Swastika on new Philip Roth novel raises storm in Germany

0 Comments | AFP, October, 2004

FRANKFURT (AFP) — International publisher Random House has found itself forced to release a separate cover for US star author Philip Roth's new novel, "The Plot Against America," for the German market due to its use of a Nazi swastika, the company said.

"When the designer, Milton Glaser, came up with the idea of a postage stamp stamped with a swastika, our people in Germany said you can't have this here," Dan Franklin, the publishing director of Random House imprint Jonathan Cape, told AFP at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Thus the release of two editions, one featuring a postage stamp emblazoned with a simple black 'X' for English-language copies in the German and Hungarian markets, another with the swastika for the rest of Europe.

"We're calling it the Hapsburg...