New praise for CBS’ ‘Hitler’

A Jewish leader who had criticized CBS for making a four-hour miniseries on a young Adolf Hitler is now praising the movie after having seen it.

Last year, Abraham Foxman, head of the Anti-Defamation League, said it was “distressing that people would spend talent, time and money to make this man human.” But on Friday, Foxman commended CBS and the film’s producers for teaching a history lesson in a powerful way.

“Not only does the brilliant portrayal by [actor] Robert Carlyle show Hitler for the monster that he was, but the film shows how many times he could have been challenged and wasn’t,” said Foxman, a Holocaust survivor. “It makes us understand how fragile democracy is and how potent evil is.”

The two-part movie, “Hitler: The Rise of Evil,” is scheduled to air on May 18 and 20. It focuses on Hitler’s rise to power in a Germany battered by World War I.