The Ministry of the Interior of the West German Republic has commissioned the Institute of Current History to determine the exact number of Jews murdered during the Nazi regime. Officials said that at least a year would be required for the study because of the extensive documentary research needed.
The Ministry acted in response to a request from the Grunwalder Kreis, an organization of writers and journalists, who declared in a petition that neo-Nazi circles had started a campaign to minimize the number of Jewish victims of the Nazi era. The petition declared no legal action could be taken against such propaganda because the documentary material available for disproof was fragmentary and unofficial.
The petition was supported by the Central Council of German Jews, the United Restitution Organization and the German Societies of Christians and Jews.
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