Russian Bookstores Zhirinovskied

Some Russian bookstores around town are caught selling anti-semitic literature. How charming:

Maybe it was all the rabbis gathered out front, but Vladimir Trainin looked downright panicked yesterday morning as he ran out of his Russian bookstore on Brighton Beach Avenue and worked his way toward the trash can by the street. The crowd of people outside his store, which sells imported Russian books and movies to local immigrants, had shown up to protest the anti-Semitic Russian literature in Mr. Trainin’s history section — literature Mr. Trainin swore he did not know his store had been carrying as he demonstratively placed a copy of “The Jewish Question in Russia” by Oleg Platonov into the garbage.

Platonov’s book, which claims “Jews do everything in their power to undermine Orthodox Russia and destroy the Russian church,”according to a translation, is just one of many anti-Semitic books that Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who organized yesterday’s event in Brighton Beach, has asked Russian stores to stop selling.

“These books poison the minds of people,” Mr. Hikind said at yesterday’s gathering, which attracted a priest, a number of local rabbis, Councilman Michael Nelson, and a camerawoman from the Russian Television Network. But it was no joke — the books Mr. Hikind had on display were unambiguously anti-Semitic and readily available for only $5 or $6.

In addition to “The Jewish Question,” titles included “What We Don’t Like About Them,” “Why America is Dying,” “The Myths and Truths of Jewish Pogroms,” and “Jewish Society Coup.” “Why America Is Dying,” according to a statement from Mr. Hikind’s office, “declares that at the very base of American psychology lies the Talmudic principles of greed, with the right to rob and kill all others to acquire land and possessions.”

In an interview, Mr. Hikind said he sent letters to a number of bookstores in Brooklyn and Queens asking owners to remove the books from their shelves. Although none of them has responded, at least two — Mr. Trainin’s store, Mosvideofilm, and the nearby RBC — have already gotten rid of the offending material.

“Everything is put into garbage,” Mr. Trainin said.”I am a Jew! I am upset by these books.”

Mr. Trainin said all his books are shipped to him by a Russian distributor, and he had no idea they were anti-Semitic until the group of critics arrived at his door yesterday morning (he said he had not received Mr. Hikind’s letter). Mr. Trainin said he would throw away all the anti-Semitic books he could find in his store — Mr. Hikind said there were more than 20 — starting with Platonov’s. After initially throwing the book into the trash himself, Mr.Trainin noticed a photographer and decided to let a nearby elderly Russian woman do the honors.

Then again, the purge generated a slight problem — now there is no more Russian history:

Mr. Hikind went into Mosvideofilm after Mr. Trainin made his announcement to make sure the books were gone. “There is nothing left!” he confirmed, pointing towards a large gap in the history section.

(Now that’s ironic . . .)