WIESENTHAL CENTER DEAN RESPONDS TO REMARKS BY COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY DEAN THAT HE WOULD WELCOME HITLER TO SPEAK AT HIS SCHOOL

In condemning the remarks by Columbia University Dean, John Coatsworth, that Hitler would be welcome to speak at Columbia, Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center said, “This is not about free speech.

This is about attaching Columbia University's seal of approval upon the greatest mass murderer in the history of mankind. It is an insult to the tens of thousands of Jews in New York City whose families were murdered in the gas chambers to hear that such a prestigious university would be honored to have Hitler as their guest. To say that there are no lines to be drawn, no consequences for bigotry, that every tyrant and killer is welcome at any podium, as long as he's willing to answer questions, negates everything that democratic countries stand for.  For at the end of the day, when the visit is over, another great American institution has conferred a degree of respectability on an outlaw,” Hier concluded.
 
For further information/comment, please contact Rabbi Hier directly: 011 972 524 316 447 or the Center’s Public Relations department, 310-772-2458.