Wiesenthal Center Blasts Oliver Stone’s “Hitler Was A Scapegoat’ Remarks

January 15, 2010

WIESENTHAL CENTER BLASTS OLIVER STONE’S “HITLER WAS A SCAPEGOAT’ REMARKS

The Simon Wiesenthal Center rebuked remarks made by director Oliver Stone during a press conference for his new history documentary. Stone said, “Hitler is an easy scapegoat throughout history and it’s been used cheaply. He’s the product of a series of actions. It’s cause and effect.” The director is using the series to expose what he calls lies and biases behind the conventional interpretation of American history and that would include reexamining WWII history and putting Hitler “into context.”

“To talk about ‘placing Adolf Hitler in context’ is like placing cancer in context, instead of recognizing cancer for what it really is - a horrible disease, just as we must recognize Hitler as the ultimate expression of evil,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Wiesenthal Center. “Oliver Stone has every right to interpret history in an unconventional manner and not follow the script of a History Channel documentary. And yes, it is true, there were many, including American corporations, who helped prop up the Third Reich in its infancy,” he added.

“But we desecrate the memory of the millions murdered when we attempt to place its architect in context. No theory of cause and effect can ever explain away, as in Auschwitz, how human beings could debase themselves and escort children into the gas chambers,” Hier continued.

“Oliver Stone’s remarks only serve to legitimize revisionists and those who would be prepared to march against Jews again,” he concluded.

Rabbi Hier is the recipient of two Academy Awards™ for Best Documentary Feature—the first in 1981 for Genocide and the second in 1987 for The Long Way Home.

To speak with Rabbi Hier, please call 310-772-2455

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).

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