The Canadian Jewish Congress has strongly protested to the Organizational Committee for the Olympic Games for its invitation to Leni Riefenstahl, who was a leading Nazi film propagandist, to attend and film the games. The CJC has demanded that Robert Andras, Minister of Manpower and Immigration, have her “deported forthwith.”
In telegrams signed by Alan Rose, the CJC’s national executive director, the representative organization of Canadian Jewry said Riefenstahl was a “leading Nazi propagandist employed by Goebbels and producer of films glorifying Hitler genocide and hateful Hitlerite master race philosophy.”
The CJC said it was “appalled” that the Olympic committee should invite Riefenstahl and termed the invitation “action Canadian Jewry regards as grievous insult” as well as “abhorrent to the Olympic spirit.” The CJC demanded that the invitation be withdrawn. Riefenstahl was the leading Nazi film director during the Hitler regime and filmed the 4936 Olympics in Berlin.
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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.