Minnesota officials joined Jewish leaders Friday in condemning the planned burning of Jewish books by a neo-Nazi group.

The burning, scheduled to coincide with Saturday’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day, will “torch degenerate books such as the Talmud, and other anti-American and/or anti-White books,” according to the Web site of the National Socialist Movement, which is organizing the event.

State Attorney General Lori Swanson and former U.S. Senator Rudy Boschwitz joined Jewish groups, local Christian leaders and Holocaust survivors in condemning the event. “We stand today as a united front to celebrate the strength of our democracy in the face of a group whose actions are a tremendous insult to Holocaust survivors, their liberators and families, and all Americans,” said Steve Hunegs, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas. “We will remain vigilant in taking a stand against those who admire the atrocities of Nazi Germany.”

JTA