Taiwan Withdraws Hitler TV Ads
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - After fierce criticism from Jewish groups, Taiwan's ruling party said Tuesday it will halt television ads aimed at drumming up youth involvement that included an image of Adolf Hitler.
The Democratic Progressive Party, or DPP, said in a short statement it will stop airing the commercial as of Friday ``out of respect for the holocaust victims'' and ``to avoid further misinterpretations.''
The ad, designed to encourage young people to be bold and share their ideas with the party, shows scenes of Hitler along with other famous orators, including President Kennedy and Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
Aired for the first time on Thursday, the ad quickly came under fire from Taiwan's small Jewish community.
Menashe Zipori, director of the Israel Economic and Cultural Office, called the ad ``a monstrosity'' that was ``offensive to humanity.''
Zipori was not available for comment late Tuesday.
Faced with the outcry, the DPP tried at first to defend the spot. Party spokesman Cheng Yun-peng said last week the commercial was part of a campaign urging young people to speak their minds without being locked into conventional, rigid political language.
Tuesday's statement said the ads would be withdrawn, but said the party had to give notice to television stations, so it will air two more days.
The commercial opens with a 10-second clip from a Nazi propaganda film, showing Hitler raising his arms in the air and putting his hands on his chest. The ad then cuts to Kennedy, Castro and former Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui.
In New York, the Anti-Defamation League called the commercial ``outrageous and shocking.''
The Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights group, said it had protested to Taiwan's representative to Washington.
This wasn't the first time Hitler was used in a Taiwanese ad.
Two years ago, a company selling German-made electric heaters used a cartoon Hitler for ads in buses, store windows and subway stations. The firm pulled the ads after complaints.
Last year, a theme restaurant in Taipei called its restrooms ``gas chambers'' and featured photos of Holocaust victims. The eatery later removed the items.
Many Taiwanese lack a deep understanding of the Holocaust. They are much more familiar with the atrocities committed by Japan, which controlled Taiwan and parts of China during World War II.
Some Taiwanese are surprised at seeing images of Communist leader Mao Tse-tung and wartime Japan's rising sun emblem made into pop symbols in the West.
Originally published July 17, 2001.
