West German Teacher Disciplined for Lying About Concentration Camps
A West German schoolteacher, accused of telling pupils that Nazi concentration camps were a fabrication, Friday received a nine-month suspended prison sentence for inciting racial hatred and insulting behavior.
A court in Koblenz heard that Rudolf Koch told classes that no more than 400,000 Jews died in World War II and that the Auschwitz concentration camp was an invention of the United States.
He also said members of the left-wing Greens party were liars and criminals whom he would happily shoot.
The presiding judge said Koch had sought to diminish Germany’s collective guilt for the Nazi era and defamed the Jewish people.
Koch said he had intended no malice and the charges were a plot by hostile pupils and teachers.
The sentence was suspended for a year and Koch was allowed to return to his job on condition of good behavior.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
