"Wiesenthal Center Calls for Closing of German Magazine It Says Glorifies Nazism"

Breaking in today's New York Times:

"Wiesenthal Center Calls for Closing of German Magazine It Says Glorifies Nazism"

July 31, 2013

A Simon Wiesenthal Center special investigative report  has found that a magazine published by Bauer Media Group, Europe’s largest publisher, has been glorifying the infamous SS and members of Totenkopf units responsible forcarrying out Hitler’s ‘Final Solution’.  Photo: Glorifying Nazi war criminals in Der Landser magazine Renowned German expert on Nazi war crimes and long-time Wiesenthal Center consultant, Dr. Stefan Klemp’s special SWC report, Glorifying the Waffen-SS and Nazi War Criminals, found that, “… the stories in the Der Landser magazine sanitize the Third Reich… They methodically reduce the war to stories of German heroes, purposely ignoring the crimes committed by their units as if they are irrelevant.” “The Wiesenthal Center has urged both the German Justice and Interior Ministers to investigate the possible violation of section 86 of the German penal code, which specifically prohibits glorifying Nazism,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, adding, “Our call to action comes at a time when 20 percent of all Germans still harbor anti-Semitic attitudes, when crimes committed by the far right rose to 17,616 and anti-Semitic attacks increased 10.6 percent.” A breaking story in the New York Times and International Herald Tribunereads: [Bauer Media] ...has come under fire from a prominent American Jewish group [Simon Wiesenthal Center] ... German Interior Ministry Officials said, "They took the Wiesenthal Center complaint "very seriously" and would investigate. READ FULL NYT ARTICLE HERE... The Simon Wiesenthal Center will not allow the glorification of Nazism in Germany to go unchallenged. The SWC has: 1. Protested to Germany’s Ministers of Interior and Justice urging an immediate investigation into Der Landser followed by appropriate action thereafter - Ministry officials reported that an investigation would be launched. 2. Written to Amazon Germany asking that they immediately stop distributing Der Landser magazine - Amazon Germany replied in a letter to Rabbi Hier that they have decided to continue selling the magazine. “The post-war German generation, forced to face the reality that history’s greatest crime was committed by fellow Germans, were right to protect themselves against a reoccurrence by enacting tough laws against glorifying the Third Reich. Der Landser magazine clearly violates the letter and spirit of those laws. It offers succor to neo-Nazis, skinheads, and jihadists avoiding the uncomfortable truth that there was no honor or nobility ever attached to the Third Reich other than the simple fact that Nazism and her supporters were the apex of evil and the enemies of mankind,” warned Rabbi Hier.

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