Iran report: Kohl denies Holocaust

Helmut Kohl

Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl is quoted in a semi-official Iranian newspaper denying the Holocaust.

According to Jomhouri Islami, a Farsi newspaper, Kohl told Iranian businessmen in Germany that he agreed with statements by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the Holocaust was a "myth."

The government-owned daily wrote that at a dinner gala with Iranian hoteliers and entrepreneurs, Kohl said that he "heartily agreed" with Ahmadinejad's remarks about the Holocaust, according to a translation by Iran Focus.

"What Ahmadinejad said about the Holocaust was in our bosoms," the former German chancellor was quoted as saying. "For years we wanted to say this, but we did not have the courage to speak out."

Ahmadinejad prompted an international furor in November when he publicly declared the Holocaust a "myth" and called for Israel to be "wiped off the map."

Then in December, he suggested European nations should give up some of their territory if they believed the World War II-era Holocaust took place, noting, "certain European countries would have the world go with their stand that Hitler killed millions of innocent Jews in furnaces and have passed laws punishing anyone who says anything to the contrary."

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

"Granting without accepting that the Holocaust did occur, our question to the Europeans is: 'If innocent Jews were indeed butchered by Hitler, why should Palestinians be made to pay the cost in order to seek redress for the occupiers of Jerusalem?'"

Ahmadinejad continued: "If the killing of Jews in Europe is true and the Zionists are being supported because of this excuse, why should the Palestinian nation pay the price?"

"The Islamic world should give up its policy of passivity and deal with the Palestinian issue more actively," he said.

While, so far, no one is disputing the translation of the Iranian report, some German bloggers are questioning whether it was made up for Iran’s own propaganda purposes.

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