A pro-Nazi association now operates a Persian-language website in Iran, promoting anti-Semitism and memorializing Adolf Hitler, apparently with the approval of the Iranian government and its censors.
The site, Nazicenter.ir, features videos of Nazi leaders and pictures of Hitler, and praises the Third Reich for nearly conquering the Western world. It also includes a public forum whose members routinely discuss their hatred of the Jewish people.
The site’s primary goal, its administrators write, is to confront the “story of the Holocaust, which without a doubt has been taken advantage of in contemporary history.”
Iran’s Islamic regime strictly regulates all forms of communication. Hundreds of websites have been banned, and Iranians’ online access to the free world is severely restricted. But a Nazi propaganda website is consistent with the proclamations of Iran’s military and political leaders, who have both denied the existence of the Nazi Holocaust and called for the destruction of Israel.
The chief commander of the Iranian armed forces, Maj. Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi, announced the doctrine of the Islamic regime in a recent speech. “The Iranian nation is standing for its cause,” he said, “and that is the full annihilation of Israel.”
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has openly called Israel a “cancerous tumor” that should be cut out. And Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has repeatedly denied the Holocaust occurred.
Nazicenter.ir is hosted on a Web server in Germany and administered by two individuals who also own the Internet domain “NaziClub.ir.”
The website, according to Google’s “FeedBurner” syndication service, has more than 1,200 subscribers. Its online forums serve nearly 1,700 members, including some with online avatars named “Klaus.barbie,” “NEW Heil” and “Heinrich_Himmler.”
A published set of ground rules prominently displayed for forum participants includes the warning that “All members must respect the current laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran.” The also include requirements that members should promote “the expansion of Iran’s nationalism” and “make known the true picture of Zionism.”
“We as an Internet media outlet consider it a duty to show the ugly and oppressive face of Zionism,” the text continues, “which rules the world’s media who have hidden its true face.”
While Nazicenter.ir includes historical reports about Hitler’s messages to troops and the Nazi military’s operations during World War II, it also features an article about “the issue of race and ability, and IQ differences between different races.”
On April 20 the site offered “congratulations” to its readers “with Aryan blood” on the anniversary of Adolf Hitler’s birth. On May 9 an unnamed author republished video of a 1938 speech in which Hitler warned about the dangers Allied powers posed to “occupied Palestine.”