Books questioning the Shoah or downright racist are free to circulate and enjoy a high popularity even in mainstream bookshops. This includes books that are proven literary forgeries like the infamous «The Protocols of the Elders of Zion» that do not only circulate freely but are fiercely defended by the totality of the greek publishers and society.
So when well known nazi-admirer and TV figure Mr.Plevris published a book called «Jews, the whole truth» where he openly expressed his admiration for Hitler there was no shock. But what really distinguished him was not only his questioning of the Shoah but his open support for the extermination of the jews which, as far as he was concerned, it should have been more effective. Or else to put it in his own words:
«unfortunately the Nazis chose to move the Jews away from Europe, when in my opinion, they should have killed them, because this is the behavior towards those who desire world domination.»
P. 742: ‘That’s what Jews want. It’s the only thing they understand: an execution squad within 24 hours’
P. 269: ‘Every Greek, every person who is aware of the subversion carried out by Jewish Zionism, should act on his own as an individual and mobilize himself against Jews. Initially he needs to do the following:…
…Wherever intervention by Jews is noted he should foil it by denouncing it and then take whatever action is necessary.
P. 778: ‘The only way Jews can find salvation is for them to stop dreaming of ruling the world… Otherwise their annihilation will be complete and for all. At most a few thousand will remain and they will snip their little willies and wait for their Jehovah’.
P. 852: ‘Hitler was blamed for something that did not actually take place. Later the history of humanity will blame him for not ridding Europe of the Jews, though he could have… My dear Jews, I do not ask you to suffer all the things that your holy books tell you that we should suffer from you… You are criminals because that is what your religion has taught you to be. You are murderers because crime is instilled in you from an early age. Therefore we others have the right to deal with you. And that is what we will do’.
Phrases like this forced a group of greek christians and greek jews to file a complaint against him for advocating racist violence. A law suit which was accepted as legitimate by an Athens Appeals Judicial Council because “The appellant’s argument that his writings are an expression of opinion is unfounded because in fact he is inciting the readership, especially the Greek one, to mobilize against Jews (that is to hate, discriminate against, or use violence against them), whom the appellant characterizes indiscriminately as subhuman, deserving extinction, enemies of the Greek people and of Europe in general, praising at the same time the Nazis and SS’s criminal actions against the Jews.”
One thing that Greek Jewry and the Human Rights Organizations did not certainly expect was how the trial turned into a true farce. A court openly anti-jewish which was not only sympathetic to the defendant but downright hostile towards the witnesses for the prosecution. A court which rejected all greek jewish witnesses as not having legal interest in the case, as if it concerned some uncertain entity and not people in blood and flesh! A court who’s Prosecutor was so favorable to Plevris that he arrived to declare as «scientific work» his book! Even when this scandal came to light through a newspaper article, a complete silence roared deafeningly since no political party, public figure or academic rose to protest agaist the state of the Greek Justice.
What follows is the english translation of the bulletin by the Greek Helsinki Monitor, a greek NGO for human rights, which was actively involved in the law suit. Among else it includes selected excerpts from the trial which document the prejudice of the judges who arrived to defend themselves the defendant instead of letting his lawyers!
Link to the AntiNazi Initiative which covers broadly the trial: http://www.antinazi.gr/ (english and greek)
Link to Greek Helsinki Monitor: http://cm.greekhelsinki.gr/
In particular: Greece: Trial of Kostas Plevris and “Eleftheros Kosmos” for anti-Semitism on 5 September
Greece: On an anti-Jewish trial in Athens (commemoration of Kristallnacht) (english)
Also in greek one can read more extensive reports by GHM:
Δίκη Πλεύρη – Ελεύθερου Κόσμου για αντισημιτισμό στις 5-9 – Εκπρόσωπος ΛΑΟΣ στηρίζει Πλεύρη
Ενημέρωση και ανασκευή ανακριβειών για δίκη Πλεύρη – «Ελεύθερου Κόσμου» για αντισημιτισμό στις 5-9
Τρεις δίκες ακροδεξιού «Ελεύθερου Κόσμου» για αντισημιτικά και αντι-τσιγγάνικα κείμενα
Ψέματα Άδωνι Γεωργιάδη για βιβλίο Κώστα Πλεύρη και αντισημιτισμό
69η Ημέρα Μνήμης της «Νύχτας Κρυστάλλων» και αντιεβραϊκή δίκη στην Αθήνα
Link to DeviousDiva who hosted an article on the International Day Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism and also hosts the bulletin by the GHM: http://deviousdiva.com/2007/11/09/remember
Link to touki8eblom‘s blog’s who at the bottom of the page has a cartoon which depicts my view perfectly: http://tuki8eblom.blogspot.com
It is noteworthy, though it hardly appears surprising, the fact that the populist, antisemitic party of LAOS appeared closely linked to this book. LAOS deputy Adonis Georgiadis openly praised the book in various TV shows while the son of Plevris was also elected as a deputy for the LAOS party, though later LAOS tried to disassociate itself from the «dangerous» Plevris. For the record the team of liberal journalists of IOS Press have dealt extensively with both Plevris book and it’s links to LAOS; for more info try clicking (in greek):
Ο Αδωνις Γεωργιάδης και το βιβλίο του Πλεύρη
Το κρυφτούλι του κ. Καρατζαφέρη
Ο ΛΑΟΣ και ο ναζισμός του κ. Πλεύρη
UPDATE: Link to Jungle-Report, a greek-language blog posting about this: http://jungle-report.blogspot.com/2007/11/blog-post_09.html
More…
Abravanel, the Blog 