Wiesenthal Center To Danish PM: Withdraw State Award To Holocaust Denier

Paris

The Simon Wiesenthal has urged Denmark’s Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen to void a monetary award by the Ministry of Culture’s Art’s Council (Kunst Raadet) to Erik Haaest, dubbed the “Holocaust Sceptic” in the Danish media.
 
In his protest to PM Rasmussen, Dr. Shimon Samuels, the Wiesenthal Center’s Director for International Relations wrote in part; “Haaest reportedly received this prize for his work on “The Danish Friekorps on the Eastern Front 1941 - 1965” - hardly a symbol of Danish national pride,” adding, “Haaest’s citations in 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.”

Dr. Samuels cited the Culture section of DR Nyheder, which, 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.”

The Wiesenthal Center protest declared  “your government’s award to Haaest violates the commitments of Denmark to the European Commission and to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. This act legitimizes Holocaust denial, incitement to antisemitism and is an offense to Holocaust survivors and to the families of all victims of Nazism. Our Center urges you to immediately withdraw this outrageous award, to investigate its circumstances and publicly dismiss those responsible.”

“Silence would only be construed by hatemongers as a seal of approval,” Dr. Samuels concluded.

For more information, please contact Shimon Samuels on +336 09 77 0158.

Read Letter To Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen