Posted at 7:22 a.m. PST Thursday, January 14, 1999

BERLIN, Jan 14 (Reuters) - German media giant Bertelsmann AG
said on Thursday it had launched a probe into its activities during the
Nazi era in response to charges it published propaganda for Adolf
Hitler's regime.

Bertelsmann, which in the past insisted it had actively opposed Nazi
rule in the 1930s and 1940s, came under fire last month when an
independent researcher announced his findings that the company had
published texts supporting Hitler's war effort.

The company said in a statement a team of independent academics,
led by U.S.-Israeli historian Saul Friedlaender, had started the
investigation.

``Chairman Thomas Middelhoff has guaranteed the commission
absolute independence for its researchers as well as his complete
personal support, as well as that of the shareholders and the entire
company,'' the company said in a statement.

``The commission will have unlimited access to all relevant files and
can present its findings to the public without Bertelsmann's
interference,'' it added.

A Bertelsmann spokesman said the commission would be using a
research model developed to investigate the wartime activities of
Swiss companies. It has not yet set a date for completion.

Independent researcher, Hersch Fischler, accused Bertelsmann of
running a lucrative publishing business by working closely with the
Wehrmacht army and air force to produce escapist literature for the
troops that glorified war and stressed the superiority of the ``Aryan
master race.''

Fischler said representative titles included ``With Bombs and Machine
Guns over Poland.''

Another title ``Sterilisation and Euthanasia: A Contribution to Applied
Christian Ethics,'' supported Nazi ideology that people they regarded
as inferior, such as the disabled and the mentally ill, should not
reproduce and were better off dead, Fischler said.

The company does not dispute that it published such works but has
argued that Fischler's claims were one-sided because they highlighted
only ``problematic'' titles and ignored a number of theological texts
which Nazi officials had banned.

Bertelsmann is the latest of a number of German companies to launch
historical inquiries into their wartime activities.

Some Jewish organizations and other survivors groups are seeking
reparations from companies based on forced labour claims or
confiscated funds during that period.

A Bertelsmann spokesman said the company was not facing any
financial claims related to its business in the years of Hitler's rule from
1933 to 1945.

Nazi authorities closed down a Bertelsmann division during World
War Two and some of its employees were jailed. The company had
always said this was because they had opposed the regime.

But Fischler said he had evidence to show this was because they had
hoarded more paper than they had been rationed to use during the
war which was treated as a criminal offence.

Bertelsmann, the world's largest publisher of English-language books,
is the third largest media conglomerate after Time Warner Inc. and
Walt Disney Co..

The company bought U.S. publisher Random House for an estimated
$1.3 billion last year.