German Neo-Nazi, 89, on the Lam After Failing to Appear for Jail Term

Ursula Haverbeck
Paul Zinken/dpa via AP

(AP) — BERLIN — A Holocaust survivors’ group is urging German authorities to intensify their search for a notorious neo-Nazi who did not show up for her prison sentence.

The International Auschwitz Committee said Sunday it hopes that Ursula Haverbeck, 89, who has been sentenced to two years in prison for incitement, will soon be found.

Haverbeck was sentenced last year for repeatedly denying the Holocaust — a crime in Germany. She was supposed to start her prison sentence on Wednesday, in the town of Bielefeld.

Committee member Christoph Heubner told the German news agency dpa, “one can only hope that… police are looking for her with high pressure.”

Local paper Westfalen-Blatt reported that Haverbeck’s home in Vlotho in central Germany seemed to have been empty for days, with mail piling up in front of the door.

Ursula Haverbeck was sentenced at a Berlin district court in October 2017, for saying, at a January 2016 event in the German capital, that the Holocaust did not take place and that there were no gas chambers at the infamous Auschwitz death camp. In closing arguments at her trial, she again denied the Holocaust, prompting another conviction.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.