Search JTA's historical archive dating back to 1923

German Authorities Ban American Records Recalling Nazi Era

May 1, 1959
See Original Daily Bulletin From This Date
Advertisement

The Nuremberg public prosecutor ordered the seizure yesterday of American-made phonograph albums which reproduce the history of the Nazi movement.

A Bundestag deputy urged that the West German Government act to halt sales of-the disks throughout West Germany. The envelopes containing the records carry photographic reproductions of Nazi leaders, including Hitler.

The Nuremberg prosecutor based his action on a Bavarian law which bans the “use and publication of symbols of outlawed organizations,” asserting that the term “symbol” applied to Nazi songs and speeches.

Social Democratic party leaders have charged that the records are a thinly-veiled effort to glorify the Nazi regime. They contain, in addition to Nazi songs, speeches by Hitler, Georing and Goebbels, and experts of the Nuremberg trial proceedings.

(In New York, it was learned that the records, entitled “Hitler’s Inferno,” were produced and released by an American firm, which contended that the material was being circulated as reminder that the horrors of Nazism actually existed.)

Recommended from JTA

Advertisement