Holocaust conference forms international committee

TEHRAN, Dec 13 (Reuters) A conference in Iran that drew widespread condemnation for questioning the killing of 6 million Jews by the Nazis during World War Two agreed to form an international committee to study the Holocaust.

Iran says it organised the conference to shed light on the reasons behind the formation of the state of Israel after World War Two and to allow researchers from countries where it is a crime to question the Holocaust to speak freely.

The Vatican, Germany and European Commission Vice President Franco Frattini added their voices yesterday to others such as the United States and Israel who have condemned the conference.

The conference was inspired by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who since coming to power in August last year has caused an international outcry by terming the Holocaust a ''myth'' and calling Israel a ''tumour''.

The head of the new committee, identified as Iranian academic Mohammad Ali Ramin, said its members were ''not racist or opposed to any particular group''.

''Rather they are just seeking the truth to set humanity truly free,'' the ISNA students news agency quoted him as saying, without naming the committee members.

Robert Faurisson, a French scholar who has described the Holocaust as a ''historical lie'', said the committee included members from the United States, France, Canada, Switzerland, Austria, Iran, Bahrain and Syria, ISNA reported.

The Vatican said millions of Jews were killed in what it called an ''immense tragedy'' for all humanity. The Holocaust had to remain forever a warning for all people to respect the rights of others, it said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her country would never accept such a conference and would ''counter it in every way we can'', adding: ''It shows the danger of the situation Israel is in and in particular the threat that Israel lives under.'' She was speaking after meeting Ehud Olmert, who was on his first visit to Germany as Israeli Prime Minister.

Germany has made it a foreign policy priority to support Israel since the Holocaust under the Nazis and the end of World War Two in 1945.

EU Commissioner Frattini said he wanted to ''express publicly my shock and indignation'' over the Tehran conference, adding: ''Anti-Semitism has no place in Europe; nor should it in any other part of the world.'' International participants at the conference were due to meet Ahmadinejad on Tuesday.

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