This past spring, The History Channel, an A&E outlet, aired a splendid series on Hitler. There was, however, something that the Catholic League found disturbing about the show.
Dr. Donohue explained his objection in a letter to the Executive VP and General Manager by saying that each time a new segment of the show was introduced, “the T in Hitler appears as a cross, the clear implication of which is to associate Hitler with Christianity.” Donohue then commented that “Hitler was no more a practicing Catholic than Karl Marx was an observant Jew. Indeed, Hitler persecuted the Catholic Church throughout his reign of terror. Which begs the question: why the nefarious inference?”
On July 11, Donohue received a letter from the Coordinator for Viewer Relations, Krutin S. Patel, explaining the situation: “The in-house producers for the program had chosen a gothic font since it best suited the program. It was quite by coincidence that in this particular font, the lower case “T” appeared unusually large and resembled a cross. I can assure you there was no deliberate attempt on our part to associate Hitler with Christianity by utilizing this character font in the title.”
Patel then said that “Even before we were in receipt of your letter, a decision had been made to change the title font in order to avoid any such inference in the future. When the program airs again on The History Channel, it will have a completely different title design.”
The Catholic League is satisfied with this response.
