August 20, 2012
Australian bank executive apologizes for calling Hitler a ‘visionary’
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A senior banker at one of Australia’s largest investment banks apologized for suggesting that Hitler was a great visionary.
Michael Hawker, an independent nonexecutive director of the board of the Macquarie Group, told a meeting of bank executives in Sydney last week that “You have to paint a great picture of your vision of the future if you want people to follow,” the Australian Financial Review quoted him as saying. “Hitler painted a great picture ... Well, maybe not from another point of view.”
But Hawker issued a statement Monday saying that “These comments were insensitive and inappropriate, and I apologize unreservedly for them and any offense or hurt they have caused.”
Jewish officials slammed the Hitler analogy by Hawker, a former rugby player for Australia.
Peter Wertheim, the Sydney-based executive director of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, described the comments as “beyond belief.” But Wertheim acknowledged that Hawker had called him to formally apologize to the Jewish community.
“I have no doubt that his apology is completely sincere,” Wertheim said. “I also hope that he takes the time to visit the Sydney Jewish Museum and the Holocaust Center in Melbourne.”
