skippy the bush kangaroo: holocausted in public

Friday, February 09, 2007

holocausted in public

elie weisel, author, famed nazi-hunter and nobel prize winner, was accosted in a hotel elevator in sf, presumably by a holocaust denier. sfchron:

wiesel, 78, was at the argent hotel feb. 1 for a conference on "facing violence: justice, religion and conflict resolution" when he was confronted in an elevator by a man insisting that he wanted to interview the author, according to san francisco police department sgt. neville gittens.

wiesel said he would do so in the hotel lobby, but the man insisted on going to wiesel's room. the man then stopped the elevator at the sixth floor and tried to force wiesel into a room there.

"that's when the victim started yelling," gittens said.

wiesel escaped unharmed, made his way down to the lobby and called police.

a man calling himself eric hunt and claiming to be the attacker posted an account of the incident on a virulently anti-semitic web site. the account, posted tuesday, matches the description of the attack police later released...

in his posting, hunt said his goal was for wiesel, a holocaust survivor and author of more than 40 books, to renounce the holocaust.

"i had planned to bring wiesel to my hotel room, where he would truthfully answer my questions regarding the fact that his non-fiction holocaust memoir, night, is almost entirely fictitious," hunt wrote on the site.

posted by skippy at 7:49 PM |

3 Comments:

Scary. I'm glad Wiesel was not harmed.

commented by

fiat lux, 8:21 PM PST

that is just too messed up. i am so glad he wasn't hurt. i just don't understand these people who want to deny the holocaust. and then to think he has a right to do that to someone...

commented by

amy, 6:44 AM PST

agreed, mr. hunt is a lunatic.

mr. wiesel however should not be left sitting undisturbed atop his pedestal. several weeks ago npr aired a talk or speech of his where he went on for several minutes arguing that free speech should be suppressed in these united states.

unfortunately no one in a position to do so seems to be "insane" enough to call him on it, or to explain to him that free speech is a right, not a privilege to be meted out by him or any other self-appointed judge. it is wrong to deny the fact of the holocaust of ww2. it is also wrong to deny the fact that free speech is an essential element of democracy.

commented by