Ministry of Justice bans Jewish novel for extremism

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Ministry of Justice bans Jewish novel for extremism

F.E.O.R. CALLS INCLUSION OF LEHMANN'S BOOKS IN LIST OF EXTREMIST MATERIALS MOCKERY OF LAW ON EXTREMISM

Interfax-Religiia, 17 July 2017

 

The Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia [FEOR] subjected to criticism the inclusion of the book by Markus Lehmann "The Compulsory Baptized" in the Federal List of Extremist Materials.

 

"Thus far this seemed to be the whim of the Sochi court; now it is a decision of the Ministry of Justice. And this is an absolute mockery of the entire law on extremism" wrote the head of the Department of Public Relations of FEOR, Borukh Gorin, on Monday in his page on the social net, commenting on the decision of the Ministry of Justice of 14 July.

 

In B. Gorin's opinion, to call the book, which underwent dozens of reissues even in Germany of the 19th century, a book about discrimination on religious principles of Jews in medieval Europe, extremist means "to make ridiculous the very idea of combating extremism."

 

"Now in Latvia the Jewish partisans of the World War 2 are being condemned—which is worse?" a representative of the Federation of Jewish Communities asked.

 

Markus Lehmann (1831-1890) was a rabbi, writer, and public figure, who in his books described the life and experience of Jews in the middle ages. In his novel "The Compulsory Baptized" he described the life of Lithuanian and Polish Jews of the XIV century. The main character of the book, the Jew Abraam Yuzefovich, accepts Catholicism in order to get the office of treasurer for the king.

 

According to information in news media, Leman's book was ruled on 22 March to be extremist by the Central district court of Sochi. The court saw in the book "information aimed at arousing hatred toward Christianity (especially Catholicism) and inciting religious hatred and strife with respect to Christians and also propaganda of the superiority and exceptionalism of Judaism vis-a-vis Christianity," and in sum detected "signs of extremism" in the book. In the end, on 14 July this book was included in the list of extremist materials published on the website of the Ministry of Justice. (tr. by PDS, posted 18 July 2017)