Volume 4 No 2 - Journal for the Study of Antisemitism

HatefestShimon T. Samuels*For the tenth year, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre was the only organizationto monitor incitement to hate and violence on the display stands ofthe Frankfurt Book Fair, October 10-14. With 7,384 exhibits from 100countries and some 300,000 visitors, this is the largest annual internationalgathering of the publishing industry. As part of my assessment of the event,I met with the president of the fair, Juergen Boos, in which I praised theintervention—based on our reports—against heavily antisemitic literatureon Turkish stands two years ago and against last year’s “Worst Offender,”Malaysia. “In 2011, Turkey’s Publishers’ Association informed that subsequentto our center’s protest, Frankfurt authorities had warned exhibitorsthat display of hate literature illegal in Germany could breach their contractswith the fair,” I noted, adding that “this year, Turkish and Malaysianstands were hate-free, though Iran had now become the ‘Worst Offender.’ ”But even with that observation, there was still much on display that wasdeeply dismaying. The role of Frankfurt as the point of reference forregional book fairs cannot be minimized. Tolerating the intolerable fromhatemongering state exhibitors is a passive endorsement for the Tehranbook fair’s Holocaust denial industry and the Casablanca ad Cairo bookfairs’ obsessive-compulsive displays of world Jewish conspiracies.IRANOutside the hall, protesters at three NGO stands expressed support forthe opposition, with campaign materials that included “No to Sharia and toMartyrdom,” “Stop Stoning Women,” “Close the Iranian Embassy: TerroristCentre,” “International Committee Against Executions,” “Stop theBomb,” and “Expel Iran from the Book Fair.” The center’s previous reportshad highlighted Iranian children’s literature extolling suicide and martyr-667