The Nazis were 'just amazing' says Bryan Ferry

Bryan Ferry's newfound career as a model could be in jeopardy after he spoke of his admiration for the Nazis.

Jewish leaders demanded yesterday that Marks & Spencer cancel its six-figure contract with the 61-year-old singer over his "deeply offensive" remarks.

In an interview, Ferry described the Nazis as "just amazing" and admitted calling his recording studio the "Fuhrerbunker" - a title associated with Hitler's headquarters.

This could cause severe embarrassment at M&S, whose co-founder Michael Marks was a Jewish immigrant.

Ferry, who is about to embark on a UK tour to promote his latest album, made his comments to the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.

He said: "My dear gentlemen, the Nazis knew how to put themselves in the limelight and present themselves.

"Leni Riefenstahl's movies and Albert Speer's buildings and the mass parades and the flags - just amazing. Really beautiful."

He then blurted out: "I call my studio in West London - no, I have to stop because you're German."

But when the term "fuhrerbunker" was suggested, he admitted: "You surprised me. Normally I always say to German journalists, 'My headquarters'. That is less shocking."

Labour peer Lord Janner, a former president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and a campaigner on behalf of Holocaust survivors, said: "It is deeply offensive when people think they can joke about the Nazis.

"Riefenstahl was part of the Nazi movement and the Nazis were murderers - and the mass parades he refers to make me vomit.

"Marks & Spencer should have a serious rethink about employing him. This man should stick to singing and stay away from making offensive comments of this sort.

"Any praise of the Nazis is not acceptable in the Jewish world."

Jeremy Newmark, chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council, added: "His choice of language was deeply insensitive."

Leni Riefenstahl made a series of Nazi propaganda films glorifying Hitler during the 1930s, often using concentration camp victims.

She was investigated after the Second World War but never convicted.

Albert Speer shared an equally close relationship to Hitler and was described as the chief architect of the Third Reich. He was jailed for 20 years in the Nuremberg trials after the war.

Nick Viner, chief executive of London's Jewish Community Centre, said Ferry's "ill-conceived" comments left "a bad taste in the mouth".

He added: "Riefenstahl was responsible for sending people to their deaths. There is a fine line between people going about their business and people colluding in truly terrible behaviour."

Ferry's manager Steven Howard defended his outburst, saying: "To suggest a certain appreciation of art and architecture that happens to be associated with the Nazi regime means condoning the action of that regime is illogical."

A spokesman for M&S, which made Ferry the face of its Autograph menswear range in August last year, refused to say whether he would be dropped. "We do not comment on the private views expressed by our models. We chose him because he is a style icon."

[link to www.dailymail.co.uk]