Dear Friend,

Right after the enclosed new IHR Update newsletter was printed, Canadian authorities took Ernst Zundel from the prison where he had been held for two years in solitary confinement, and put him on a plane bound for Germany. He was promptly charged with violating German law by allegedly publishing, through the internet, “Holocaust denial” writings. Since his March 1 arrival in Germany, he’s been held in Mannheim prison.

Suddenly, and without intending it, Ernst Zundel has become Germany’s most prominent political prisoner. The day after his deportation, activists rallied in central Mannheim for a hastily organized demonstration calling for his freedom.

A prominent German weekly, the National Zeitung, quickly published an interview with the Chinese-Canadian lawyer who represented Zundel in Canada. In the interview, Chi-Kun Shi denounced censorship, and expressed concern that Zundel would be treated no more fairly in Germany than he had been in Canada. “I earnestly hope,” she said, “that people in Germany will ask why Germans are not permitted to freely discuss everything, including history.”

During the past year, the IHR has been in the vanguard of the international campaign for Zundel’s freedom. In the days after his deportation, for example, I conducted numerous interviews about his ordeal. A portion of my interview with the Associated Press in Toronto appeared in newspapers around the world.

In a two-part interview broadcast on “American Dissident Voices,” and during an hour-long appearance on the Jeff Rense radio show, broadcast on stations across the US, I provided an update about Zundel, and stressed the crucial role of Jewish-Zionist groups in the campaign to silence and imprison him.

And in an interview with the English-language service of Iran’s external radio service, which reaches hundreds of thousands of listeners in the Asian subcontinent, I spoke about the Zundel case, and the background and impact of the pro-Zionist “Holocaust campaign.”

We are proud of what we’ve accomplished during the past year, including our successful conference in Sacramento, and our meetings in southern California and Virginia.

We are pleased that traffic on our website – www.ihr.org – tripled during the year. The IHR website, by far our most important way of reaching people, is more popular and effective than ever. It is one of the world’s most popular sites, attracting more visitors than the sites of much more prominent and better funded organizations.

Throughout this period, we’ve kept up a vigorous program of media outreach, including numerous radio interviews during the past year reaching many hundreds of thousands of listeners, on stations in the US and over­seas, as well as through the internet.

Our “IHR News & Comment” e-mail service continues to grow, attract­ing an ever greater number of subscribers. (To subscribe to this free service, drop a line to news@ihr.org)

And all this on top of our routine work of promoting, processing and shipping out educational materials. Over the years, we’ve distrib­uted many tens of thousands of books, leaflets, tapes and other items — a record unmatched by any similar center or association.

Our record of achievement, I’m grateful to acknowledge, is due to you — and others like you — who have invested in the unique work of the Institute for Historical Review.

Along with this letter, we’re enclosing a new IHR leaflet, “Iraq: A War for Israel?” The text — which is also posted on our website — has already been widely circulated and reprinted. For example, it was published in a recent issue of Christian News, a nationally distributed Lutheran weekly, and a Czech translation has been made and posted.

Zundel’s deportation comes at a time when decades-old taboos against a balanced view of twentieth century history are crumbling, not only in Germany, but across the continent.

Growing numbers of Europeans are rejecting the simplistic view, imposed for decades by the victorious Allied powers, of World War II as a contest between Good and Evil. Ever more people are acknowledging the plain truth that terrible crimes were committed by the Soviet Union and the other Allied powers during that horrific conflict.

A dramatic expression of this new spirit was the mass rally in Dresden on Feb. 13 by thousands of Germans who gathered to mark the 60th anniversary of an authentic holocaust — the fire-bombing of a beautiful city, and the terrorist killing of tens of thousands of civilians, mostly women and children.

During this time of war, official lies, and new assaults against civil freedoms, a strong IHR voice for truth and san­ity is more needed than ever.

In coming months, we’ll be stepping up the fight against bigotry, censorship, intellectual oppression and historical lies.

In particular, we will campaign against the laws that criminalize “Holocaust denial” in Germany, France, Switzerland, and some other European countries. These laws, we stress, not only unfairly restrict free speech and free historical inquiry, they manifest the privileged status given to Jewish-Zionist interests and concerns.

Citizens of Germany and France — to mention just two countries that criminalize a revisionist or skeptical view of official Holocaust history — should have the same right of free speech and free historical inquiry as people in most of the world’s nations, including the United States.

In this great struggle for truth and freedom, I need your help — to expand our website, launch important new books, hire new staff members, broaden our media outreach, and much more.

Please let me hear from you as soon as possible.

Use the handy coupon below. Or click on our website’s “Support” page to make a secure online credit card donation.

I look forward to your generous response.

Cordially,

P.S. Your donation to the IHR is a cost-effective weapon in the global struggle for truth, freedom and peace. In spite of our small size, we have a powerful impact. Your contribution hits the enemies of truth and freedom where they’re most vulnerable.