Yes, in Germany, open Holocaust denial is only one form of Volksverhetzung (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volksverhetzung http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volksverhe

Yes, in Germany, open Holocaust denial is only one form of Volksverhetzung (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volksverhetzung http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volksverhetzung) The reason that this is punished is not stupidity. Publicly spoken words are never just an personal opininion, but have the potential to influence other people, and can lead to violent actions. In that case, the german constitution holds that the safety and dignity of the targetted people (e.g. an ethnical group) outweigh the personal freedom of an individual. This trade-off has to be made somehow, and I would agree with the german constitution: personal freedom ends where other people get physically hurt or degraded.