This Danish director is apparently proud of his Nazi heritage.
You would think that anyone working in the film industry would know enough about America to realize that the admission of racist or Anti-Semitic views is a career killer. To be perfectly honest, Lars von Trier as a Danish filmmaker may not necessarily be completely screwed because, let's face it, Europeans are sort of hush-hush wink-wink when it comes to Anti-Semitism. Although many European countries have Anti-Nazi and Holocaust denial laws, it seems that latent Anti-Semitism is almost accepted. The amount of anti-Israeli invective that originates from European politicians is so severe as to be shocking to Americans that are used to sympathetic treatment of Israel. In fact, let's face it. If it were not for institutional Anti-Semitism in Europe dating from the Middle Ages, there may not have been a need for the modern state of Israel in the first place. But that's another story. What exactly did Lars von Trier say:
"I really wanted to be a Jew, and then I found out that I was really a Nazi, because, you know, my family was German. Which also gave me some pleasure. What can I say? I understand Hitler, but I think he did some wrong things, yes, absolutely. But I can see him sitting in his bunker in the end. He's not what you would call a good guy, but I understand much about him, and I sympathize with him a little bit. But come on, I'm not for the Second World War, and I'm not against Jews."
And he didn't stop there (check out the post on dlisted for more). In any event, I am very curious to see what the result of von Trier's Anti-Semitism is. I am also interested in knowing where the prejudice comes from. I happen to be reading currently a history of Austria-Hungary and the point was made (by the biased English author) that people with extreme views usually have some sort of grievance (the unemployed academic, the German that loses his job to a Jewish individual, etc.). Well, what is von Trier's grievance? (via dlisted, link above)
