A bar owner in Besancon was fined 5,000 Francs ($840) after a local court found him guilty of incitement to racial hatred and racist practices. Claude Ourdot, 54, posted a notice on the bar’s door stating that his establishment is out of bounds to monkeys and Jews. The court also ordered him to pay damages to two civil liberties organizations which complained to the police.
The District Attorney had asked the court to impose a stiff fine because history has shown that racism often starts with a bar notice, then proceeds to yellow Stars of David and finally ends in death camps. The court agreed with the prosecution and imposed what, by local standards, is a heavy fine.
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.
