The Munich public prosecutor’s office instituted proceedings today against the extremist right-wing newspaper, the National Zeitung Und Soldaten Zeitung, for incitement to race hatred against the Jewish people.
In recent weeks, the weekly, which has been denounced in the West German Bundestag as teeming with “poisonous anti-Semitism,” carried lengthy articles by officials of the American Council for Judaism. The articles were written by Rabbi Elmer Berger, the organization’s executive vice-president, and Bill Gottlieb, its public relations director. Both articles attacked American Zionist activities.
Munich Prosecutor Bernhard Bader said the proceedings stemmed from a number of suits filed against the weekly by private individuals. Since January, the weekly has been attacking West German officials who favored the extension of the statute of limitations for prosecution of Nazi war criminals. The publication has been using language strongly reminiscent of anti-Semitic Nazi publications in charging an alleged “plot of international Jewry to poison German relations with the Arab world.”
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