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Free Speech I witnessed, from a distance, the utter devastation of Europe. . . Sydney, Australia, [The traditional enemies are now muzzling Free Speech in Australia] by Barry Cohen IT’S not difficult to understand why they call it the Hitler Channel. Anyone watching Foxtel’s History Channel could be forgiven for believing history began in September 1939 and finished in May 1945. David Irving repeats: AN interesting object lesson in AWPOW — Are We Powerful or What?
The two-hour film edition of Hitler’s War was produced by a reputable Scots production company, Lamancha Productions Ltd., and has been marketed worldwide by Castle Hill Films. It has been shown scores of times on national television channels, including PBS in the United States and even in Israel.
Now come these worthy gentlemen in Australia, and we need not even speculate as to what particular species of gentlemen they are: they crook one finger, and the supremely unworthy gentlemen of Australian television come cringing and groveling and gibbering, and they promise never, ever to show that particular film again. Nobody has ever suggested that it contains any of the defects mentioned by these objectors. So – what is it that they are objecting to?
And can the protestors, with their pea-sized brains, encompass the thought that by their worldwide behavior they are perhaps conjuring up and calling down upon themselves and their more innocent fellows, a few years hence, yet another of those atrocities that they call a Holocaust, while they snivel once again: Why Us ?
Oxford student Louise clutches a copy of the banned video, Hitler’s War , when she meets author David Irving at a militaria show in Kent, July 2007 BUY THE VIDEO AND SEE FOR YOURSELF — visit Irvingbooks.com and click on “Video DVDs” Five to 10 hours a day of Adolf, Hermann, Heinrich and Rudolf is [ sic ] standard fare. So it was that I found myself doing my daily exercise, on the remote control, when I happened upon a World War II documentary with which I was not familiar.
Despite having watched endless World War II documentaries, I am never bored with the subject. They start badly but always have a great ending. If that sounds like I’m a vengeful bastard, then so be it. Those who share my enthusiasm will be familiar with much of the archival material. Hitler at Nuremburg, at Berchtesgaden, in Paris gazing at the Eiffel Tower, canoodling with the lovely Eva Braun , and so on. It’s the new archival material, however, that fascinates.
Hitler’s War , as it was titled, contained many familiar snippets but this one was subtly different. Hitler was not portrayed as the monster we know him to have been. Instead, we saw an avuncular character, shaking the hands of his troops, patting Hitler youths on the cheek, socialising at his Wolf’s Lair hideout and generally being a jolly nice chap. Constantly repeated was the claim that he did not want war with the admirable British.
On the contrary, he thought they should be on the same side fighting the Bolsheviks. The Jews were something else again. The anti-Semitic tirades, while almost certainly Hitler quotes, were not identified as such. They were left to hang in the air without attribution. No mention was made of the murder of millions of Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, Russians, Poles, social democrats, communists and anyone else who Hitler regarded as Untermenschen (sub-human). [ Website comment: Cohen is lying.
Anybody who has seen the DVD video knows that these atrocities are fully described .] One group that did well was the lovely and talented Schutzstaffel . Nice, clean-cut lads, loyal to the Fuhrer, they were portrayed as Germany’s finest: sort of adult boy scouts. Not bad for a bunch of sadistic mass murderers. It was at odds with my image of the SS. I shared the view of the professor Frank Knopfelmacher , who suggested that those in SS uniforms should have been shot and the trial held later.
The bad guys, in Hitler’s War , were those who plotted the assassination of Hitler. Somewhat disturbed by the airbrushing of the greatest murderer in history, I watched the credits roll. They were names unknown to me until one jumped out and bit me: Writer: David Irving. I’m not usually lost for words but on this occasion I was speechless. David Irving. Suddenly everything made sense.
A notorious anti-Semite, Holocaust denier and neo-Nazi , Irving had been repeatedly refused entry to Australia and had recently spent a year in an Austrian jail for his Nazi activities. Had Foxtel taken leave of its senses? Some will accuse me of overreacting. I can live with that, for my hatred of Hitler and his gang have been part of my being since I witnessed, from a distance , the utter devastation of Europe and the murder of tens of millions.
I was nine when I first saw newsreels of the Nazi death camps and the mountains of bodies being dumped [ Website comment: by British Army bulldozers driven by British soldiers ] in mass graves. I was to learn later that among them were many members of my family. Those memories and personal experiences of anti-Semitism gave me the resolve to fight prejudice in all its forms. It led to my involvement in the Aboriginal and anti-apartheid movements and the Australian Labor Party.
It was an obsession that marked my political career. In 1989, just prior to departing federal parliament, I journeyed with my wife, Rae, to Poland and the villages of Pajeczno and Dzialoszyn from whence my grandparents had departed in the 1890s for safety in England, South Africa (where my father was born) and, finally, Australia. They were the lucky ones. [ Website comment: Always on the run, in ‘s case since the 1890s. Ever asked yourself why?
Always somebody else to blame? ] Never a day passes that I don’t look at a sepia-coloured photograph of my grandfather’s brother, Mendel Kozerwoder , his wife Mindel and their six children. Only one, Itzek (Jack), survived. They and many other family members were murdered by the Nazis in Auschwitz and Chelmno. In 1940, 10km away in Dzialoszyn, my grandmother’s village, all five hundred Jews were rounded up by the Nazis and taken into a field and shot.
I was to read for myself, in the Pajeczno archives, the fate of dozens of family members who had perished at the hands of Hitler and the SS. It was a chilling experience. [ Website commendation: You read Polish and German? Bravo .] What is important is that present and future generations know what happened, and not the bastardised version of the odious Irving.
On a more pleasant note, my congratulations to Foxtel chief executive Kim Williams for his prompt action in withdrawing Hitler’s War and his heartfelt apology. [ Website comment: Thus ends Operation Victorious Stable Door. Mr Irving has been inundated with orders for the video, from all over Australia since this episode, and other countries will continue to show the film – as have Israel and the United States many times .] Barry Cohen is a former federal Labor Party minister.