Institute condemns entertainers for making Nazi comparison

A leading Holocaust Studies institute is urging entertainers Harry Belafonte, Woody Allen and Dick Gregory to retract their recent statements comparing the Bush administration, Israelis, and black conservatives to Nazis. Belafonte even claimed that there were "a lot of Jews high up in the hierarchy of (Adolf Hitler's) Third Reich." "Some entertainers simply don't know much about history," said Dr Rafael Medoff, director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, a research and education institute focusing on America's response to the Holocaust. "The fact is that there were no Jews in Hitler's hierarchy, the policies of America and Israel are not similar to those of Hitler, and African-American conservatives are not comparable to Nazis." In an interview, Belafonte had dismissed the significance of African-Americans holding prominent positions in the Bush administration, saying: "Hitler had a lot of Jews high up in the hierarchy of the Third Reich. Color does not necessarily denote quality, content, or value."