I just came back from a week's worth of visiting supporters of the Zundelsite and various friends involved in the censorship struggle, and my heart is still brimful of impressions and plans to widen and sharpen our message and make it more relevant to the average American people.
Upon my return, as usual, I found my mailbox crammed, and just sifting through in a quick once-over, I saw all kind of goodies that should inspire those who sometimes despair because the opposition forces seem overwhelmingly powerful at times and have more media access and money than we do.
Along the way, somebody gave me a fine line when asked how many are behind our struggle: "Not as many as should be, but far more than you might think."
So first things first.
You may remember that some time ago I did a ZGram on an important documentary produced by a famous producer, Errol Morris, around the Leuchter Report where both Ernst Zundel and David Irving - as well as Fred Leuchter himself, of course! - decided to cooperate. Errol Morris is Jewish and we all expect the film, in its final version, to have the obligatory anti-Revisionist slant. I have previewed some of the footage of the Zundel interview taken by Ernst with his little camcorder running on automatic, and I can tell you that it is top-notch, content-wise. Magnifico!
After the original tapings were done, and given Ernst's impression of the quality of the producer's talent and reputation as an iconoclastic documentary filmmaker, many of us thought that this film would never see the light of day. After all, this man was quite taken with Leuchter and charmed by his sincerity and total lack of guile.
Then the documentary made a splash in a preview at Robert Redford's Sundance Festival, followed up by several lesser splashes in various publications, the most notable of which was an extensive feature in the New Yorker.
I summarized/commented on that write-up on February 6 and 8, 1999, and, boy, am I now glad I did!
<http://www.webcom.com/ezundel/english/zgrams/zg1999/zg9902/990206.html> and <http://www.webcom.com/ezundel/english/zgrams/zg1999/zg9902/990208.html>
This morning, I report a follow-up.
According to a Hollywood (Variety) report of May 20, 1999, Canada's Lions Gate Entertainment has picked up North American rights to this documentary. It will be released and marketed as "Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter Jr.'' later this year.
It is described as follows:
"The picture is about Leuchter, an engineer who designs and repairs gas chambers, electric chairs and lethal injection systems. The mild-mannered eccentric investigated the use of poison gas in WWII Nazi concentration camps. His controversial findings, which have become required reading for Holocaust deniers, eventually led to his ruin.
"'Death,' which debuted as a work-in-progress at the Sundance Film Festival in January, has already received much press attention, including a lengthy New Yorker feature earlier this year. The copious press coverage was unusual for an independent film that did not yet have a domestic distributor."
In a separate press release by Lions Gate Entertainment, we learn that this distribution company has purchased
". . . all North American rights to world-renowned award-winning filmmaker Errol Morris's newest work, Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr." and that "Mr. Death debuted to great acclaim."
A few more paragraphs down, the press release tells the world that
". . . Leuchter became infamous for his work with anti-Holocaust writer Ernst Zundel, who commissioned Leuchter to conduct a forensic investigation into the use of poison gas in WWII Nazi concentration camps. Leuchter's controversial findings eventually hypothesized that the Holocaust never happened. He fully expected his involvement with Zundel to be the crowning achievement of his career; instead, it ruined him."
Furthermore, a spokesman of Lyons Gate Entertainment commented in this press release:
"Mr. Death is the culmination of Errol Morris's career thus far, and is further proof that he is one of the most inventive and exciting filmmakers working today. . . Errol Morris has created a motion picture genre all his own, and Mr. Death is the most provocative and accessible of all his great films.''
"'Mr. Death expresses a number of important political and social issues,'' said Mr. Morris. 'I think it's a film - even more than The Thin Blue Line or any other film that I've made - that will prompt discussion and interest, and I wanted it to reach the widest possible audience. And Lions Gate has made a commitment to do just that. They see it, as I do, not as a specialized film, but rather a film that could attract a much broader audience than anything I've done before.'''
So, Nizkor - eat your heart out! Another signpost planted. And not a Nizkorite in sight!
I don't know about you, but I consider this development a breakthrough in our favor. Even though we all expect this documentary to receive the conventional spin-doctoring eyeful, right out of the enemies' quarters, slamming Revisionism and Revisionists - so what? It will still be a sizable testimony to the price some people, like Leuchter, are willing to pay to tell the world the truth.
And it will make known to millions of people that the best-selling Leuchter Report - commissioned by Ernst Zundel in his spirited struggle for freedom of speech - ***exists as a Revisionist milestone*** !
Ingrid
Thought for the Day:
"Just a brief perusal of the Holocaust Promotion group would convince anyone (with) at least half the intelligence of a dead mule that belief in the traditional 6 million dead-by-gassing mantra is irrational."
(Letter to the Zundelsite)
Back to Table of Contents of the May 1999 ZGrams