Jerusalem-The Simon Wiesenthal Center expressed a deep sense of disgust in response to a “sick attempt at humor” in the most recent issue of the popular Estonian news weekly Eesti Ekspress.

In a statement issued here today by its chief Nazi-hunter, Israel director Dr. Efraim Zuroff, the Center denounced in the strongest terms a fake ad which appeared in the “humor pages” of the magazine with a photograph of concentration camp inmates under the heading: “One, two, three: Dr. Mengele’s diet pills work miracles on you. There were no fatties in Buchenwald.”

According to Zuroff:

“It is incomprehensible that a leading and ostensibly-respectable news weekly in a country which is a member in good standing in the European Union will publish such a perverted attempt at humor at the expense of the Nazis’ millions of victims. Apparently, the editors at Eesti Ekspress were disappointed that the Estonian gas company Gas Term Eesti had to remove an ad published less than a month ago, which featured a photo of the entrance to the Auschwitz death camp to advertise their gas products. What can one expect in a country which glorifies its SS veterans and failed to prosecute a single one of its many Nazi collaborators?” 

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The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).