Ernst Zündel 1939 - 2017

Home of Holocaust-Denier

Compared to its neighbours, the house at 206 Carlton Street looks like it had “lots of work done.” Indeed, this is a house that has a heavy history. Built in 1890, this house suffered.

Starting in 1975 and for 25 years, it was the home and workplace of Ernst Zündel, a well-known Holocaust-denier born in 1939. The building also housed his publishing company. In fact, for 25 years, it was the home of Canada’s neo-nazi movement. Because of what it represented, it was also often the site of anti-racism demonstrations.

In happier times, the house looked similar to its eastern neighbours on Carlton Street. However, on May 7, 1995, arson destroyed the front porch of the house and caused heavy damages inside.

Zündel had the house repaired and transformed into what some have called a “bunker”: high forbidding fence, bars in the windows, surveillance cameras, etc. The porch wasn’t rebuilt and the 3rd floor was completely redone and cladded with aluminium siding.

Zündel moved out of the building in the early 2000s and it became a rooming house.

Zündel faced justice in Canada for his ties with white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups and was eventually extradited to Germany where he was also tried and imprisoned for inciting racial hatred. He eventually was released in 2010 and continued to live in Germany, never returning to Canada. He died of a heart attack on August 6, 2017.