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Wiesenthal Center Calls for Closing of German Magazine It Says Glorifies Nazism

July 29, 2013 by

In one recent issue, members of the feared World War II military unit were portrayed as just a bunch of good-natured soldiers doing their jobs and, between battles, sharing rounds of local plonk with Greek villagers grateful to have been invaded.

“We conquered them, and they’re still a friendly folk,” remarked one member of the squad, a unit that served as Hitler’s personal bodyguard.

That jarring view of history, in a magazine published by one of Germany’s largest news media companies and available for download on Amazon and Apple’s iTunes, has come under fire from a prominent American Jewish group. Acting on what it said were several recent complaints, the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles invoked German laws against Nazi propaganda and Holocaust denials in asking Berlin last week to shut down Der Landser.

German Interior Ministry officials said they took the Wiesenthal Center complaint “very seriously” and would investigate. But in the meantime, companies that print and distribute Der Landser said they would continue doing so, noting that previous legal challenges had failed to find fault with the editorial stance of the magazine, whose relatively small circulation belies its lightning-rod role in Germany.

The new focus on Der Landser is the latest incarnation of a debate — one that has lasted decades — over the balance between free speech and efforts in Germany to eradicate the neo-Nazi movement and tamp down anti-Semitism.

The magazine, which advertises that it is based on true events but also clearly includes fictional elements, studiously avoids mentioning the word “Nazi” and does not overtly propagate anti-Semitism. But critics say Der Landser, with its failure to acknowledge atrocities and little sense of regret for the deaths of millions of people, is stuck in a World War II time warp that ignores efforts by broader German society to come to terms with Nazi crimes.

“The way they interpret it, everyone in the Wehrmacht was just like in the American Army or the Canadian Army or the British Army,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder of the Wiesenthal Center, using the term for the German armed forces at that time. “They forget the most important point. People in this army were thugs and murderers who almost brought down Western civilization.”

He called Amazon’s refusal to stop selling the magazine “preposterous.”

But even some experts skeptical of the magazine’s pseudo-historical tales of military heroics and camaraderie among German forces question whether it violates the prohibition against glorifying Nazism or denying the Holocaust.

“Legally, there is not much to grab on to,” said Peter Conrady, a retired professor of literature at the University of Dortmund who has studied Der Landser. Mr. Conrady said the magazine subtly promotes nationalism by portraying German soldiers, even from the SS, as sympathetic everymen who were morally superior to their enemies.

Mr. Conrady said a ban of the magazine would simply drive such material underground. It would be more useful to promote public knowledge of the issues raised by the magazine’s portrayal of history, he said. “It’s important for the public to be aware of this phenomenon,” he said.

The magazine’s editor in chief, Guntram Schulze-Wegener, who is in his late 40s, waved off assertions that Der Landser plays to contemporary extreme rightist sentiments.

In a brief telephone interview, Mr. Schulze-Wegener, who also edits several other magazines about military history, said the content was nonpolitical. He declined to comment further, saying he first had to consult with his superiors.

Der Landser’s publisher, Bauer Media Group, cited previous rulings by German officials that the magazine did not violate any laws. Its own review of the magazine has concluded that it “neither glorifies National Socialism nor downplays Nazi crimes,” Bauer said in a statement. The company would not disclose the circulation of the magazine, widely distributed on newsstands and online, but about a decade ago it was estimated at 60,000, not counting special issues.

Amazon said it would continue to sell the magazine after determining that it had previously passed muster with German officials who scrutinize the news media available to children.

Apple, which offers Der Landser on iTunes, did not respond to e-mails and telephone messages asking whether it was aware of the magazine’s content.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/29/world/europe/german-magazine-accused-over-historical-views.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Media Business Tagged With: , ,

Judge Clears Path for Detroit Bankruptcy Case

July 24, 2013 by Leave a Comment

The decision by Judge Steven Rhodes of United States Bankruptcy Court freezes all litigation against the city during the bankruptcy process and consolidates state-level legal challenges to Detroit’s Chapter 9 filing into the federal bankruptcy case.

The federal bankruptcy court has “exclusive jurisdiction” over the case, he said, adding, “There is no case law that holds otherwise.”

It was a dramatic beginning to the largest municipal bankruptcy case in American history.

The judge was attempting to put to rest a legal spat that began almost immediately after Detroit filed for bankruptcy last Thursday, the largest American city ever to do so. On Friday a state judge, Judge Rosemarie Aquilina of Ingham County Circuit Court, ruled that the filing violated the state Constitution, which protects the pensions of retired public employees. The city has been expected to seek reductions in pensions in bankruptcy court as part of its broader efforts to reduce Detroit’s estimated $18 billion in debts and other obligations.

Judge Aquilina’s ruling was appealed by the state attorney general to the Michigan Court of Appeals, which on Tuesday issued a stay of her order pending their appellate decision.

But on Wednesday, in the first hearing on the Chapter 9 case, Judge Rhodes approved a motion by the city’s emergency financial manager, Kevyn D. Orr, to freeze all litigation against the city during the bankruptcy process.

The move effectively gives Judge Rhodes the authority to rule on the issues raised by retired public employees regarding their pensions.

Judge Rhodes also granted a second motion by the emergency manager that extends protection from litigation to Gov. Rick Snyder of Michigan and other state officials.

Last week, Mr. Snyder accepted the city’s emergency manager’s recommendation and ordered Detroit to file for Chapter 9.

Both Mr. Snyder and Mr. Orr have said that a bankruptcy filing was the only option to reverse Detroit’s decades-long decline and settle its crushing debt.

As the case began, protesters gathered outside the federal courthouse downtown. Some of those were city employees who said the governor had illegally taken over control of the city from residents and elected public officials.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/25/us/judge-clears-path-for-detroit-bankruptcy-case.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Economy News Tagged With: , ,

Fair Game: For Dell Investors, a Safety Valve

June 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Investors who think that the price is inadequate have surely been disappointed that a higher bid never emerged. One big Dell investor, Southeastern Asset Management, has estimated that the company is worth almost $24 a share.

But many shareholders may not realize that they have an intriguing alternative that could generate more money than Mr. Dell is offering: requesting that a court appraise the company’s long-term value.

Because Dell is incorporated in Delaware, such an appraisal process would go through that state’s Court of Chancery. Upon the case’s conclusion, Delaware law would require Mr. Dell to pay the shareholders bringing the litigation whatever value the court determined was fair.

Going the appraisal route has its risks. One big one is that the court could award shareholders less than the $13.65 a share that Mr. Dell is offering. The cases also take time, during which investors’ stock is tied up.

But in the Dell case, an innovative trust has been set up by an outside group allowing Dell shareholders to pursue appraisal-rights litigation while also allowing them to sell their shares. More on that later.

Shareholders making legal challenges to buyouts typically base them on a supposed breach of duty by company directors overseeing the process. No such breach is required in appraisal litigation. Investors simply agree to disagree on the proposed purchase price and ask a court to assess the company’s value.Nevertheless, because of procedural complexities, appraisal litigation in takeovers is not that common.

Often purchasers limit shareholder participation in appraisals to minimize their financial exposure should a judge rule that a higher price is in order. But Mr. Dell’s offer did not limit how many shareholders could mount an appraisal case.

In the Dell transaction, said Lawrence A. Hamermesh, a professor of corporate and business law at Widener Law School in Wilmington, Del., appraisal litigation could be “a safety valve on doubts about whether a valuation process worked appropriately.”

“No matter how effective you think special committees are, some people genuinely believe the result isn’t fair,” he said. “So this is a way of giving people access to a court to make that determination.”

For appraisal litigation to proceed in the Dell case, a majority of the company’s shareholders — not counting Mr. Dell — must first approve his offer. Only then can investors who chose not to tender their shares bring an appraisal case.

“What makes this an interesting case for appraisal is you rarely see going-private deals of this size,” said Jeffrey Gordon, a professor at Columbia Law School. “If you’re a 3 percent or 5 percent owner, the litigation cost of an appraisal case for Dell is a tiny fraction of the potential upside.”

The outcomes in past appraisal cases suggest that such litigation can pay off handsomely. Some 40 appraisal cases from 1984 through 2004 that culminated in court decisions were cited in an unpublished paper by Charles Korsmo, assistant professor at the Case Western Reserve School of Law, and Minor Myers, associate professor at Brooklyn Law School.

The professors found that in the 40 cases where both the merger premium and the court’s finding were disclosed, appraisal litigation generated a median award of 50.2 percent over the buyout price. Mr. Myers noted in an interview, however, that some of the cases involved small, private companies where a large premium did not amount to all that much in dollars.

Eric M. Andersen, a lawyer specializing in appraisal litigation at the law firm of Mark Andersen in Wilmington, Del., has also studied cases that went to trial. His analysis identified 46 since 1985; among those, the court assigned a lower price in only seven of them. The median premium paid in cases analyzed by Mr. Andersen was approximately 72 percent.

Another benefit to joining an appraisal case, lawyers say, is that Delaware law gives participating shareholders 60 days after a shareholder vote to change their minds and tender their shares. So why haven’t there been more appraisal cases in recent years? Operational hurdles and costs have made it hard for both institutional and individual investors to participate in such litigation.

But some of the main hurdles are being eliminated in the Dell case by the Shareholder Forum, an independent creator of programs devised to provide the kind of information investors need to make astute decisions.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/23/business/for-dell-investors-a-safety-valve.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Economy News Tagged With: , ,