(2 Feb 1995) Japanese/Eng/Nat
One of Japan's best-known publishing companies is shutting down one of its magazines after it printed an article claiming the gas chambers of Auschwitz never existed.
Bungei Shunju is closing down Marco Polo. The monthly had a circulation of 200- thousand.
The Marco Polo article did admit that Jews were mistreated during World War Two.
But the article said the Germans never plotted or implemented the destruction of Jews. The magazine said the Nazis just forced the Jews to resettle in Eastern Europe.
The article also said the gas chambers at Auschwitz were fabrications and that Jews died at Auschwitz from illness.
The article's author said he didn't defend Nazism in the piece.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"There are so many witnesses, that we are told, testimonies through the books, newspapers and media are extremely biased in selection. There are so many survivors who disagree about the conventional explanation on the Auschwitz camp or gas chambers but such testimonies have been routinely ignored.''
SUPER CAPTION: Masanori Nishioka, author of the Marco Polo article.
The article has aroused furious protests by diplomats, Jewish organisations and journalists.
Some major corporations, including Volkswagen and Mitsubishi Motors, stopped advertising in Marco Polo.
At the publisher's offices management dismissed the magazine's editor and issued an apology.
The statement said the publishers regretted that Marco Polo printed an inaccurate article about the Nazi's slaughter of the Jews. The publishers apologised for causing deep sadness and suffering to the Jewish community.
Today (Thursday), the president of Bungei Shunju formally apologised at a joint press conference in Tokyo with Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Centre.
SOUNDBITE: Japanese
"The sadness of people who have suffered from the article is immeasurable. As a responsible publisher the utmost we can do is to shut down the magazine.''
SUPER CAPTION: Kengo Tanaka, president Bungei Shunju
SOUNDBITE: English
"My hope is that in the coming days we will finalise a plan for the Wiesenthal Centre to be involved in running a few seminars here in Tokyo.''
SUPER CAPTION: Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean, Simon Wiesenthal Centre
On the streets of Tokyo, Japanese citizens said they didn't support the Marco Polo article's position.
SOUNDBITE: (Japanese)
"I believe that the holocaust gas chambers existed."
SUPER CAPTION: Woman
SOUNDBITE: (Japanese)
"I don't know much about that. But I think they should not abolish the magazine because of pressure from the sponsors."
SUPER CAPTION: Man
The article renewed questions about Japanese ignorance of the Holocaust and Jewish issues, particularly because Bungei Shunju is considered one of Japan's most prestigious publishers.
Books alleging various Jewish conspiracies are frequently published and advertised in major newspapers. And many Japanese apparently read the books without considering them anti-Semitic.
