The Prohibition Act of 1947 ( Ger . Verbotsgesetz 1947 , abbreviated VerbotsG ) - the Austrian constitutional law adopted on May 8, 1945, which banned the Nazi party and provided the legal basis for the denazification process in Austria ; aims to suppress the potential revival of Nazism in the country. The current version entered into force on February 18, 1947. The law, updated in 1992, prohibits Holocaust denial , as well as the deliberate degradation of other Nazi crimes. Before the 1992 correction, some Austrian courts interpreted the prohibition of Holocaust denial as a special case of suppressing the revival of Nazi ideology, but since the law did not explicitly prohibit such denials, the debate on this issue continued until amended [1] [2] [3] .
Content
Law text
According to the article of the 1st VerbotsG, the Nazi party , its paramilitary organizations, such as the SS , Assault Troops (SA), the National Socialist Mechanized Corps and the National Socialist Air Corps (NSFC), and all their subsidiaries were dissolved and banned; any restructuring and / or restoration thereof is prohibited. To further support this ban, Verbotsgesetz itself - although it is a constitutional law - contains a number of criminal provisions that qualify any act of involvement in national socialist activity (including re-prosecution) as a criminal offense.
Section 3h VerbotsG, included in 1992, states that “for anyone denying, degrading, indulging or trying to justify Nazi genocide or other Nazi crimes against humanity in print, on television or radio, or in any other media information ... punishment of imprisonment for a period of one to ten years is established; in case of a special riskiness of the offense - up to twenty years. All cases are tried by jury . ”
Provisions relating to denazification in Austria were repealed by an amnesty of 1957. Former members of Nazi organizations were barred from participating in the 1945 parliamentary elections. The original death penalty was abolished in 1950.
Enforcement
In 1985, the Austrian Constitutional Court ruled that the remaining provisions of the law are directly applicable in the country's legal system and are binding on every court and every administrative body of Austria. In addition, after the 1992 amendment, the Austrian Supreme Court stated that any arguments regarding the Nazi genocide or arguments regarding the crimes of the Nazis against humanity are not acceptable evidence in court.
Until today, the Austrian courts are sentenced on the basis of Verbotsgesetz 1947. Among the most well-known sentences was the conviction of David Irving in the Vienna Regional Court of February 20, 2006: in November 2005, Irving arrived in Austria, despite 1989 warrant for his arrest; the court refused to release Irving on bail ; during the trial, Irving pleaded guilty and announced a “review” after 1991 of his views on the Holocaust ; in the end, he was sentenced to three years in prison, but after 13 months in prison, the court replaced the remaining term with a suspended sentence and deported him from the country.
Notes
- ↑ Bailer-Galanda, 1997 , p. 188.
- ↑ Anderle, 2014 .
- ↑ Anderle, 2015 .
Literature
- Brigitte Bailer-Galanda. 'Revisionism' in Germany and Austria: The Evolution of Doctrine // Antisemitism and Xenophobia in Germany After Unification / Hermann Kurthen; Werner Bergmann; Rainer Erb. - Oxford University Press, 1997. - ISBN 0-19-510485-4 .
- Christian Anderle. Learning from Sophie Scholl, Why Austria’s Anti-Nazi Legislation to Be Amended // Anderle.org. - 2014. - June 16th.
- Christian Anderle. Brief History of the Prohibition Act 1947 // Anderle.org. - 2015. - October 4th.