The DPP yesterday modified its recently launched TV advertisement, which has sparked a controversy over its use of the image of former German chancellor Adolf Hitler.
The words, "[His] authoritarian rule led to catastrophe (
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Next to former US president John F. Kennedy, the words, "A democracy should speak up (
Cheng, accompanied by Corey Chen (
"We talked through our previous misunderstanding during the visit," Cheng said after his meeting with the office's representative, Menashe Zipori.
"The office fully respects our decision to modify the commercial and continue to air the modified version," Cheng said.
"So, to date, we don't have any plan to cancel the advertising campaign," Cheng added.
Zipori, however, yesterday told the Taipei Times, "I still suggest that the party take Hitler's image off [the commercial] as a way to avoid further misunderstanding." He added that he just learned of the party's motivation for making the commercial after his meeting with Cheng.
"Such things are still offensive to the families of those people killed [by the Nazis] who still live around us and some of them even live here in Taiwan," Zipori said yesterday.
The Israeli representative added that he hoped young Taiwanese people could learn from history and understand the pain of the Jewish people.
Zipori said that if he were Taiwanese, he wouldn't want to see former Taiwanese leaders associated with "such a monster as Hitler," either. But he said he wouldn't do anything further to reverse the party's final decision, since Taiwan is a democratic country.
Responding to Zipori, Cheng said that the party did not intend to remove Hitler's image from its advertisement, though he added, "We need to further seek the [party's] secretary-general's instructions."
Cheng said that he would arrange a meeting with staff at the German Cultural Center in Taipei to offer the party's explanation and present its modified version of the advertisement.
The DPP began airing the controversial commercial on July 12 to encourage directors under the age of 30 to shoot films for the party that boldly express their own ideas about Taiwanese society and local politics without fear of causing offense or challenging accepted wisdom.
Within two days, however, negative reactions had been voiced by the local Jewish community and foreign human-rights groups, including the Anti-Defamation League in New York and the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.
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