Distinguish the historical fact from the legal consequence.
The Holocaust was the systematic genocide of six million Jewish people by Nazi Germany and its allies and collaborators. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum explains the extensive documentation supporting this historical knowledge.
The test does not ask whether this genocide occurred. It asks what punishment denying it can carry under German law. The relevant offence is Volksverhetzung, commonly translated as incitement to hatred; the provision is section 130 of the Criminal Code.
The other three answers
The correct answer names the criminal penalty, not an automatic administrative benefit reduction.
Reduction of social benefits
A reduction of social benefits is not the penalty range established in section 130(3).
up to 100 hours of community service
A fixed maximum of 100 hours of community service is not the penalty specified in the provision asked about here.
not at all, Holocaust denial is allowed
The blanket claim that Holocaust denial is permitted is false. The Criminal Code penalises the described conduct when the statutory conditions are met.
Quoting a statement is not the same as endorsing denial.
Section 130 distinguishes different conduct and contexts. For the provision explained here, public expression or a gathering and suitability to disturb public peace are particularly relevant; the shortened test sentence does not replace that assessment.
The law also recognises protected contexts such as civic education, scholarship and reporting through section 130(8) in conjunction with section 86(4). Historical education is therefore not equivalent to propagandistic denial of the crimes.
Section 130(3) · Criminal Code ↗Section 130: up to five years or a fine.
“Can” and “up to” describe a penalty range; the statutory conditions still matter.
Three words for this question
- leugnento deny
- To present an established fact as something that did not happen.
- die Freiheitsstrafeprison sentence
- A criminal penalty involving deprivation of liberty.
- der Strafrahmenpenalty range
- The legally prescribed range of punishment for an offence.