Letter To: Mr. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Prime Minister
July 19, 2007
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Mr. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Prime Minister Mr. Prime Minister, On behalf of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s over 400,000 members, we strenuously protest today’s award of 100,000 kronor to Erik Haaest, dubbed “The Holocaust Sceptic” in the Danish media. Haaest reportedly received this prize from your Ministry of Culture’s Arts Council (Kunst Raadet) for his work on “The Danish Friekorps on the Eastern Front 1941 – 1965” – hardly a symbol of Danish National pride. Indeed, Haaest’s citations from Holocaust denial literature go back to the 1959 volume of the Journal of Historical Review published by the institute of the same name, frequented by neo-Nazis worldwide. Today’s DR Nyheder, Culture section, under a photo of the gas chamber states, “Erik Haaest questions existence of gas chambers at Auschwitz KZ in Poland.” Another publication reports Haaest as declaring Anne Frank’s diary “A swindle.” Mr. Prime Minister, your government’s award to Haaest violated the commitments of Denmark to the European Commission and to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. This act legitimizes the end product of Holocaust denial, incitement to antisemitism and an offense to Holocaust survivors and to the families of all victims of Nazism. The Simon Wiesenthal Center urges you to immediately withdraw this outrageous award, to investigate its circumstances and publicly dismiss those responsible. Silence would only be construed by hate mongers as a seal of approval. Most Respectfully,
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