced to a fine of 1500 DM in 1976. This was later followed by several convictions for spreading the mark of anti-constitutional organizations and denigrating the state and the memory of the deceased . The brochure The Auschwitz Lie was confiscated by the courts in 1978. In 1986 Christophersen avoided prosecution by moving to Denmark , which did not extradite him to Germany. In the same year he handed over the management of the magazine Die Bauernschaft , which he had published since 1969, to Ernst Zündel. From Denmark he also ran a mail order business for Nazi devotional items and Nazi propaganda publications. He did not succeed in acquiring Danish citizenship. After the public protests against him in Denmark intensified, he moved in May 1995 first to Great Britain , then to Belgium , Switzerland and Spain . He finally returned to Germany ill and unable to custody.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Information from the "Antifascist Press Archive and Education Center Berlin eV"
  2. ↑ a b c Christian Mentel: Christophersen, Thies . In: Brigitte Mihok, Wolfgang Benz , Werner Bergmann (eds.): Handbook of anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism in Past and Present , Volume 2: People (A – K). Berlin 2009, p. 139.
  3. ^ A b c Jens Mecklenburg: Handbook of German right-wing extremism. Elefanten-Press-Verlag , Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-88520-585-8 , pp. 449-450.
  4. ↑ Brigitte Bailer-Galanda , Wilhelm Lasek, Heribert Schiedel: "Revisionism" and the Mauthausen concentration camp. On the genesis and topicality of "revisionism". In: Documentation archive of Austrian resistance: Yearbook 2004. Lit Verlag, Vienna 2004, ISBN 978-3-8258-7580-0 , p. 137 with footnote 4.
  5. ^ Danuta Czech : Calendar of the events in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp 1939–1945. Hamburg 1989, p. 519.
  6. ↑ Irena Strzelecka, Piotr Setkiewicz: construction, expansion and development of the KL Auschwitz and its satellite camps. In: Aleksander Lasik, Franciszek Piper, Piotr Setkiewicz, Irena Strzelecka: Auschwitz 1940–1945. Studies on the history of the concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz , Volume I: Structure and structure of the camp. Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Oświęcim 1999, p. 124.
  7. ↑ Der Spiegel, Issue 8/1969, p. 65.
  8. ↑ a b c d Christian Mentel: Christophersen, Thies . In: Brigitte Mihok, Wolfgang Benz, Werner Bergmann (eds.): Handbook of anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism in Past and Present , Volume 2: People (A – K). Berlin 2009, p. 140.
  9. ↑ Jürg Altwegg: Noam Chomsky and the reality of the gas chambers. Time online , November 21, 2012.
  10. ↑ Der Spiegel, issue 18/1998, p. 70.
  11. ↑ Federal Agency for Civic Education (ed.): Arguments against right-wing extremist prejudices - Auschwitz lie.
  12. ↑ Der Spiegel, issue 5/1981, p. 78.
  13. ↑ Der Spiegel, issue 13/1995, p. 32.
personal data
SURNAME Christophersen, Thies
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German farmer, publicist, publisher and Holocaust denier
DATE OF BIRTH January 27, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH Kiel
DATE OF DEATH February 13, 1997
Place of death Molfsee