Anti-Semitism is making its presence felt in the waning days of the campaign for the Swiss Parliament.
A popular Swiss politician is being accused of praising a book that denies the Holocaust occurred.
The charges are being leveled against Christoph Blocher, who claims he never read “On the Decline of Swiss Freedom” but liked the title.
The book cannot be distributed in Switzerland, and its author was condemned to 15 months in prison for violating Switzerland’s anti-racism law.
The latest polls show that Blocher’s party, the Swiss People’s Party, could win the support of more than 20 percent of the electorate in voting Sunday.
Meanwhile, swastikas and slogans “Jews go the gas chambers” were written on campaign posters for Ursula Koch, the Jewish president of the Swiss Socialist Party.
Adolf Ogi, the current Swiss minister of defense and a member of the Swiss Popular Party, said Tuesday that there is no place for Holocaust deniers and anti-Semitism in Switzerland.
But 10 percent of Swiss citizens do not believe that the Holocaust occurred, according to a public opinion poll aired Tuesday night on a Swiss television station.
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