Curiosity
University apologizes for Hitler banner: Hitler as superhero?
A mural depicting Adolf Hitler along with a group of superheroes was displayed by Chulalongkorn University, a leading university in Thailand. (Courtesy Simon Wiesenthal Center / July 12, 2013)
A banner displayed outside a prominent University in Thailand which displayed a likeness of Adolf Hitler among the many Superheroes portrayed has caused many to criticize the Bangkok institution for including the Nazi Party leader.
Officials at Chulalongkorn University have apologized profusely for Hitler’s inclusion on the painted artwork, explaining that members of its student body were responsible for choosing the heroes that would be displayed on the art piece and didn’t realize Hitler’s significance as an evil force in world history. The banner was positioned outside the University as a means of honoring this year’s graduating class and said
It said ‘Congratulations’ in bold white letters and showed Hitler with his arm raised in a Nazi salute.
Among the superheroes standing next to Hitler, who has his arm raised in a Nazi salute, are the Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man and Batman, all comic book heroes.
It took school officials 48 hours before they took action to remove the banner due to all the criticism they received, but not before many students had their photograph taken in front of the artwork with their hand raised in the same salute as Hitler’s.
School officials further explained that the message of the banner was that both good and evil heroes exist in today’s world and that Hitler represented the evil forces real heroes challenge.
‘(We) would like to formally express our sincere apology for our students’ “Superhero” mural,’ art school dean Suppakorn Disatapundhu said in a statement issued Monday.
‘I can assure you we are taking this matter very seriously.’
According to the Daily Mail, the artistic vision behind the picture was to show that good and bad people co-exist in the world, Suppakorn said after summoning the students for an explanation.
‘They told me the concept was to paint a picture of superheroes who protect the world,” the dean said in a telephone interview with the Mail.
‘Hitler was supposed to serve as a conceptual paradox to the superheroes,’ he said, noting that the superheroes were painted in vivid colors, while Hitler’s image was in grey scale. ‘This kind of thoughtless display will not happen again.’
The Simon Wiesenthal Center, an international Jewish human rights group, had criticized the banner before its removal.
“Hitler as a superhero? Is he an appropriate role model for Thailand’s younger generation — a genocidal hatemonger who mass murdered Jews and Gypsies and who considered people of color as racially inferior,” Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean at the center, said in a statement Friday.
On The Web:
University apologizes for Hitler banner: School sorry for Hitler in superhero banner
http://www.latimes.com/news/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-thailand-hitler-banner-20130715,0,6192572.story
University apologises for giant poster which showed Adolf Hitler surrounded by superheroes
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2364035/Thailands-Chulalongkorn-University-apologises-giant-Adolf-Hitler-banner.html?ito=feeds-newsxml