Louisiana Lawmaker is Accused of Circulating Nazi Literature

David Duke, the former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan who was elected to the Louisiana state legislature last February, has been accused of selling and circulating anti-Semitic literature from his legislative office in Metairie, La.

Duke ran as a Republican and defeated the party’s choice, incumbent John Treen.

The charges were brought by Elizabeth Rickey, a New Orleans member of the Republican State Central Committee, the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate reported Thursday.

Duke confirmed that the books and pamphlets were distributed from the office, which also serves as the office of the National Association for the Advancement of White People, which he heads.

He said the material was distributed by NAAWP employees, not by his legislative assistants, and that the practice has ended, the Morning Advocate reported.

Rickey charged that “the fact that Duke continues to distribute Nazi literature through his legislative office is proof that Nazism is not in his past but his present. Any claims to the contrary are fraudulent and misleading.”

She said that she and a group of Tulane University graduate students obtained the material as part of a research project.

Among the items were Hitler’s “Mein Kampf”; “Did Six Million Really Die? The Truth At Last,” which claims the Holocaust never occurred; “The Turner Diaries,” a novel about violence against Jews and non-whites; and “Imperium,” which Rickey said argues for the preservation of Western culture through Nazi-style racist policies.

Rickey said her point in revealing the information “is not the technical matter of his distribution of Nazi literature but that it is a reflection of his philosophy,” the Morning Advocate reported.

Duke denied this, the paper said. Asked about selling anti-Semitic audio tapes claiming the Holocaust was a hoax, he said he has stopped “any sort of controversial stuff, because that stuff is not part of my agenda. That’s my past.”