Subject: ADL Asks German Chancellor to Reopen Investigation of Neo-Nazi Music

From: "nigel allen" <[email-masked]>
Date: 3 Dec 92 18:44:03 EST

Here is a press release from the Anti-Defamation League.

 ADL Asks German Chancellor to Reopen Investigation of Neo-Nazi
Music
 To: National Desk
 Contact: Bonnie Mitelman, 212-490-2525, ext. 474
          or Irwin Suall, 212-490-2525, ext. 279
          both of the Anti-Defamation League

   NEW YORK, Dec. 3  -- The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) 
has called upon the German government to reopen the
investigation of Rock-O-Rama, a leading producer of racist and
anti-Semitic Skinhead rock music.
   In a letter to Chancellor Helmut Kohl, ADL National Chairman
Melvin Salberg and National Director Abraham H. Foxman, said they
were "dismayed to learn" that "the Cologne prosecutor's office has
decided that nothing can be done because of a "lack of evidence."
   "One can only conclude from this finding that the investigation,
for whatever reason, was inadequate," the letter continued.
   The agency leaders requested that Chancellor Kohl look into the
matter and take "whatever urgent measures are required to arrange
speedy reopening of the investigation," adding that they "will gladly
make available to the investigators the substantial amount of
evidence in our possession."
   Rock-O-Rama's racist and anti-Semitic recordings have been freely
acquired by the ADL fact finding department here in the United
States, and reliable reports from Germany indicate they are available
there as well.  The company, located in Cologne and Bruhl, is the
largest producer of neo-Nazi records in the world.
   For several years, ADL has been pressing the German government for
legal action because the records, tapes and compact discs Rock-O-Rama
manufacturers and distributes have encouraged extremists in the
United States, as well as in Germany, to commit many atrocious acts
of racist violence, including numerous homicides.
   The league's findings on Rock-O-Rama, the result of a long
investigation, were issued in a comprehensive ADL special report
Sounds of Hate: Neo-Nazi Rock Music from Germany.  The report states
that Rock-O-Rama recordings...with titles such as "Blood and Honor",
"White Rider" and "Backlash" and lyrics about "alien cultures, the
cultures of Zionist scum" -- are in fact available in speciality
shops in most large American cities, and by mail order from some hate
organizations.
   "We have in our possession a collection of these records and CDs
which we have offered to make available to German authorities.
Furthermore, discos frequented by neo-Nazis in Germany and other
countries openly play these records.  Skinhead publications in
several countries review these racist recordings, some of which
Rock-O-Rama has released this year," the letter stated.
   In previous meetings they have had with Chancellor Kohl, the ADL
leaders have urged him to invoke against Rock-O-Rama the country's
laws forbidding the production and dissemination of neo-Nazi and
racist propaganda, saying that such action would strike an important
blow against the growing problem of neo-Nazi influence among young
people everywhere.
   "Undoubtedly," Salberg and Foxman said, Rock-O-Rama's products
"are a contributing factor in the recent upsurge of right-wing
violence in Germany."
   ------
   Editors: Copies of the report Sounds of Hate: Neo-Nazi Rock
Music from Germany are available through the ADL Public Relations
Department.
 -30-
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