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NEW YORK, NEW YORK, March 15, 2005: When the recent movie “Downfall” portrayed Hitler as a vegetarian, the vegetarian community at large was offended. However, the New York Times recently printed (on March 15th) the following note in its “corrections” box: “A film review about ‘Downfall,’ which looks at Hitler’s final days, referred incorrectly to his diet. Although the movie portrays him as vegetarian, he did eat at least some meat.” Atlanta writer Lewis Regenstein, president of The Interfaith Council for the Protection of Animals and Nature, was highly instrumental in motivating the correction.



The news release outlines some of the information sent to the New York Times that influenced their decision: “Robert Payne’s authoritative ‘The Life and Death of Adolph Hitler’ (Prager, 1973) states on page 346: ‘Hitler’s asceticism played an important role in the image he projected over Germany. According to the widely believed legend, he neither smoked not drank, nor did he eat meat… Only the first was true. He drank beer and diluted wine frequently, had a special fondness for Bavarian sausages… His asceticism was a fiction, invented by Goebbels to emphasize his total dedication, his self control… He could claim that he was dedicated to the service of his people. In fact, he was remarkably self indulgent… Although Hitler had no fondness for meat except in the form of sausages and never ate fish, he enjoyed caviar…’ ” In addition Dione Lucas, Hitler’s chef, wrote the following, “Hitler in his later years sometimes posed as a non-meat eater, he was not a real vegetarian, and did frequently or at least occasionally eat meat, fowl, and other animals products (eggs, caviar) & always served them to his guests.”



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