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.”
“If you think that the German leader was thinking of rescuing Germany alone from such exploitation, then you are wrong,” the writer insists. “Adolf Hitler in his 12 years of governance criticized the Western powers in defense of the oppressed — one of them being the Palestinians.”
The article praised Hitler for transforming a war-torn country with enormous debts into a superpower in terms of technology, industry, military and luxury for its people. Hitler is seen as a symbol of iron determination who rose to great leadership from homelessness.
The Iranian theocracy’s silent approval of the website is apparent in several places, including the “about us” page. “This website operates completely within the laws and regulations of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the text reads in part.
A similar site was disbanded in early 2011 after briefly appearing online in 2010 and announcing: “This website is under Islamic Republic of Iran laws and it is under the supervision of the working committee on Digital Media of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.”
Hitler devised his “Final Solution” for exterminating Jews and other “inferior” people, a Holocaust that killed an estimated 6 million Jews, more than the 5.5 million represented in the more recent Israeli census. That count also identifies 1.5 million Arabs.
Iranian leaders believe their own “Final Solution” — the destruction of Israel — will bring on the last imam, an Islamic messiah who will rule the world.
Reza Kahlili is a pseudonym for a former CIA operative in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and the author of the award-winning book “A Time to Betray.” He is a senior fellow with EMPact America, a member of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security and teaches at the U.S. Department of Defense’s Joint Counterintelligence Training Academy (JCITA).