France's most famed publishing house bowed to pressure Thursday and suspended plans to reissue a collection of violently anti-Semitic pamphlets by novelist Louis-Ferdinand Celine.

Gallimard sparked an outcry last week when it revealed it intended to publish a 1,000-page compendium of the controversial writer's essays from the late 1930s.

The French lawyer and Nazi-hunter Serge Klarsfeld threatened legal action to stop them, saying that Celine had "influenced a whole generation of collaborationists who sent French Jews to their deaths."

But on Thursday Gallimard told AFP that it was shelving plans to reprint the texts in full.

"I am suspending the project, having judged that conditions were not right for ensuring a proper job in terms of methodology and history," Antoine Gallimard said.

The publisher had earlier insisted that the pamphlets, which have been out of print since 1945, would be put "in their context as writings of great violence and marked by the anti-Semitic hatred of the author."

It claimed that it wanted to issue a "critical edition" of the anti-Jewish diatribes, which have tarnished the reputation of the author of "Journey to the End of the Night".

Celine fled France after the D-Day landings in Normandy in 1944 and was later convicted in his absence of collaborating with the Nazis.

He died in 1961 saying he did not want the pamphlets to be reissued, but the lawyer of his widow, Lucette Destouches, now 105, recently gave consent for a reprint.

"Celine's pamphlets belong to the most infamous chapter of French anti-Semitism," Gallimard said in a statement to AFP.

"But to censure them prevents light being shed on their ideological roots and only attracts unhealthy curiosity," it added.

Gallimard said he "understood the feelings of readers who might find this re-edition shocking, hurtful or worrying for obvious ethical reasons."

France's main Jewish group said Tuesday that the texts, written between 1937 and 1941, months after the start of the German occupation of France, were a "gross incitation to racist and anti-Semitic hate".

The head of the French Council of Jewish Institutions (Crif), Francis Kalifat, had appealed to Gallimard to abandon these "rants".

And a group of four leading French historians signed a blistering attack on the publishers in the weekly magazine L'Obs, calling the idea to reprint the pamphlets "at best voyeurism and at worst nostalgia, which risked sanctifying incitement to murder."

The pamphlets, which were never banned in France, come out of copyright in 2031.

Gallimard's supporters argued that the texts were readily available on the internet "without any mediation or context" and could be also bought from secondhand book shops across France. </s> French publishing house Gallimard cancels plan to reissue a collection of the controversial writer’s essays from the late 1930s after sparking uproar

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

France’s most famed publishing house has bowed to pressure and suspended plans to reissue a collection of violently antisemitic pamphlets by novelist Louis-Ferdinand Céline.

Gallimard sparked an outcry last week when it revealed it intended to publish a 1,000-page compendium of the controversial writer’s essays from the late 1930s.

Fierce row over plans to publish antisemitic texts by French writer Céline Read more

The French lawyer and Nazi-hunter Serge Klarsfeld threatened legal action to stop them, saying that Céline had “influenced a whole generation of collaborationists who sent French Jews to their deaths”.

But on Thursday Gallimard told AFP that it was shelving plans to reprint the texts in full.

“I am suspending the project, having judged that conditions were not right for ensuring a proper job in terms of methodology and history,” Antoine Gallimard said.

The publisher had earlier insisted that the pamphlets, which have been out of print since 1945, would be put “in their context as writings of great violence and marked by the antisemitic hatred of the author”.

It claimed that it wanted to issue a “critical edition” of the anti-Jewish diatribes, which have tarnished the reputation of the author of Journey to the End of the Night.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Portrait of Louis-Ferdinand Céline. Photograph: Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images

Céline fled France after the D-day landings in Normandy in 1944 and was later convicted in his absence of collaborating with the Nazis.

He died in 1961 saying he did not want the pamphlets to be reissued, but the lawyer of his widow, Lucette Destouches, now 105, recently gave consent for a reprint.



“Céline’s pamphlets belong to the most infamous chapter of French antisemitism,” Gallimard said in a statement to AFP.

“But to censor them prevents light being shed on their ideological roots and only attracts unhealthy curiosity,” it added.

Gallimard said he “understood the feelings of readers who might find this re-edition shocking, hurtful or worrying for obvious ethical reasons”.

Céline: French literary genius or repellent antisemite? New film rekindles an old conflict Read more

France’s main Jewish group said Tuesday that the texts, written between 1937 and 1941, months after the start of the German occupation of France, were a “gross incitation to racist and antisemitic hate”.

The head of the French Council of Jewish Institutions (Crif), Francis Kalifat, had appealed to Gallimard to abandon these “rants”.

And a group of four leading French historians signed a blistering attack on the publishers in the weekly magazine L’Obs, calling the idea to reprint the pamphlets “at best voyeurism and at worst nostalgia, which risked sanctifying incitement to murder”.

The pamphlets, which were never banned in France, come out of copyright in 2031. </s> The "methodological and memorial conditions" necessary to allow the three pamphlets to be published "dispassionately" do not exist at the moment, Gallimard boss Antoine Gallimard said in a statement Thursday.

The author of Journey to the End of the Night, whose real name was Louis Ferdinand Destouches, wrote them in the 1930s and 1940s in the run-up to World War II and under the Nazi occupation of France.

At the end of the war he fled to Denmark.

A French court sentenced him to a year in prison, which he served in a Danish jail, for collaboration with the Germans.

The pamphlets have not been republished in France since, although they are available online and in an edition published in Canada in 2012.

In December, after Gallimard announced its plan to publish a similar edition in France, Frédéric Potier, the head of the government's committee against anti-Semitism and racism, summoned Gallimard to his office.

He reportedly to express his concern that the edition should be supervised and annotated by a group of experts, including historians, especially since it was to be published at a time of rising anti-Semitism.

Gallimard replied that he planned to work only with Régis Tettamanzi, an academic who published the Canadian edition.

The project sparked protests from historians, literary critics and campaigners, among them Serge Klarsfeld, the president of a group representing the children of deportees, and Pierre-André Targuieff, the author of a book on Céline and anti-Semitism.

"Céline's pamphlets belong the history of the most despicable French anti-Semitism," Gallimard said in his statement on Thursday. "But to condemn them to censorship impedes the full clarification of their roots and their ideological impact and creates an unhealthy curiosity where we should exercise our faculty of judgement."

But he added, "I understand and share the feelings of readers shocked or concerned by the prospect of publication for obvious human and ethical reasons." </s> ISRAEL NATIONAL NEWS – Belgium’s previous prime minister faced accusations anti-Semitism by complaining in an interview that the kingdom has become a country “of Antwerp diamond dealers.”

Elio di Rupo, a Socialist politician, was accused of dog whistling in an interview published Friday in the L’Echo newspaper.

“Belgium cannot be governed the way it is today: solely for the richest and most powerful,” Di Rupo said. “It’s a Belgium of Antwerp diamond dealers that we have today when we need a much more pluralistic Belgium. It’s an unapologetic right-wing policy that presumes to know everything, but is belied by statistics.”

The diamond district of the Belgian city of Antwerp for decades was dominated by Jews. However, since the 1980s, Jewish traders have gradually been replaced by south Asians, who now are believed to outnumber the Jews.

In an editorial op-ed on the news site Juif, the writer accused di Rupo of dog whistling about Jews. But even if this was not his intention, the writer continued, “he could have said what he wanted to say differently instead of pouring oil on the fire of a certain kind of anti-Semitism.” The op-ed originally appeared on the blog “philosemitism.”

Di Rupo did not immediately reply to JTA’s request for a reaction.

Di Rupo in 2015 came under scathing criticism by Jews when he wrote on Twitter: “I am Charlie, I am Jewish, I am Palestinian” following the murder of four Jews in Paris by an Islamist who cited Israel’s actions as his motivation for the murders.

Di Rupo’s comments about diamond dealers come amid a debate in Belgium over the awarding of an honorary doctorate by a Brussels university to a film director who dismissed claims of anti-Semitism in Britain’s Labour party as “dirty tricks.”

Ken Loach, who supports the attempt to boycott Israel who has likened Israel’s actions to those Nazi Germany, received the honor last week from Free University of Brussels despite opposition to it by Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, according to the RTBF broadcaster.

Earlier this month, Loach demanded that lawmakers from Labour who demonstrated against anti-Semitism in London’s Parliament Square be kicked out of the party.

“You cannot work with people who have come to undermine the biggest challenge we’ve had — we’ve never had a leader like Corbyn before in the whole history of the Labour Party… and that’s why the dirty tricks are going to come out.”

Jeremy Corbyn was elected Labour leader in 2015. He has called Hamas an organization “dedicated towards the good of the Palestinian people and bringing about peace and social justice and political justice.” He’s called that group and Hezbollah his “friends.”

Corbyn’s critics say he is responsible for a proliferation of anti-Semitic rhetoric in the ranks of Labour, which saw thousands of his supporters join. In 2016 he was accused of being soft on anti-Semitism last year by an inter-parliamentary committee of inquiry on the problem, which included Labour members.

Asked about Holocaust denial by Corbyn supporter, Loach in 2017 said: “I think history is for all of us to discuss. The founding of the state of Israel, for example, based on ethnic cleansing, is there for us all to discuss, so don’t try and subvert that by false stories of anti-Semitism.”

He later said he does not question the historical record on the Holocaust. </s> French President Emmanuel Macron arrives to pay his respect by the tomb of Lieutenant Robert Porchon, brother-in-arms of French writer Maurice Genevoix, at the Trottoir necropolis in Les Eparges, France, November 6, 2018, as part of the ceremonies marking the centenary of the First World War. Ludovic Marin/Pool via REUTERS

PARIS (Reuters) - French police on Tuesday arrested five men and a woman, all from the radical far right, suspected of plotting to attack French President Emmanuel Macron, an official close to the investigation said.

The source said France’s domestic spy agency (DGSI) ordered the raids in three different regions after obtaining intelligence that raised suspicion of an “imprecise and loosely-formed” plan for “violent action” against the president.

Police sources said the six were members of the radical far right in France. They were detained in swoops on addresses in the Isere region, southeast of Lyon, in Moselle on the border with Germany and Luxembourg, and in Ille-et-Vilaine near the city of Rennes in the country’s northwest.

It was not immediately clear what the connection between those arrested was.

In an interview published on Sunday, Macron warned of the threat from far-right movements across Europe, saying complacency during the 1930s was what had opened the way for the rise of Hitler in Germany and Mussolini in Italy.

In June, 10 people linked to France’s radical far right were placed under formal investigation on suspicion of links to terrorist networks.

A source close to the investigation said the 10 belonged to a hardline group whose stated intent was to “fight against the threat of Islam” and were suspected of planning an attack on Muslims.

The June raids led to the seizure of ingredients for making explosives as well as guns and ammunition.

It was not clear if Tuesday’s security operation was connected to the June arrests. </s> Austrian foreign minister Karin Kneissl has recalled the diplomat. Photo: AFP

Austria's foreign ministry has summoned an attaché from its embassy in Israel after he posted a picture of himself on social media wearing a T-shirt bearing the name of a Nazi tank division.

A screenshot of the post on Jürgen-Michael Kleppich's Facebook page shows him in the green shirt with the words "Stand your ground" and "Frundsberg", the Falter weekly reported.

The last name of Georg von Frundsberg, who was a mercenary in the 15th century, was used by the Nazis during World War II for its 10th SS Panzer division.

The garment is sold by Phalanx Europa, an online shop that sells "patriotic" clothing for followers of the nativist Identitarian movement.

The episode is the latest embarrassment for a member of the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) since it came to power in December in a coalition with the centre-right People's Party.

Kleppich, who is also an FPÖ local councillor in a district of Vienna, had previously posted a photo of his grandfather in a Nazi uniform, complete with swastika, according to Falter.

READ ALSO: Austria's far-right interior minister provokes outrage with call to 'concentrate' migrants

Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl has ordered Kleppich "be summoned to Vienna immediately to submit to a legal probe into the accusations in the media," her ministry said late on Tuesday.

The FPÖ, founded by ex-Nazis in the 1950s, has sought to clean up its image and its leader Heinz-Christian Strache says the party rejects all racism and extremism.

But in January an FPÖ candidate in a state election quit after it emerged that his student fraternity had published a song book with lyrics praising the Holocaust.

They included the words "Step on the gas, old Germanics, we can make it to seven million". Six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.

Interior Minister Herbert Kickl of the FPÖ is also under pressure over police raids on the domestic intelligence agency, which investigates extremist groups, including on the far-right.

Strache has visited Israel several times and supports moving the Austrian embassy to Jerusalem, as US President Donald Trump plans to do with the US mission.

But Israel's government has said it will not have direct contact with FPÖ ministers, a stance mirrored by Austria's Jewish community organisation the IKG.

READ ALSO: Austrian far-right party says criticism of Nazi ties is partly justified and pledges to clean up its act </s> “Assuredly, the evil man will not escape, But the offspring of the righteous will be safe.” Proverbs 11:21 (The Israel Bible™)

French police discovered the charred body of a Holocaust survivor covered with stab wounds after a fire broke out in her Paris apartment on Friday. The local Jewish community fears the murder was motivated by anti-Semitism, reported Israel Hayom.

Forensic teams worked over the weekend to gather evidence in an investigation that French government officials are following closely, due to the sensitivity of the incident.

The fire was reportedly lit at five different points in the apartment, pointing to arson.

On Monday, French authorities said that two suspects had been taken into custody, and that they are planning to charge them with premeditated murder of a vulnerable person for anti-Semitic motives.

They will face charges of “murder related to the victim’s religion, real or imagined,” said a French judicial source, according to AFP.

Sources in the Jewish community said Knoll had previously complained about threats from her Muslim neighbor, saying he had even threatened to burn her.

Prominent figures in the French Jewish community say that while the incident was not widely reported as such in local media, it was undoubtedly an anti-Semitic attack.

“For the Jews of France, the nightmare continues. While France is still reeling from trauma after the terrorist attack in Trèbes, we discover today the shocking murder last Friday of Mireille Knoll, an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor,” French MP Meyer Habib, who represents France’s overseas constituency, including in Israel, said on Sunday.

During a visit to Israel, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the attack was likely anti-Semitism.

“I had a very moving and difficult moment when I had just concluded my visit to Yad Vashem. I heard about the outrageous murder of Mirelle Kanolin—a Holocaust survivor—in Paris,” he said. “We cannot yet say if the motive for the murder was anti-Semitism. But it is reasonable to assume, it will not be surprising and, therefore, this only strengthens the fact that this struggle has not ended, and that we will need to continue fighting against anti-Semitism.” </s> (JTA) — An Austrian diplomat serving in Israel was recalled to answer questions about his wearing a T-shirt bearing the name of a 16th-century Germanic general and the date of a major battle he won.

The foreign ministry in Vienna said in a statement that it had decided on Juergen-Michael Kleppich’s recall Wednesday after media in Austria found pictures of him wearing a shirt emblazoned with the words: “Stand your ground” and “Frundsberg 1525.” The shirt is available for sale online.

Georg von Frundsberg won a battle in 1525 against France in Italy. In 1943, the Nazi army established a tank division named after him.

Austria’s coalition government under Chancellor Sebastian Kurz of the Austrian People’s Party comprises also the far-right Freedom Party, which was established by former Nazis in the 1940s. Leaders of Austrian Jewry say that despite its leaders’ condemnation of anti-Semitism and kicking out of members caught making anti-Semitic statements, the Freedom Party has not done enough to distance itself from neo-Nazis who support it. </s> Families of the victims of a 1982 terrorist attack in Paris are demanding a parliamentary inquiry after reports that the former chief of French intelligence made a secret pact with the perpetrators.

They have called on President Emmanuel Macron to declassify the top-secret file of the attack, which killed six and injured 22 others.

At lunchtime on 9 August 1982 a masked and armed commando entered Jo Goldenberg’s restaurant in the rue des Rosiers, in Paris’s Jewish quarter. The terrorists threw a grenade into the room then began shooting at diners and staff with machine guns. They threw a second grenade as they left. The attack lasted three minutes and the terrorists vanished into the district’s labyrinth of streets.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Chez Jo Goldenberg in Paris two days after gunmen shot at customers with sub-machine guns, killing six and injuring 22. Photograph: Joel Robine/AFP

Investigators linked the attack to Fatah: the Revolutionary Council, established by Sabri Khalil al-Banna, known as Abu Nidal, whose dissident Palestinian group had split from Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Liberation Organisation. The Abu Nidal Organisation, as it was also known, was considered one of the most ruthless of the Palestinian militant groups. It was thought to be responsible for attacks in 20 countries which killed more than 300 people, including in Rome and Vienna airports in 1985.

On Friday, Le Parisien newspaper reported that the former head of France’s intelligence service Yves Bonnet had admitted negotiating a “secret deal” with the terrorist group. Now 83, Bonnet is said to have told investigators that he agreed the group’s members could continue travelling to France if they carried out no more attacks on French soil.

“We made a kind of verbal deal in which I said I don’t want any more attacks on French soil and in return I’ll let you come to France and I guarantee nothing will happen to you,” Bonnet reportedly said in an interview with investigating magistrates in January.

“And it worked. There were no further attacks between the end of 1983 and the end of 1985 … afterwards, they carried out attacks in Italy, for example, but that did not concern me as long as there was nothing on French soil.”

'Mastermind' of 1982 Jewish cafe attack in Paris arrested in Jordan Read more

Bonnet claimed the then French president François Mitterrand’s chief of staff was informed of the deal, but that “officially … the Élysée knew nothing”. Investigators, also kept in the dark over the deal, have asked to interview other members of the intelligence services who have refused to speak until now, claiming it was a matter of national security.

Yohann Taïeb, the president of the support committee representing victims’ families, said that, if confirmed, Bonnet’s admission was “shameful”. He called on Macron to “declassify documents and take decisions about eventual legal proceedings”.

Avi Bitton, a lawyer for the families, told Le Parisien: “We need a parliamentary inquiry not just on the rue des Rosiers attack but to establish if such secret pacts were sealed with other terrorist organisations.”

Lawyers representing the families have also demanded the extradition of four suspects currently in Jordan and Norway.
Bowing to pressure, French publisher Gallimard suspends plans to reprint a compendium of "violently antisemitic pamphlets" by novelist Louis-Ferdinand Céline.