Sabina Citron

Sabina Citron (August 4, 1928 – September 27, 2023) was a Polish-Canadian Holocaust survivor. She was a founder and spokesperson of the Canadian Holocaust Remembrance Association, charged a Nazi propagandist under the Canadian Criminal Code with spreading false news in relation to the Holocaust, and prevailed in a civil lawsuit for libel against Hungarian war criminal Imre Finta. She authored The Indictment.

Early life Sabina Citron was born in Łódź, Poland on August 4, 1928. She performed forced labour in an ammunition factory during World War II. Although the rest of Citron's close relatives managed to survive, almost all of her extended family were killed.

In 1983 Citron began a private prosecution under the Canadian Criminal Code against Nazi propagandist Ernst Zündel, a Holocaust denier and pamphleteer, charging him with spreading false news.

The charges were based on two pamphlets he had published. Citron alleged that the publications were "likely to cause mischief to the public interest in social and racial tolerance". The case was taken over by the Crown Attorney's office, and Zündel was convicted and sentenced to 15 months in jail.

However, on appeal to the Ontario Court of Appeal, the conviction was set aside and a re-trial ordered, due to procedural errors made by the trial judge. In its decision, the Supreme Court held that the charge of spreading false news was unconstitutional, because it infringed the guarantee of freedom of expression in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Citron also prevailed in a civil lawsuit for libel against Imre Finta, after he accused her of being a liar for saying that he had committed war crimes.

Citron was the author of The Indictment: The Arab-Israeli Conflict in Historical Perspective (Gefen Publishing House Ltd, 2006). The book primarily focuses on the Arab–Israeli conflict rather than Citron's experiences during the Holocaust.

Death Sabina Citron died at her apartment in Jerusalem on September 27, 2023, at the age of 95.