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French publishing house suspends plan to publish anti-Semitic writings

In a statement, Antoine Gallimard, the publishing house's boss, said the "methodological and memorial conditions" necessary to allow the three pamphlets to be published "dispassionately" do not exist at the moment.

PARIS—French publishing house Gallimard has decided to suspend a plan to publish a collection of anti-Semitic essays  by French author Louis-Ferdinand Céline after protests.

In a statement, Antoine Gallimard, said the “methodological and memorial conditions” necessary to allow the three pamphlets to be published “dispassionately” do not exist at the moment.

The author of Journey to the End of the Night, whose real name was Louis Ferdinand Destouches, wrote them in the 1930s and 1940s in the run-up to World War II and under the Nazi occupation of France.

The pamphlets have not been republished in France since, although they are available online and in an edition published in Canada in 2012.

“Céline’s pamphlets belong the history of the most despicable French anti-Semitism,” Gallimard said in his statement; “But to condemn them to censorship impedes the full clarification of their roots and their ideological impact and creates an unhealthy curiosity where we should exercise our faculty of judgement.”

But he added, “I understand and share the feelings of readers shocked or concerned by the prospect of publication for obvious human and ethical reasons.’’

In December, after Gallimard announced its plan to publish a similar edition in France, Frédéric Potier, the head of the government’s committee against anti-Semitism and racism, summoned Gallimard to his office.

He reportedly to express his concern that the edition should be supervised and annotated by a group of experts, including historians, especially since it was to be published at a time of rising anti-Semitism.

Gallimard’s project sparked protests from historians, literary critics and campaigners, among them Serge Klarsfeld, the president of a group representing the children of deportees and Crif, the umbrella representative body of French Jewish institutions.

“I am relieved, it was a difficult battle to win because it was not happening in front of magistrates but in front of the company”, said Serge Klarsfeld.

For him, “no critical apparatus can withstand the torrents of Celine delusions” and the “convincing force” of the writer.

“It is a wise decision to postpone this project indefinitely, and for us it is a satisfaction,” said Crif President Francis Kalifat.

Celine expressed his hatred for Jews – not only Jews, but also Blacks. These are anti-Semitic and racist rants that would fall under the law if they were published today,’’ “he added.

At the end of the war, Céline fled to Denmark. A French court sentenced him to a year in prison, which he served in a Danish jail, for collaboration with the Germans.

The pamphlets have not been republished in France since, although they are available online and in an edition published in Canada in 2012.

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