20
Friday, October 12, 1984
THE DETROIT JEWISH4WS
The Academy
Award for
"Genocide," cited as
Best Documentary,
is displayed in a
glass case in Rabbi
Hier's office.
ty observance. There are many other instances of alleged
competition.
A former staffer in the public relations department of
the Federation recalled how, when Avital Shcharansky was
visiting Los Angeles several years ago on behalf of her
husband, Anatoly, the imprisoned Soviet Jewish refusenik,
the local Jewish community relations council had plann-
ed an outdoor demonstration to dramatize his plight. "We
had lined up Mayor Bradley, Charlton Heston and others
and we wanted Gov. Jerry Brown," the former staffer said.
"But the Wiesenthal Center got a hold of Gov. Brown and
scheduled a press conference of their own with him and
Avital an hour before our demonstration. We would have
been glad to cooperate but they tried to co-opt our effort."
Similarly, a Federation official angrily recalled how, dur-
ing a Federation mission to Israel and Vienna a few years
ago, Rabbi Hier "influenced some of our people and per-
suaded them to contribute more to the Wiesenthal Center
than to Federation. We were livid."
There is an inherent competition between the Center and
Federation for major contributors and though many
leaders of the Federation feel that the Center is more show
than substance, they are loathe to say so publicly.
"Our biggest contributors are also major contributors
to the Wiesenthal Center so we would look like we are try-
ing to denigrate our competition," one Federation official
said. "But the truth is that we feel the Center is very fuz-
zy in terms of its real purpose and really not accountable
to anyone. They just don't operate like any other major
Jewish organization."
The Swastika Incident
"We see the glass of anti-Semitism
as half full."
Martin Mendelsohn
A basic, underlying difference between the Wiesenthal
Center and other major Jewish groups is in their response
to perceived anti-Semitism. Marty Mendelsohn, counsel
to the Center, puts it this way: "We see the glass of anti-
Semitism as half full, and they see it as half empty -- and
sometimes they don't see the glass at all."
One particular incident points out these differences in
style, method and approach. Sometime during the night
of January 7, 1981, the walls of the Wiesenthal Center were
painted with swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans in Ger-
man and English. Rabbi Hier held a press conference that
morning and said he was certain that "this work was not
done by a rowdy gang trying to be mischievous." He said
it may be related to two German-speaking men who visited
the Center a few days earlier wearing military haircuts,
heavy boots and Nazi insignias.
"What starts with a can of spray paint never ends
there," Rabbi her told the press conference. "History has
taught us that seemingly minor incidents such as these
eventually lead to violence."
He announced that Simon Wiesenthal would fly in from
his home in Vienna for a rally at the Center at which time
the graffiti would be painted over.
The rally was held about two weeks later and drew more
than 2,000 people, including a number of prominent
political leaders. Wiesenthal spoke out against the In-
stitute for Historical Review, a California-based extremist
organization that claims the Holocaust never happened.
He then watched as the graffiti was painted over.
The Jewish Federation did not send a representative to
the rally because "it was viewed by many as an exploita-
tion," said Murray Wood, executive director of the Jewish
owerful Assaul
On The Heart
And The Min
"Genocide," the Academy Award-winning document
on the Holocaust, is the single greatest success of the Simon
Wiesenthal Center. Like the Center itself, it is slick, emo-
tional, powerfully effective — and controversial.
Some three years in the making at a cost of $3 million,
the 85 minute film was produced by the Center in the hope
that it would establish the institute's reputation as well as
become the centerpiece of Holocaust education programs
and receive a worldwide audience. "Rabbi her put all of
his eggs in one basket, pouring a great deal of money into
this one project," said a member of the staff of the Wiesen-
thal Center. "But he was right. It paid off." „
The film was co-produced by Arnold Schwartzmann, a
director and graphics designer, and Rabbi Hier, who wrote
the script with M artin Gilbert, an Oxford University
historian.
The film was premiered at the-Kennedy Center in Wash-
ington in January, 1982, and was hailed as "unforgettable.'
The unique multi-image documentary — using split screens
and double images — combines historical narrative with actual
stories of ordinary people caught up in the Nazi reign of
terror. Orson Welles and Elizabeth Taylor narrate the film,
having donated their services gratis.
"Genocide" is aimed at giving the Holocaust emotional
resonance to a generation unaware of its horrors. "Sixty per-
cent of the world's population was born after the Holocaust,
and young people are not historians," said Rabbi Hier. "This
is the generation of The Tube. We wanted to present a film
in a form young people can relate to. They don't relate to
events unless there are people involved they. can identify
with."
The film succeeds in offering a sense of immediacy and
drama missing from most educational films. It is, above
all, a powerful assault on the mind and the heart. Profes-
sionally slick, it features split screen techniques, narration
by Welles and Taylor, a musical score by Academy Award-
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