The Canadian government has banned the importation of a book. “The Hoax of the Twentieth Century,” by Arthur Butz, an associate professor of chemical engineering in North-western University in Evanston, Illinois, it was reported by the League of Human Rights of B’nai B’rith.
Butz claimed, in his book, that the attempt of the Nazis during World War II to exterminate Jews and that the Nazis killed six million Jews was a hoax. When the book first appeared in the United States several years ago it was denounced by Jewish and non-Jewish religious and secular leaders and historian.
League officials said that the League had asked the government last March to ban the importation of the book. They said that in April, the League received a letter from Revenue Canada that the book had been banned under a provision of the Customs Tariff Act which prohibits importation of material “of an immoral or indecent character.” The League also said it had asked the Minister responsible for the Canadian postal services to ban the mailing of the book.
David Matas, League chairman, said “the import prohibition strengthens the argument for a mailing prohibition by the Post Office. It is as reprehensible for hate propaganda to be circulated within Canada as for such material to enter Canada from abroad. We are very pleased that a ban has been imposed on importation. We now look forward to a ban on the mailing of this hate propaganda” in Canada.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
