A former Nazi SS officer was used as a technical advisor to the NBC-TV film drama, “Holocaust” which was recently aired and was viewed by an estimated 120 million persons.
According to the show’s producer, Robert Berger, who denied to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that this item was being kept secret from the general as well as Jewish public, the man was hired on the advice of the German production agent, Pia Arnold, to advise the crew on such items as proper uniforms, correct medals worn by German officers, as well as the purported dialogue used by the Nazis as the Jews were being led to their deaths.
When questioned as to why survivors could not have served in an advisory capacity, he replied that in fact the curator of the Matthausen concentration camp museum, who himself spent four years at Auschwitz and is now a professor, was contacted but could not advise them on these matters. As for the use of other survivors, Berger insisted that no person who reached the place of death lived to tell about it.
The veteran television producer, who felt that making an issue of this was a “tempest in the teapot,” related that this former Nazi, who served as advisor several years ago to the “Odessa File” film, was not on the actual staff of the NBC-TV “Holocaust” company and his role involved answering three questions over the telephone for which he was paid $150.
Berger added that the production staff was composed of many different nationalities and persons, including Jews, Europeans, an Egyptian, as well as “several ex-Wehrmacht officers.” When asked about the propriety of using former Nazis as advisors to this production, Berger felt that the “program stands on its own” and added: “I don’t care if Hitler worked on it, it doesn’t invalidate what it did.” In forther discussion, the producer said that he saw no incongruity with participation of former Nazi individuals in an advisory capacity to the production, especially at a time when the memoirs and experiences of Watergate’s unindicted co-conspirators were being released and used for financial gain and informational purposes.
A story dealing with the employment of two former SS officers as advisors to the “Holocaust” film first appeared several days ago in The National Enquirer, a weekly tabloid. A spokesman for NBC-TV told the JTA that this story was “totally distorted, exaggerated and inflammatory.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
