German Groups Condemn Michael Caine's Role In "The Statement"
NEW YORK—Representatives of two German groups who attended screenings of Michael Caine's new movie "The Statement" told reporters Tuesday that the film contained offensive stereotypes about the role of Nazis in the Holocaust.
The German Cultural Society, which sent historical experts to the screening, said the movie contained "unnecessary and destructive imagery of Nazis" and "represents a disturbing setback" to relations between Germans and Jews.
Jeremy Schleiden, national director of the German Anti-Defamation League, who has accused Caine of holding anti-Germanic views, released a statement about the movie.
"This is an atrocity of a film," said Schleiden, "Is an unambiguous portrayal of Nazis as being directly responsible for the deaths of at least seven Jewish men during World War II."
Schleiden's statement refers to a scene in the movie in which Michael Caine's character, a former Nazi sympathizer, recalls his role in the execution of seven Jewish men.
Caine, who only stars in the film, and has not been given a writing credit for any part of the screenplay, has repeatedly denied that the movie maligns Germans.
"The character that I play isn't even German," said Caine in an interview yesterday, "I play a Frenchman who sympathized with the Nazis during the war. The whole movie takes place in France. Have you even seen the film?"
German groups have been worried that Caine's movie would ignore the modern teaching that Germans who were born long after the conclusion of World War II were not at all responsible for the deaths of six million Jews in the Holocaust. The notion of German guilt has fueled anti-Germanic thought for decades.
Rich Martin, a freshman at NYU who attended the screening, recently organized a German-killing party with friends from his floor.
"I never knew that the guilt of the Holocaust lay squarely on those people of German Decent living in Manhattan," Martin told reporters, "But this movie has opened my eyes and showed me who was really responsible for the deaths of six million Jewish men, women, and children. Thank you Michael Caine."
Responded one observer, "I don't think you guys should be talking about the Holocaust so much. I mean, a lot of Jews died during that."
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