Taiwan ruling party in Hitler furore

Taiwan's ruling party have put Hitler in their adverts

Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has said a television advertisement featuring Adolf Hitler and aimed at getting young people to participate in forthcoming elections is not meant to offend Jews.

The head of the New York-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL) - which fights against anti-Semitism world-wide - expressed outrage at the advertisement and called for it to be withdrawn.

We are writing to express our shock and outrage that the Democratic Progressive Party would produce a television commercial featuring Adolf Hitler

ADL National Director Abraham H Foxman

The advertisement opens with a 10-second clip from a Nazi propaganda film, showing Hitler raising his arms and putting his hands on his chest, before cutting to John F Kennedy's inaugural address.

It also shows Cuban leader Fidel Castro giving a rousing speech and former Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui talking to reporters.

Encouragement

Taiwan's Central News Agency said it was aimed at "encouraging local youths to share their ideas with the DPP," in preparation for year-end elections for legislators and local government heads.

The head of the DPP's youth affairs department, Juan Chao-hsiung, said: "We understand the Jewish group's sentiment and protest, but we truly do not have any evil intention in producing the TV commercial."

ADL National Director Abraham H Foxman wrote to DPP leader Frank Hsieh: "We are writing to express our shock and outrage that the Democratic Progressive Party would produce a television commercial featuring Adolf Hitler. We urge you to immediately cease broadcast of this highly offensive ad.

The people of Taiwan also suffered oppression in the past - we fully understand the history of the Jewish people

DPP official Phoenix Cheng

"According to a party spokesman, Hitler was featured in the commercial in order to encourage young people to participate in the political process. It should be obvious that Hitler is not a role model - political or otherwise - for Taiwan's youth.

"Unfortunately, this is far from the first time Hitler has been featured in the Taiwan marketplace for entertainment or political value. We urge you to consider using this opportunity to promote the understanding of the Holocaust in Taiwan," Mr Foxman wrote.

Marketing ploy

A DPP official, Phoenix Cheng, said the party was "willing to make necessary revisions, such as adding subtitles to make clear Hitler was a dictator". But he said the ad would continue to be broadcast.

"The people of Taiwan also suffered oppression in the past. We fully understand the history of the Jewish people," Mr Cheng said.

Another Jewish spokesman, Abraham Cooper of the California-based Simon Wiesenthal Centre, spoke of the "outrageous spectre of the marketing of Adolf Hitler in Taiwan to promote a product".

"In the past, it was used to sell computers, restaurant menus, and now it is being injected by Taiwan's ruling party to sell its political programme," he said.

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.