Aktion Kinder des Holocaust ('Action 'Children of the Holocaust'', AKdH) is a Swiss voluntary association founded in 1991. Its principal aim is the documentation of and opposition to antisemitism in Switzerland. It is associated with the University of Basel research projects "VIOLENCE youth" and "Right-wing youths in Switzerland".
Its modus operandi is to contact "insecure adolescents who might be turned from their extremist views" on web forums and chatrooms and to engage them personally, a practice they describe as "Internet Streetworking".[1] It also maintains extensive documentation of antisemitic statements made in Switzerland or on Swiss websites and puts pressure on Internet hosting service providers to terminate offending websites.[2]
Among its activities, in 2002 it criticized the work of Brazilian political cartoonist Carlos Latuff in 2002 for a cartoon depicting a Jewish boy in the Warsaw Ghetto saying "I am Palestinian". In the same year, it sued the Independent Media Center (IMC, also known as Indymedia) of Switzerland on a charge of antisemitism for publishing Latuff's cartoon.[3] The criminal proceedings were suspended by a Swiss court later that year.[4]
Notable supporters listed as members of its patronage committee include Israeli writer Uri Avnery, Swiss writers Peter Bichsel and Mariella Mehr, former chief rabbi of Denmark Bent Melchior, Swiss anti-racist activist Sigi Feigel (d. 2004), and Holocaust survivor Simon Wiesenthal (d. 2005).[5]
References
edit- ^ Samuel Althof, Internet Streetworking, an Instrument for Psychosocial Short-Term Intervention, presentation at the "OSCE Meeting on the Relationship Between Racist, Xenophobic and antiSemitic Propaganda on the Internet and Hate Crimes", Paris, 16 – 17 June 2004.
- ^ Perera, Rick (7 February 2001). "Yahoo! said to delete dozens of neo-Nazi sites". CNN.com. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
- ^ Alex Schärer: Linke und Antisemitismus: Der Indymedia-Streit - Aufpassen, was im Kübel landet, WOZ Die Wochenzeitung, 4 April 2002. Junge Welt: Ärger im Internet: Wegen antisemitischer Beiträge hat Indymedia Schweiz den Betrieb gestoppt, 25 February 2002. Aktion Kinder des Holocaust: Is this cartoon by Latuff, published at indymedia-switzerland, anti-Semitic? An analysis Archived 1 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Hamadeh, Anis (28 August 2002). "Jewish peace activists and Israeli violence". Archived from the original on 16 August 2007. Retrieved 21 September 2007.
- ^ "Das Patronatskomitee". Aktion Kinder des Holocause. Retrieved 2023-04-18.
External links
edit- Official website (in German)