ZAGREB, Aug 27 (Hina) - Commenting on a recently published Croatian edition of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf", Croatian Culture Minister Bozo Biskupic said on Thursday the Ministry of Culture believes it is harmful and impermissible to
publish a work the contents and ideology of which call for racial and religious intolerance.
ZAGREB, Aug 27 (Hina) - Commenting on a recently published Croatian
edition of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf", Croatian Culture Minister
Bozo Biskupic said on Thursday the Ministry of Culture believes it
is harmful and impermissible to publish a work the contents and
ideology of which call for racial and religious intolerance.#L#
The publication of that book is a cultural shame, Biskupic told
Croatian Television's evening news.
The culture minister said "Mein Kampf" contains neither critical
nor scientific passages which would fully explain the time of and
the consequences Nazi ideology had on humanity, especially in view
of the millions of victims of the Holocaust, and all victims of
World War Two.
The Republic of Croatia was created on freedom-loving and
democratic ideas of Ante Starcevic, Stjepan Radic, and Franjo
Tudjman, Minister Biskupic asserted.
He pointed out the Culture Ministry's position was that the
publisher who issued the book inappropriately was greatly
responsible.
We believe he was guided not by ideological, but exclusively
commercial reasons, Biskupic said, adding the culture ministry had
not co-financed the project, nor purchased one copy.
Commenting on negative reactions to the Croatian edition of
Hitler's book, Biskupic said he was not surprised the reactions
were coming from abroad, especially from Germany where publication
of "Mein Kampf" is banned.
The publisher of the book's Croatian edition is Croatiaprojekt,
which printed 2,000 copies in mid-June.
Simon Wiesenthal requested that the Croatian edition be banned, and
to that end contacted the Bavarian government, the book's copyright
holder.
(hina) ha