SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTRE - EUROPE
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Tel. +33-147237637 - Fax: +33-147208401
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Wiesenthal Centre to Spanish Interior Minister: "Ban Convicted German Nazi Holocaust Denier from Appearances in Spain"

In a letter to Spanish Interior Minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels, protested a public appearance scheduled for this evening, at the Alianza Nacional headquarters in Valencia, of the convicted German Nazi sympathizer, Holocaust denier and racist, Manfred Roeder, invited to speak on the subject: "My Life for the Reich".

Samuels noted that "the event is billed as 'Europe Arise – Manfred Roeder in Valencia... to awaken European youth from its forced lethargy since 1945'
(www.alianzanacional.es)."

The letter continued, "a young Hitler Youth defendant of Berlin in 1945, jailed in 1982 as a 'terrorist' for the attacks by his 'Deutsche Aktionsgruppen' neo-Nazi organization on asylum seekers' hostels, Roeder was released in 1990. Imprisoned once again in 2005 for incitement to hatred, he has been associated with the American Ku Klux Klan and, reportedly, with Iranian campaigns against the West."

The Centre called upon the Interior Minister "to abide by Spain's commitments under anti-racist provisions of the European Union, the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe."

"The Pact of Moncloa, which ensured the return of democracy to Spain, is betrayed by the polluting presence of Manfred Roeder on Spanish soil. Neither should the youth of Spain be tainted by such voices of racist, antisemitic and anti-migrant incitement." ... "We urge you to stop this evening's hatefest and ban future appearances of Roeder and his ilk from your country," concluded Samuels

For further information, please contact Shimon Samuels at +33.609.77.01.58.