Now that a comedy about Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels has been aired on prime-time German television, perhaps there is no subject that is truly taboo. It seems, however, that humanizing Hitler and exhibiting his art was going one step too far.

Bizarrely citing an overwhelming amount of public interest as the reason for scrapping the planned display, Toshiba Entertainment has cancelled its plans to exhibit a painting by Adolf Hitler. Hitler’s painting of a Viennese church was intended to be part of a package to promote the film, Max, which depicts the young Hitler as a struggling artist and explores his relationship with Max Rothman, a Jewish art dealer. Some criticisms of the film are that it humanizes Hitler and trivializes the Holocaust.

While it would be unproductive to avoid serious and critical examination of a topic simply on the basis that it may be taboo, no serious artistic endeavor can justify trivializing the Holocaust.

In a staggeringly inarticulate defense of the film, director Menno Meyjes stated: “Hitler made a choice to become a monster because he found life very difficult — well, we all find life difficult, especially if you are an artist or aspire to anything.”

A defense of the artistic merits of the controversial film might be enlightening; submitting that Hitler’s difficult experiences make his genocide comprehensible is horrendous.  

Mimi Hanaoka