GERMANY pressed charges of inciting racial hatred against an influential Canadian-based neo-Nazi guru yesterday in a case that will test the limits of state action towards internet sites preaching far-Right and anti-Semitic messages.

Herr Zündel, 65, was arrested at Frankfurt airport on Tuesday night after being deported from Canada following almost four decades of legal action to curb his neo-Nazi activities.

Germany issued a warrant for his arrest in February 2003 on charges of stirring up racial hatred and openly denying the Holocaust. If found guilty he could face up to five years in jail. He is being held in Mannheim prison.

Herr Zündel emigrated to Canada in 1958 to dodge German army service. He made his living as a photographer but soon established himself as a prolific publisher of far-Right tracts. His books included The Hitler We Loved and Why, and he published a series of books questioning the Holocaust.

The Zündel publishing empire expanded quickly: his mailing list in the United States alone was more than 30,000. He bought advertising space in children’s comics and sold audio tapes of Hitler’s speeches and Nazi marching songs. There was a ready market in West Germany where it was illegal to wear a swastika or to deliver a public statement doubting the authenticity of the Holocaust. His publications were impounded at the border but tonnes of material were smuggled into the country.

Neither the Canadian nor the German authorities were able to stop his activities. Canada suspended his mailing privileges but Herr Zündel merely shifted to a New York address. He was charged in Canada with “publishing false news”, and his trial drew some of the most prominent spokesmen of the far Right to his defence. A jail sentence was overturned and the law banning the “spreading of false news” was eventually struck down by the Canadian Supreme Court.

The internet made Herr Zündel more powerful, but it might also have made him more vulnerable. His website became the world’s largest electronic library of Holocaust denial. Canadian prosecutors tried to pin down Herr Zündel on charges of “inciting racial hatred using telephonic devices” but the website was run out of the United States, protected by free speech legislation, and Herr Zündel claimed not to play any personal role in the daily running of the site.

The last chance of successfully prosecuting Herr Zündel seems to be under German law, but even that could prove difficult. Germany’s criminal code allows prosecution in Germany if the effects of the criminal deed are felt there.

Even if the authorities prove their case, it is an open question as to whether they will be able to act against his website.

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