AJC Praises Japan Government's Vow to Investigate Vandalism of Anne Frank's Diary

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Feb 23, 2014, 09:29 ET

NEW YORK, Feb. 23, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC praised the Japanese government's response to the vandalism of hundreds of copies of Anne Frank's diary in Tokyo public libraries. For decades, the Holocaust-era book has been extremely popular and widely read in Japan.

"This is a shameful act and I am confident that the police authority is making a thorough investigation," said Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga. The widespread defacement of Anne Frank: the Diary of a Young Girl and other Holocaust related books "cannot be tolerated, and is extremely regrettable," he said. At least 265 books were vandalized in 31 municipal libraries.

"The Japanese government's forthright response is both a firm message of empathy to the Jewish people and a strong warning to Holocaust deniers and other purveyors of anti-Semitism," said Shira Loewenberg, director of AJC's Asia Pacific Institute. "We are hopeful that the perpetrators of these acts of hatred will be apprehended and fully prosecuted."

Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100816/AJCLOGO

SOURCE American Jewish Committee