MUNICH, Germany - A court on Tuesday stopped German sales of a book by U.S. historian Daniel Goldhagen criticizing the Roman Catholic Church's Nazi-era activities, granting an injunction after German church officials complained about a photo that purports to show a Munich cardinal at a Nazi event.
Goldhagen's "A Moral Reckoning: The Role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust and its Unfulfilled Duty of Repair" re-examines charges against the church that it failed to speak out against the Nazi Holocaust and to properly acknowledge its silent complicity.
The Diocese of Munich sought the injunction over a picture caption that identified an official at a Nazi event with Hitler aide Hermann Goering as then-Munich Cardinal Michael Faulhaber.
A spokesman for the Munich state court, Christian Ottmann, said the judge was persuaded by church officials that the picture actually showed another dignitary, not the cardinal.
The Berlin-based publisher of the German edition, Siedler Verlag, must recall copies already sold and alter the caption before it can begin selling the book again, the court said. Failure to do so could result in a fine of up to 250,000 euros (US$245,000).
The publisher said the photo, and the description of the people shown, was drawn from the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
Goldhagen, an American professor, stirred controversy in Germany with an earlier book saying average Germans willingly participated in Hitler's plans to exterminate the Jews.
The head of the German Bishops' Conferenece, Mainz Cardinal Karl Lehmann, last month called for the Vatican to open all of its Nazi-era archives for the first time to help defuse persistent criticism that the church is trying to cover up its war-time activities.