Pedro Varela Geiss

Pedro Varela Geiss (born 9 October 1957) is a Spanish writer, revisionist historian, librarian, and Holocaust denier. He was the owner of a neo-nazi bookstore in Barcelona that is now closed, and he describes himself as a “National Socialist” inspired by Adolf Hitler. He was also the former President of the disbanded Neo-Nazi group CEDADE, to which Belgian Nazi collaborator Leon Degrelle belonged.

Pedro Varela Geiss
Varela in an interview
Born (1957-10-09) 9 October 1957
Barcelona, Spain
Alma materUniversity of Barcelona
OccupationHistorian, librarian
ChildrenOne

Biography

Born in Barcelona,[1] he became the President of CEDADE in 1978,[2] publishing Holocaust denial material.[3]

In 1992, he spent three months in pre-trial detention in Austria for a Nazi speech he gave, but was acquitted. After the end of CEDADE, he opened the Libreria Europa bookstore in Barcelona, from which he promoted pro-Nazi speeches, conferences, lectures, and books on anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.[4] In 1998, he was sentenced to five years in prison for justifying genocide, due to the Holocaust denial material he sold at his store.[5]

In 2010, he was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison for the felony of "disseminating genocidal ideals".[6] He was released from prison on 8 March 2012.[7] He went back to run his bookstore. However, in July 2016, his library was closed down for inciting hate speech and racial discrimination.[8]

Personal life

Pedro has a daughter who lives in Denmark. He is also a mountaineer, and an enthusiast of Richard Wagner and his body of work. Varela is a Roman Catholic and a vegetarian.

References
  1. "El nazi Varela siembra cruces gamadas en prisión | Edición impresa | EL PAÍS". Elpais.com. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  2. Stephen E. Atkins (2009). Holocaust Denial as an International Movement. ISBN 9780313345388. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  3. Hermann Kurthen; Werner Bergmann; Rainer Erb (29 May 1997). Antisemitism and Xenophobia in Germany After Unification. ISBN 978-0-19-511010-4. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  4. "Is Europe on the "Right" Path?" (PDF). Library.fes.de. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  5. Andrea Mammone; Emmanuel Godin; Brian Jenkins (16 May 2012). Mapping the Extreme Right in Contemporary Europe: From Local to Transnational. ISBN 9780415502641. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  6. "Dos años y nueves meses de cárcel para el neonazi Pedro Varela | Actualidad | EL PAÍS". Elpais.com. 8 March 2010. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  7. "Sale en libertad el dueño de la filonazi Librería Europa tras cumplir 15 meses de cárcel | Barcelona". Elmundo.es. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  8. "Revista de Claseshistoria : Publicación digital de Historia y Ciencias Sociales : Artículo Nº 293" (PDF). Claseshistoria.com. 15 April 2012. ISSN 1989-4988. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
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