Bomb Hits Home of Man Who Calls Holocaust Myth

Los Angeles police are investigating an early morning bomb explosion today at the Northridge home of a retired high school teacher who has argued that the Nazis did not commit systematic genocide against the Jews during World War II.

The explosion, which ripped out the double doors to the home of George Ashley, 57, came on the day that Ashley had been scheduled for deposition in a well-publicized lawsuit. The suit was filed in 1981 in Los Angeles Superior Court by Melvin Mermelstein, a Long Beach survivor of Auschwitz. Named in the suit are a group of historians with which Ashley has worked.

No One Injured

Ashley said he was sleeping in a bedroom over the front door of his house when the explosion happened at about 2:30 a.m. He said no one was injured, and damage was limited primarily to the door.

Ashley blamed the militant Jewish Defense League for the bombing as a way of pressuring him into testifying. (Mermelstein’s lawyer said he has been unable to subpoena Ashley.) “They’re sending me a subpoena,” Ashley said of today’s incident.

The letters “JDL” were spray-painted in dark blue on the walkway leading to Ashley’s front door.

JDL Link Denied

But Shelley Rubin, the wife of Jewish Defense League leader Irv Rubin of Los Angeles, denied that the organization was responsible. She added the organization is not involved in Mermelstein’s suit against the Institute for Historical Review, which claims the Holocaust is a myth.

“We’re a nice Jewish organization,” Shelley Rubin said. “We certainly didn’t bomb his home. But it’s too bad that Mr. Ashley wasn’t blown up.”

Mermelstein’s lawyer, Michael Maroko, said Ashley is not a defendant in the suit. He said the deposition originally scheduled for today has been rescheduled for June 7.