If Europe claims to have free speech why have people been jailed there for Holocaust denial and not for it in countries that never claimed?

Sounds an awful lot like free speech aint so free, doesn't it?

Actually, Europe has NEVER claimed to have the level of free speech the US does.  If you knew more about European countries, you'd be aware of that.

Germany's laws regarding Holocaust denial are, in part, an effort to ensure that such an event never occurs again. It is a laudable goal.

And even in the US, we do not allow potentially-dangerous hate speech.  Quite often, Holocaust denial is a form of hate speech made in the context of inciting hatred and violence.

You're confused. America's the only country that rattles on about having freedom of speech. Why do you seem so keen on defending holocaust denial, anyway?

Freedom of expression in Europe is protected to a very large extent by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Holocaust denial is illegal in sixteen European countries and the European Court of Human Rights (nothing to do with the EU) has ruled, for example, that Germany's prosecution of a far-right extremist for "intentionally stating untruths in order to defame the Jews and the persecution that they had suffered" was consistent with the aims of the Convention as a whole. The European Court of Human Rights has also ruled that Belgium's prosecution of an Islamist extremist for posting videos calling for the death of infidels was consistent with the Convention.