WIESENTHAL CENTER SAYS DANISH GOVERNMENT’S VALIDATION OF ARTS GRANT TO HOLOCAUST DENIER, “SHAMEFUL AND REPUGNANT”

Center says giving state support, “Insults every victim of the Holocaust.”

The Simon Wiesenthal Center denounced today’s statement by the Danish Ministry of Culture supporting a grant for a WWII history project by Erik Haaest, a longtime Holocaust denier, as “repugnant and shameful.”

“This is an insult to the memory of every victim of the Holocaust, and to the brave members of the Resistance in Denmark and elsewhere,”  said Mark Weitzman, the Director of the Center’s Task Force Against Hate, adding, “There can be no justification of state support for Holocaust deniers.”

In the past Haeest, has questioned the existence of gas chambers at Auschwitz and has reportedly called Anne Frank’s diary “a swindle.” The Danish Ministry of Culture’s statement addressing the grant controversy claimed an “arms-length principle,” and allowing independent committees to award grants, a claim that Weitzman calls, “simply an unacceptable attempt to evade any responsibility.”

Weitzman also said in awarding a grant to a Holocaust denier, the Danish government is flouting its commitment as a member of the International Task Force on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research, as well as its support of a UN  Resolution calling upon all member states to ‘Condemn without any reservation any denial of the Holocaust.’”

“This intolerable situation demands clear and unambiguous action from the Danish government, not unacceptable excuses of “arms-length” decisions by bureaucrats,”  Weitzman concluded.