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.11

CBS Nixes Auschwitz Survivors
Dialogue With Miller Over 'Time'

NEW YORK (JTA) —
CBS-TV network officials
and playwright Arthur Mil-
ler said that they would
turn down a request from
two Auschwitz-Birkenau
survivors for time to air a
dialogue between them and
Miller, author of the televi-
sion drama "Playing for
Time" which was broadcast
on the CBS network last
week.
The survivors are Marc
Berkowitz and Alex Dekel,
both of New York, both in
their late 40s. As children
they were subjects of the
notorious Dr. Josef
Mengele's medical experi-
ments at the extermination
camp in southern Poland.
They told the Jewish
Telegraphic Agency that
they wanted the dialogue
with Miller to clear up "de-
ceptions" and "dangerous
fictionalizing" in Miller's
version of the story of Fania
Fenelon, a French, half-
Jewish member of the
women's orchestra at Au-
schwitz.
In addition to other
"cruel insensitivities,"
they described the char-
acterization of Mengele
in the television play as
"a farce" and an "out-
rage. After 33 years of
pain and sorrow, we
want to come out and ex-
press what happened to
us. Seeing this opened
wounds that never will be
healed," they said.
Along with the denial of
air time, CBS officials reit-
erated that the network had
never intended to offend the
Jewish community in either
the casting of the controver-
sial Palestine Liberation
Organization sympathizer
Vanessa Redgrave in the
role of Fenelon or in the pre-
sentation of "Playing for
Time."
"On the contrary, it is our
belief that this production
will make a lasting contri-
bution that the terrible
events of the Nazi era will
not be forgotten," the CBS
official said.
A spokesperson for Miller
told the JTA that the
playwright "prefers not to
get involved or discuss the
idea" of a dialogue. "He is
starting a new project and
important as the idea is, he
cannot get involved. He
doesn't have the time," the
spokesperson stated.
Miller, in the midst of
rehearsals of his new
Broadway play, said he
had "no comment" on the
allegations that
Mengele's character was
distorted in "Playing for
Time."
Berkowitz said he
watched the television film
from a hospital bed where
he is under treatment for a
neurological condition in-
flicted upon him by
Mengele's medical experi-
ments. He claimed a lack of

Whatever are the benefits
of fortune, they yet require
a palate fit to relish and
taste them.
—Montaigne

authenticity in the film.
Dekel described himself
to the JTA as "a human
guinea pig for Mengele"
when he was a child in Au-
schwitz. He was liberated
while on a death march
from the camp. The tattoo
number B14844 is still on
his arm.
Dekel, who has detailed
"what the experimental
children went through" in
his forthcoming book, "The
Valley of Dry Bones," called
the television film "an in-
justice to the few survivors
of Mengele.
The greatest danger of
all, according to Dekel, is
that "Playing for Time"
will help the neo-Nazi
movement's denial of the
Holocaust because it por-
trays the Nazis as "just
human beings."
While neither of the sur-
vivors questioned Red-
grave's acting ability nor
her right to perform, Dekel
said he feared that she will
use her role to promote her
pro-PLO sentiments in an
attempt to separate anti-
Zionism from anti-
Semitism. "She will be able
to say, 'you see, I did some-
thing beautiful for you'," he
said.
Meanwhile, CBS head-
quarters in New York City
reported that "Playing for
Time" swept the ratings in
Los Angeles, Chicago and
New York City. The film
captured 41 percent of the
viewing audience in New
York, 36 in Chicago and 35

in Los Angeles.
In related developments,
the front door of the CBS
network affiliate in Phoenix
was firebombed and the
front door of the CBS net-
work affiliate in Los
Angeles was shattered by
bullets. No one was hurt in
either incident. Demon-
strators picketed outside
CBS headquarters in New
York and outside the offices
of CBS affiliates in
Philadelphia, Detroit, De-
nver and Phoenix.
In at least two cities, Los
Angeles and Philadelphia,
Redgrave was hung in ef-
figy prior to the telecast.
Fenelon, whohas
threatened to sue CBS over
the casting of Redgrave,
was reported to have said in
Paris, "These kind of fana-
tics frighten me. They are
almost as bad as she (Red-
grave) is."
In Los Angeles, an "Isre-
ali Cabaret Night" at-
tracted more than 2000
people at the Stephen Wise
Temple during the three
hours "Playing for Time"
was being shown.
CBS in New York re-
ported that it had received
some 900 unfavorable calls
in a three-hour period be-
fore the film went on the air,
but dismissed it as "obvi-
ously organized." However,
CBS also reported that after
the program it received
more than 400 telephone
calls, and they were about
six-to-one in praise of the
program.

,:
Nib

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