Far Right French Leader Fined for Gas Chamber ‘Detail’ Remark
Like Father, Like Daughter? France’s far-right National Front President Marine Le Pen and her father Jean-Marie Le Pen. Image by Getty Images
Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of France’s far-right National Front party, was fined for repeating his view that the Nazi gas chambers were a “detail” of World War II.
A court in Paris fined Le Pen some $34,000 after finding him guilty of denying crimes against humanity, the French news agency AFP reported.
One year ago, Le Pen told French TV that he does not regret the statement he first made in 1987, for which he was convicted of racial hatred and fined.
“Gas chambers were a detail of the war, unless we accept that the war is a detail of the gas chambers,” he told BFM TV in April 2015. “I continue to uphold the view because I think it is the truth and it should not shock anyone. They have exploited this affair against me, implying this is about anti-Semitism. But I defy anyone to quote me on anything anti-Semitic I have said in my political career.
Le Pen, the National Front’s former head, also made similar statements in 1997 in Germany, and then in 2008 and 2009 in the European Parliament.
His daughter Marine Le Pen has sought to gain mainstream acceptance for the National Front, which she now heads, by distancing herself and the anti-immigrant party from her father’s anti-Semitic rhetoric. In May he was suspended from the party and subsequently was disowned by his daughter.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
