“It is a scandal that it took the research from the Simon Wiesenthal Center to make the case and finally force theissue." —Rabbi MarvinHier
By JACK EWING
FRANKFURT — The German publisher of InTouch and numerous other magazines said Friday thatit would stop publishing a pulp magazine criticized by an American Jewish group for heroic portrayals of German war criminals in World WarII.
Bauer Media Group,based in Hamburg, said it would stop publishing Der Landser, which said it was simply offering tales of ordinary soldiers in World War II butwas the subject of complaints by the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, which said the magazine promoted flattering stories about officers andunits associated with the Holocaust.
The decision by Bauer was amajor victory for the Wiesenthal Center. The magazine had survived numerous challenges since being founded in the 1950s by a veteran of the Luftwaffe, theGerman air force before and during World War II. Der Landser had long been at the fulcrum of a debate about how to balance free speech with efforts to eradicatethe neo-Nazi movement and persistent anti-Semitism.
Nazi propaganda is illegalin Germany, as is denial of the Holocaust. The Wiesenthal Center said Der Landser glorified the actions of units that were associated with warcrimes, while ignoring atrocities.
One recent issue was devoted to theexploits in Greece of an S.S. unit that was part of Hitler’s personal bodyguard corps. As Der Landser portrayed it, Greek villagers were grateful to have beenconquered.
Bauer “had no alternativegiven the overwhelming evidence,” Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder of the Wiesenthal Center, said Friday by telephone from Los Angeles. In a study, the centerhad documented how officers and units portrayed by the magazine were involved in mass murder of Jews or partisans and other atrocities.
Rabbi Hier said he thought BauerMedia had taken the complaint seriously. “They did the right thing,” he said. “They got out in front of the matter.”
In a statement, Bauer Media said areview by an outside lawyer that it hired found that the magazine did not violate German law. But the company decided to close the publication anyway in line with its“portfolio strategy.”
Der Landser originally drewits readership from unrepentant German war veterans, but as that readership died off the magazine became popular with right-wing extremists, law enforcement authoritiessaid.
