Book pulped after typo implies German celebrity sings Nazi song

Oct 14, 2011, 17:36 GMT

Frankfurt - Publishers recalled the entire print run of a book by a portly German television personality Friday and said it would be pulped because it implied he sings a song with Nazi overtones.

Reiner Calmund, 62, who went into television in 2004 after three decades managing football clubs, this week launched the German-language book, which celebrates his sweet tooth and defends his large appetite.

On one page, a careless revisor had edited Calmund's words so that it read: 'the first verse of the national anthem ... which I always sing (before the German football team plays).'

That verse, beginning 'Deutschland ueber alles ...' (Germany above all), embarrasses Germans and is only popular nowadays with neo-Nazis.

Calmund said at the Frankfurt Book Fair on Friday he had actually spoken of the third verse, which is the text of the official German national anthem.

The Mosaik publishing house apologized for its 'disgraceful' editing error.

'We edited his text very ineptly,' said spokeswoman Janne Wissmann.

A fresh, corrected print run of the book, Eine Kalorie kommt selten allein (There's no such thing as a solitary calorie), would reach bookshops within a week, she said.