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| F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone may have caused more problems while trying to apologise [AFP] |
Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone said he regrets the upset caused by his praise of Adolf Hitler's leadership, but insisted he would not be forced to resign and defended his comments to a British newspaper that Hitler "got things done.''
Ecclestone, F1's commercial rights holder, dismissed calls from the World Jewish Congress that he should resign.
He also questioned the suitability of its president, Ronald Lauder, who has criticised Ecclestone.
"I think the people who are saying that (I should resign) haven't got the power to say these things,'' Ecclestone said.
The World Jewish Congress, which represents Jewish communities in more than 80 countries, was founded in 1936 to "mobilise the world against the Nazi onslaught,'' it said on its website.
It said it continues to secure "the rights and safety of Jews'' around the world.
Ecclestone questioned the influence of the WJC.
"It's a pity they didn't sort the banks out ... (if) they have a lot of influence everywhere,'' Ecclestone said, referring to the global economic crisis.
He did not elaborate.
Fallout
As a result of Ecclestone's comments, the governor of Germany's Baden-Wuerttemberg state, Guenther Oettinger, cancelled their planned meeting at this weekend's German Grand Prix.
Ecclestone said he was not aware of that.
"I think I'm due to be meeting him at 12 o'clock on Sunday, nobody has told me to the contrary,'' he said.
Ecclestone said he had not intended to invoke Hitler's name in the interview with London's Times newspaper on Saturday.
"It's probably my fault in that I got dragged into something I wasn't supposed to discuss, we got out of F1 into something else,'' Ecclestone said.
Ecclestone does not regret praising Hitler's leadership "except as usual things were taken a little bit wrong.''
"He brought a country that was bankrupt into a country that was very strong and that was really demonstrating what someone could do if they had the power and didn't have to keep back and referring every five minutes,'' Ecclestone said.
"The trouble with politicians and democracy is they all the time have to compromise, they can't do what they want to do because there is somebody in opposition. It certainly takes a lot longer to do something.
"I regret that it didn't come out like that, upsetting people is the last thing I wanted to do, obviously.''
Ecclestone said he was only being positive about Hitler's leadership of Nazi Germany between 1932 and '38, adding: "After that the guy was obviously a lunatic.''
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