Plans axed to reissue anti-Semitic pamphlets

PARIS • Controversial plans to reissue three anti-Semitic pamphlets written in the 1930s by the famed French novelist Louis- Ferdinand Céline have been suspended, the French publishing house Gallimard has announced.

For the better part of a month, the publishing house came under intense scrutiny from Jewish leaders and literary academics for agreeing to republish texts that experts say rank among the most virulently anti- Semitic tracts ever published. In mid- December, the French government intervened, demanding to know the details of Gallimard’s plans, specifically the type of contextual commentary slated to accompany the new edition.

“I understand and share t he emotion of r eaders that the prospect of this reedition shocks, injures or worries for obvious human or ethical reasons,” said Antoine Gallimard, the head of the publishing house, in a statement. “In the name of my freedom as an editor and my sensibility to my times, I suspend this project, judging that the methodological and memorial conditions have not been met in order to envisage this project in a calm manner.”

Ever since it was announced, the project had shocked and scandalized a society where the written word remains a matter of fierce debate.

After more than 50 years of refusing to allow the pamphlets to be republished, Céline’s 105- year- old widow authorized their release. In a move that shocked many, Gallimard — among the most venerable names in t he French c ul t ural world — took on the project and planned to release the pamphlets in a single volume this spring.

But academics immediately decried what they considered an enterprise that seemed rushed and that required years, if not decades, to complete properly. The book-length pamphlets were rife with plagiarism, many scholars said, and Céline often recycled anti- Semitic clichés that warranted proper contextualization and sourcing.

Gallimard’s template appeared to be a previous 2012 edition released in Canada but not in France, a project some experts said was rife with errors.

In mid-December, Frédéric Potier, head of a French government delegation devoted to fighting racism and antiSemitism, told The Washington Post that his concern had been the release of historic “calls to hatred” in such a sensitive political moment. Instances of anti-Semitic violence are regularly reported, such as the arson attack on a Paris kosher store Tuesday, three years to the day after a gunman targeted another kosher supermarket in the capital’s suburbs, killing four.

The government’s viewpoint echoed the sentiments of many prominent French Jewish leaders, who were almost uniformly opposed to the release of the infamous pamphlets, which have not been republished in France since the end of the Second World War.