February 18, 2000 Nazi film shown after unhappy compromise BY NATHAN JEFFAY
IN AN "unsatisfactory compromise," a Nazi propaganda film was screened at Leeds University on Tuesday, having been preceded by an anti-Nazi documentary introduced by a Jewish representative.
But a motion to the student union was defeated by a large majority, leaving a compromise arrangement whereby a J-Soc-nominated speaker gave an introductory speech. The organisers were "unhappy" when Manchester Jewish Representative Council vice-chairman David Arnold used the segment to show the anti-Nazi documentary to "contextualise the main film." The free speech society president, Akash Khan, said he had not wanted an introductory film, "only a short speech, as a concession to pressure." In the event, the controversy helped draw an audience of
150. Some felt the propaganda film had offered an insight
into attitudes of the time, others maintained that it should
never have been screened. |
Leeds
University Jewish Society had attempted to ban the showing
of Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph Of The Will" -- part
of a programme on banned films and the motives behind
censorship organised by the college's film and free speech
societies.
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