National Post (National Edition)
Holocaust denier defends principal
EDMONTON • An Alberta Holocaust denier who was convicted for “incitement to hatred” in Germany has inserted herself into a Florida debate over the firing of a school principal who said, as a school board employee, he wasn’t able to confirm the veracity of the Holocaust.
Monika Schaefer, from Jasper, Alta., was convicted in Germany in October 2018 and sentenced to 10 months in jail. She was released on time served, CBC reported.
Now, more than two years later, as president of the Truth and Justice for Germans Society, which claims to counter “the war propaganda regurgitated to this day,” Schaefer has written an open letter to the Palm Beach County School Board in Boca Raton, Fla., urging the reinstatement of the fired principal.
William Latson had been removed from Spanish River High School over an email in which he wrote to a parent saying, “I can’t say the Holocaust is a factual, historical event because I am not in a position to do so as a school district employee.”
“Not everyone agrees in the Holocaust,” the email said, according to local media.
Schaefer — who ran as the Green Party candidate for the riding of Yellowhead in three federal elections — stepped into the fray with an open letter after Latson was fired for good last October after a court battle and backlash.
Michal Schlesinger, with B’nai Brith Canada, said it’s “appalling but not surprising” to see Schaefer “spreading her tentacles of anti-Semitic hatred related to Holocaust across our southern border.”
She posted the open letter on the website of the Truth and Justice for Germans Society. The letter, dated Jan. 8, said the society is “appalled” that Latson was fired “because he could not confirm the holocaust story.”
According to local news reports, the letter was also sent to teachers and staff of the high school.
“What other event in history is so untouchable, that even a neutral stance on it will have a teacher dismissed for saying they cannot confirm that it happened?” the letter says.
The letter goes on to detail several conspiracy theories about the number of Jews who died in the Holocaust. Historians place the number of deaths around six-million members of the European Jewry, with another five-million people killed in Nazi death camps.
According to BocaNewsNow, under Florida law, email addresses for school staff are public, and staff and teachers reached out to the outlet last week after receiving the email from Schaefer.