Teen People magazine, which is owned by Time Inc., has removed from its web site an article that whitewashed a neo-Nazi teenage singing duo.
Time Inc removed the article after receiving a protest from The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies.
"It was irresponsible for Teen People to post an article describing these neo-Nazis as 'white separatists' without ever acknowledging that they are racists, admirers of Hitler, and Holocaust-deniers,"' said Dr. Rafael Medoff, director of the Wyman Institute. "Time Inc has done the right thing by removing the offensive article from the Teen People web site."
The controversy began when Teen People announced that its upcoming February 2006 issue would include a feature story on "Prussian Blue," the 13 year-old twin sisters Lynx and Lamb Gaede.
But the announcement described the twins' beliefs only as "white pride" and did not mention that they wear Hitler t-shirts, deny the Holocaust, and frequently perform at neo-Nazi events.
"During the 1930s, too many in the news media failed to report accurately on the violent and racist nature of Adolf Hitler and his followers. We dare not repeat that tragic mistake. It is particularly important that publications which appeal to young people, such as Teen People, report fully and accurately on groups like Prussian Blue, which are poisoning the minds of America's youth with their racist hate," Medoff said.
The Prussian Blue site has comments like, "It’s astonishing to hear two young girls with a deep insight on issues that we are confronted with each day and that hold an honorable view on White Nationalism. I hope that more of our youth and older folk for that matter follow the path that these two young pioneers will forge in the coming years."
Books advertized on their website include, "Dissecting the Holocaust" and "Defensive Racism," with links to such sites as "Women for Aryan Unity," "Women for Aryan Unity - Baby Drive," "Sigrdrifa" Publications" and "Stormfront."
One of the group's songs, Victory, is written by Lamb with lyrics such as:
Children are playing, we have won. Victory is ours, the war is finally done. Our people’s dedication is now complete, our enemies have finally been beat. The warriors are singing in Valhalla and in their homes. Our people are no longer afraid to walk lone.
According to media reports, Teen People promised the twins it would refrain from using the words "hate," "supremacist," and "Nazi" in the article. In response to public protests, Time Inc., which publishes Teen People, announced that the upcoming story has been canceled.
But the Wyman Institute discovered that Teen People's web site was continuing to run a second sanitized story about the Gaede twins, which described their beliefs only as "white separatism" and did not explain that they are neo-Nazis and Holocaust-deniers.
In response to the Wyman Institute's protests, Time Inc has now removed the second story from the Teen People web site.
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