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<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The remarks were made at a press conference for the film “Melancholia,” in response to a question about von Trier’s German roots: “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 sympathize with him a bit.”
“I’m not against Jews. ... I am very much for Jews. No, not too much, because Israel is a pain in the [expletive],” von Trier said before he finished the rambling remarks by saying, “Okay, I’m a Nazi.”
The comments were immediately criticized by the festival’s organizers, who said in a statement they were “disturbed” by the director’s remarks.
Von Trier apologized for his comments, which he claimed were meant as a joke, in a statement on Wednesday: “If I have hurt someone this morning by the words I said at the press conference, I sincerely apologize. I am not anti-Semitic or racially prejudiced in any way, nor am I a Nazi.”
When asked about his remarks after the news conference, von Trier said his words came without thought, which did little to calm the furor which his comments created. As AP explained:
“I don’t have so much to say, so I kind of have to improvise a little and just to let the feelings I have kind of come out into words,” von Trier said. “This whole Nazi thing, I don’t know where it came from, but you spend a lot of time in Germany, you sometimes want to feel a little free and just talk about this (expletive), you know?”
Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, which is based in Paris, said the comments were an example of the growing phenomenon of what he called “respectable anti-Semitism.”
“Von Trier’s remarks serve as another reminder of the seeming comfort that anti-Semites feel expressing their prejudices in public gatherings,” Kantor said in a statement. “There must be consequences for these types of racist tirades, or it will just continue and escalate.”
Dunst, Gainsbourg and other “Melancholia” co-stars, including John Hurt and Stellan Skarsgard, sat stiff and stony-faced through most of von Trier’s comments. At one point, though, Dunst leaned over and whispered to von Trier, “Oh my God, this is terrible
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“I’m not against Jews. ... I am very much for Jews. No, not too much, because Israel is a pain in the [expletive],” von Trier said before he finished the rambling remarks by saying, “Okay, I’m a Nazi.”
The comments were immediately criticized by the festival’s organizers, who said in a statement they were “disturbed” by the director’s remarks.
Von Trier apologized for his comments, which he claimed were meant as a joke, in a statement on Wednesday: “If I have hurt someone this morning by the words I said at the press conference, I sincerely apologize. I am not anti-Semitic or racially prejudiced in any way, nor am I a Nazi.”
When asked about his remarks after the news conference, von Trier said his words came without thought, which did little to calm the furor which his comments created. As AP explained:
“I don’t have so much to say, so I kind of have to improvise a little and just to let the feelings I have kind of come out into words,” von Trier said. “This whole Nazi thing, I don’t know where it came from, but you spend a lot of time in Germany, you sometimes want to feel a little free and just talk about this (expletive), you know?”
Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, which is based in Paris, said the comments were an example of the growing phenomenon of what he called “respectable anti-Semitism.”
“Von Trier’s remarks serve as another reminder of the seeming comfort that anti-Semites feel expressing their prejudices in public gatherings,” Kantor said in a statement. “There must be consequences for these types of racist tirades, or it will just continue and escalate.”
Dunst, Gainsbourg and other “Melancholia” co-stars, including John Hurt and Stellan Skarsgard, sat stiff and stony-faced through most of von Trier’s comments. At one point, though, Dunst leaned over and whispered to von Trier, “Oh my God, this is terrible
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