Horst Mahler, a German Holocaust denier who was once a far-left militant, dies at 89

Independent

28-07-2025

Horst Mahler, a founding member of the left-wing Red Army Faction militant group who later became a right-wing extremist and accumulated a series of convictions, including for Holocaust denial, has died, a lawyer who represented him said Monday. He was 89.
Mahler died on Sunday at a hospital in Berlin, Jan Dollwetzel, who represented Mahler at a trial in 2023, told German news agency dpa.
Mahler, born on Jan. 23, 1936, became a lawyer and in 1969 defended militants Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin in a trial. Shortly afterward, he went on to found the Red Army Faction with them.
The group, which emerged from German student protests against the Vietnam War, killed 34 people and injured hundreds of others in a violent campaign against what members considered U.S. imperialism and capitalist oppression of workers. It declared itself disbanded in 1998.
In 1970, Mahler was arrested and sentenced to 14 years in prison over various bank robberies with a far-left motivation. He distanced himself from his extremist past while in custody and was released after 10 years. In 1987, he was readmitted to practice as a lawyer with the help of his then-defense attorney, Gerhard Schröder, who would later become German chancellor.
In the 1990s, Mahler switched to the opposite political extreme, becoming a member of the far-right National Democratic Party for a few years. He represented the party in 2001 in its case against an unsuccessful attempt by authorities to ban it.
Mahler racked up several convictions for denying the Holocaust, which earned him sentences totaling 10 years, and while in prison wrote a 200-page antisemitic screed that was put on the internet by unknown culprits.
In 2017, he fled to Hungary after being ordered to return to prison following a break from serving his sentence due to serious illness. Mahler said after he was arrested that he had requested asylum, but his claim was not confirmed by authorities. He was extradited to Germany and returned to prison.
Mahler was released in October 2020 and lived in Kleinmachnow, just outside Berlin. Another trial against him was shelved in April 2023 for health reasons and never resumed.