SWC endorses proposed Macedonian law banning institutions that promotes Nazism

According to the organization, this legislation was brought forward as a result of two cultural centers in Bulgaria that was named for Bulgarian Nazi collaborators.

North Macedonia biggest opposition party VMRO-DPMNE supporters shout slogans, April 2019 (photo credit: OGNEN TEOFILOVSKI/REUTERS)
North Macedonia biggest opposition party VMRO-DPMNE supporters shout slogans, April 2019
(photo credit: OGNEN TEOFILOVSKI/REUTERS)

Jewish human rights organization Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) endorsed on Tuesday a proposed law in Macedonia by Rashela Mizrachi, a member of the country's parliament, that would ban any and all institutions that would promote fascism or Nazism, the organization announced.

Mizrachi sponsored the legislation late last week, SWC said.

According to the organization, this legislation was brought forward as a result of two cultural centers in Bulgaria that was named for Bulgarian Nazi collaborators.

Dr. Efraim Zuroff, Holocaust historian and the Center's Director of Eastern European Affairs, said that "the Bulgarians who annexed Macedonia deported over 7,000 Jews, practically the entire Macedonian Jewish community to Treblinka where every single Jewish deportee, including more than 2,000 children, were murdered."

"The Bulgarians who annexed Macedonia deported over 7,000 Jews, practically the entire Macedonian Jewish community to Treblinka where every single Jewish deportee, including more than 2,000 children, were murdered."

Dr. Efraim Zuroff

Past actions the Wiesenthal Center has taken

In January of this year, the SWC denounced the Doha International Book Fair for allowing Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s book Mein Kampf to be displayed

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Prime Minister od Macedonia  Zoran Zaev, September 4, 2017. (credit: CHAIM ZACH / GPO)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Prime Minister od Macedonia Zoran Zaev, September 4, 2017. (credit: CHAIM ZACH / GPO)

The organization that same month also wrote an open letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos calling for the platform to remove Nazi propaganda films that were available.