ZGram - 8/14/2003 - "Heil Schwarzenegger?"

zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org
Thu Aug 14 02:56:53 EDT 2003




ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny:  Now more than ever!

August 14, 2003

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

When I read articles like the one below, I always think of what 
Joseph [Gins]Burg, a German Jew who testified on behalf of the 
defense in the Zundel trials of the 1980s, told Ernst:  That there 
existed "bureaus" all over the world whose sole function was to take 
news articles and editorials that had nothing to do with the 
"Holocaust" per se, and equip them with a "Holocaust sortie" before 
they were unleashed on the wire.  

Lookee who's calling the kettle black:

[START]

The cynical manipulation of Hitler's legacy for political purposes

By Zev Chafets

I want to say something about the accusations that California 
gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger is - how to put it? - 
too Austrian.

But before I do, I need to make something clear about my attitude 
toward Austria: I don't like it.


All my life I have endeavored to avoid Austrian products (not hard if 
you're not into beer and cookies). I've never visited the place and 
don't intend to.


My aim isn't to singlehandedly destroy the Austrian tourist industry. 
It's just that hanging out with Adolf Hitler's countrymen isn't my 
idea of a relaxing vacation.


I'd probably dislike Austria no matter what kind of country it became 
after World War II. But the modern version strikes me as an 
unnecessarily nasty place. Decades after Germany took responsibility 
for the crimes of the Nazis, Austria still falsely portrays itself as 
Hitler's victim instead of his enthusiastic supporter.


The country seems to have a passion for louses. In the 1970s, 
Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky was a prominent supporter of Yasser 
Arafat and other Arab terrorists. More recently, the neofascist 
Freedom Party has been a member in good standing of Austria's 
coalition government. That party's leader is Jorg Haider, an admirer 
of Hitler and friend of Saddam Hussein's.


Before Haider, there was Kurt Waldheim. The fact that the former UN 
secretary general was a Nazi war criminal didn't deter the Austrians 
from electing him president in 1986.


Which brings me back to Arnold. Since announcing his candidacy on the 
Jay Leno show, he has become the object of a campaign to smear him as 
a Nazi sympathizer. The paint comes mostly from "Arnold: An 
Unauthorized Biography," written by Wendy Leigh and published in 1990.


Waldheim is the brush.


According to Leigh, Schwarzenegger is close to Waldheim - so close, 
in fact, that he invited the ex-Nazi to his Hyannis Port, Mass., 
wedding to Kennedy cousin Maria Shriver. Waldheim thoughtfully didn't 
show up, but he did send a gaudy gift. This reportedly prompted 
Arnold to declare his love (and Maria's) for Herr Waldheim.


This friendship forms the basis of a politically motivated gambit to 
disqualify Arnold from political office. Slate's Timothy Noah summed 
up the campaign nicely: "If Schwarzenegger doesn't renounce Waldheim 
in a highly public way, he can forget about ever becoming governor of 
California."


Really?


Schwarzenegger was born in 1947. He has lived most of his life in the 
United States. True, his father was a Nazi police official in the old 
country, but that isn't Arnold's fault. In fact, it was Arnold who 
outed the old man by asking the Los Angeles - based Simon Wiesenthal 
Center to investigate his father's past.


Schwarzenegger himself is a strong supporter of Israel and a generous 
contributor to Jewish causes. For this he has been declared kosher by 
no less a hardliner than the head of the Wiesenthal Center, Rabbi 
Marvin Heir.


Don't get me wrong. I'm not an Arnold fan. I've never liked his 
movies or his cheesy public persona. I also don't care who becomes 
the next governor of California. To me, it's like the debate over gay 
bishops in the Episcopal Church - interesting, but not my problem.


What I do care about is the cynical manipulation of Hitler's legacy 
for political purposes. Casting Schwarzenegger as a Nazi sympathizer 
- for the greater good of Gov. Gray Davis or any of the other 
candidates - is a crime against human memory.


By trivializing evil, California's Holocaust impliers become, 
wittingly or not, allies and accomplices of the Holocaust deniers.

(Source:  http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0803/chafets_2003_08_13.php3 )


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