Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 3, 1995 TAG: 9502030096
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: TOKYO LENGTH: Medium
At a packed news conference with representatives of the Simon Wiesenthal Center of Los Angeles, Bungei president Kengo Tanaka noted that to atone for the article, he had closed down the offending magazine, Marco Polo.
The article, titled ``The Greatest Taboo of Postwar History: There were No Nazi Gas Chambers,'' was published just as Jews were commemorating the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp in Poland.
Bungei, one of the most respected publishers in Japan, was ignorant of Jewish history and believed it was unveiling new facts in presenting the article, Tanaka said. ``We came to know of the very deep pain and agony inflicted by the Marco Polo article ... It was as if we were hit by an iron club in having our eyes opened,'' he said.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Wiesenthal Center praised Tanaka's action as ``serious and unprecedented.'' He said he was calling off the economic boycott against Bungei.
The article marks one of the latest in an escalating number of anti-Semitic incidents reported around the world, according to Jewish organizations.
In Japan, Jewish organizations repeatedly have protested such incidents as a Liberal Democratic Party official's use of Adolf Hitler's writings last year for a campaign manual and advertisements for books alleging a Jewish financial conspiracy, carried by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, a respected financial daily.
Cooper expressed concern and puzzlement over the continued appearance of such writings in a nation with no history of extensive contact with Jews.
There are only about 1,000 Jews in Japan and there is a virtual absence of hate crimes against them; Cooper said he feels safer here than any place besides Israel.
by CNB