The Simon Wiesenthal Center asked Denmark to stop funding an author who has questioned the existence of the Nazi gas chambers.
The group asked the Danish government to void a grant to Erik Haaest, who not only has questioned whether gas chambers existed but also called “The Diary of Anne Frank” a forgery. Haaest received approximately $18,500 from the Danish Ministry of Culture’s Arts Council in 2004 and 2006 combined, according to a recent report by the Danish newspaper Information.
Shimon Samuels, the Wiesenthal Center’s director for international relations, wrote to Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen asking that he immediately withdraw the award and dismiss those responsible for it.
“Haaest’s citations from Holocaust-denial literature go back to the 1959 volume of the Journal of Historical Review, published by the institute of the same name, frequented by neo-Nazis worldwide,” Samuels wrote.
He said the award legitimizes Holocaust denial, incites anti-Semitism and offends Holocaust survivors.
In response to questions about the grant to Haaest, The Arts Council told Information that “it does not engage in censorship or judge opinions.”
