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TOO MANY AGREED WITH MESSAGE
Controversial Hoax ad pulled
Ad
Evoking Holocaust Denial Pulled By STEPHEN GRAHAM, Associated Press Writer BERLIN (AP)—A fund-raising campaign for Germany's Holocaust memorial will drop the slogan "The Holocaust never happened," after criticism from Jewish leaders and complaints that it could fan racial hatred, the campaign's organizer said Friday. Thousands of posters, postcards and newspaper ads carrying the slogan already appeared across the country last month in what organizers admitted was a provocative bid to stimulate discussion and drum up donations. The slogan is accompanied by smaller text explaining the need to support the memorial in order to fight right-wing extremists who deny the Holocaust—a crime in Germany. Leah Rosh, the organizer, said she agreed after talks with the head of Germany's Jewish community to take down by mid-August a huge poster hung near the plot allocated for the monument in downtown Berlin. "We could have extended it, but we won't," she said. The slogan also will be removed from a television advertisement that has yet to run, and a second round of posters next year will carry the tamer slogan, "Forget nothing," Rosh said. She said she was making the concessions despite hundreds of messages of support. Critics have slammed the poster as insensitive, and Berlin prosecutors are investigating several complaints that it breaks laws against stirring racial hatred—a charge that both Rosh and the head of the Jewish community, Paul Spiegel, say is exaggerated. She said her campaign to raise $2.2 million for a documentation center at the memorial was receiving hundreds a day in donations, but couldn't say how much had been collected. The government is paying for the monument. Construction is to begin later this summer. |
