A group of religious leaders and government officials are denouncing plans by a neo-Nazi group to burn copies of Jewish books in the Minneapolis area.
The book-burning will take place Saturday at an undisclosed place and time, according to website of the Minneapolis-based National Socialist Movement.
Alan Silver, president of the Jewish Community Relations Council, said the choice of Saturday for the book burning was obviously no accident, since it is the anniversary of the liberation of a Nazi concentration camp in Auschwitz. The day is now commemorated as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Attorney General Lori Swanson said only a concerted effort by those who oppose hatred and prejudice would quell the efforts of neo-Nazi and similar groups. She wanted to participate in that, she said.
“I think it’s important for public officials to stand up and say, in our Minnesota, we don’t tolerate hatred and bigotry,” she said.
The neo-Nazi group’s site states participants in the “Great Minnesota Book Burning” will “torch degenerate books such as the Talmud, and other anti-American and/or anti-White books.”