Dec. 15, 2002. 12:24 AM
Native leader praises Hitler’s policies
Jews `would have owned’ the world Remarks made at conference
SASKATOON—A respected Saskatchewan native leader said Adolf Hitler did the right thing when he killed six million Jews during World War II.
David Ahenakew, a former chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations and the Assembly of First Nations, said Friday the Nazi leader was trying to clean up the world.
“The Jews damn near owned all of Germany prior to the war,” Ahenakew said.
"That’s how Hitler came in. He was going to make damn sure that the Jews didn’t take over Germany or Europe. That’s why he fried six million of those guys, you know. Jews would have owned the goddamned world. And look what they’re doing. They’re killing people in Arab countries."
The 68-year-old Ahenakew made his remarks after giving a 45-minute, profanity-laced address to between 150 and 200 delegates attending a Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations conference.
During his wide-ranging speech, in which he complained about bigotry in Canadian society, accused the media of creating racial conflict and continually referred to non-aboriginal Canadians as “immigrants,” Ahenakew said he lived in Germany in the late 1950s when he was with the Canadian army.
He said Germans told him the Jews started World War II. He said Israel and the United States are about to start a third world war, a reference to the current troubles in the Middle East.
Federation chief Perry Bellegarde said Ahenakew’s remarks were “not an official position of anybody except Dave Ahenakew. That’s where it rests.”
Retired rabbi Roger Pavey said the comments were especially unfortunate because many Jewish people are supporters of First Nations people and “their claims and demands.”
