Ecclestone Sorry For Hitler Praise
Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone apologised "unreservedly" this week, following an interview published on Saturday in which the 78-year-old tycoon hailed Hitler for "getting things done".
The comments stoked immediate reaction from European Jewish leaders, with calls for a boycott of this Sunday's Formula One German Grand Prix and demands that he resign from his position in motor racing.
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Ecclestone went on to say: "In the end he got lost, so he wasn't a very good dictator because either he had all these things and knew what was going on and insisted, or he just went along with it... so either way he wasn't a dictator."
Insisting the statements questioned "the basic principles of modern democracy", WJC President Ronald Lauder said: "A person showing such contempt for democracy should not be allowed to run such an important and universally popular sports series... Such a man is obviously not suited to continue as Formula One boss."
Calling for fans and teams to boycott Sunday's race at Nurburgring, Vice-President of the Central Council of Jews Dieter Graumann said: "No team should work with him any more. A boycott would now be more than appropriate", adding the racing giant was "either empty headed or unbelievably malicious - probably both".
Karen Pollock, Chief Executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, added: "Hitler was a tyrant responsible for the deaths of over six million Jews and Ecclestone's praise for his ability to 'get things done' is absurd and extremely offensive."
Gunther Ottinger, premier of the southern state of Baden-Wurttemberg, has also reportedly cancelled a meeting with Ecclestone which would have taken place during the Grand Prix.
Reacting to the criticism, Ecclestone issued a statement, in which he said: "I would like to apologise unreservedly for remarks I made regarding Adolf Hitler in an interview and I am very distressed and embarrassed that they have been construed as suggesting that I support him or Saddam Hussein.
"I never have and never would support such people. I don't imagine you would find anybody in the world who would support atrocities that were carried out under them."
He added: "I was foolish to have been drawn into this discussion but the fault was entirely my own and I deeply regret it."
In a piece in The Times on Tuesday, Ecclestone wrote: "I have no complaints about the quote - it is what I said - but it was not what I meant to say... Those who don't know me think I support Hitler's atrocities; those who do know me have told me how unwise I was to articulate my points so badly that it should have been so widely misunderstood."
Read the latest copy of The Jewish News Online by clicking here.
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