The conservative backlash against opponents of the war in Iraq claimed another victim this week.

Ed Gernon, executive producer of the forthcoming CBS miniseries on the early life of Adolf Hitler, was fired by Alliance Atlantis Communications, after comparing the contemporary United States with early Nazi Germany.

Gernon made the comparison in an interview with TV Guide (the April 12th edition), saying American fears about terrorism and the Bush administration's war on Iraq echoed the anxiety of Germans during the early 1930s.

"It basically boils down to an entire nation gripped by fear, who ultimately chose to give up their civil rights and plunge the whole nation into war," Gernon said. "I can't think of a better time to examine this history than now . . . When an entire country becomes afraid for their sovereignty, for their safety, they will embrace ideas and strategies and positions that they might not embrace otherwise."

Gernon was not immediately available for comment, but the Los Angeles office of Toronto-based Alliance Atlantis issued a statement saying: "As a matter of policy, we don't discuss any individual's employment status. We're not about to start now . . . The comments attributed to Ed Gernon . . . do not represent the views of Alliance Atlantis, nor do they reflect in any way the purpose of the miniseries Hitler: The Rise of Evil."

In its own statement, CBS said: "We found Mr. Gernon's comments to TV Guide to be insensitive and outright wrong. His personal opinions are not shared by CBS and misrepresent the network's motivation for broadcasting this film."

Lionel Chetwynd, a Hollywood producer identified with the Bush administration, said Gernon's comments were "enormously ignorant of history or intensely cynical. I wouldn't have him on my payroll. He wanted to draw attention and, guess what, he did. And now he's paying the price."

Excerpts from the Rupert Murdoch-owned TV Guide interview were published April 3 in The New York Post, the right-wing tabloid also owned by Murdoch. The Post cited Gernon's comments as another example of "Hollywood's anti-Americanism" and ridiculed the comparison of the modern United States to Weimar Germany. The four-part miniseries, starring British actor Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty) as the young Hitler, is scheduled to air May 18-20. The cast also includes Stockard Channing, Jena Malone, Julianna Margulies, Matthew Modine, Liev Schreiber, Peter Stormare and Peter O'Toole.

Based on historian Ian Kershaw's scholarly and much-acclaimed book, Hitler: 1889-1936 Hubris, the miniseries project has been swimming in controversy almost since its inception. Various Jewish groups have denounced it as likely to humanize Hitler, since it depicts his rise to Chancellor of Germany in 1933, before the full onslaught of Nazi anti-Semitism.

Before taking the axe, Gernon, who produced such TV movies as Joan of Arc and The Matthew Shepard Story, said his intent was not to characterize the fascist dictator as a crazy monster or generate sympathy for him, but rather present the facts and let the audience judge.

The conservative backlash against critics of the war and resurgent American patriotism has already claimed several other celebrity victims, including late-night talk-show host Bill Maher (his show Politically Incorrect was cancelled by ABC after he rebutted the Bush administration's description of the Sept. 11 airplane hijackers as cowards).

Last month, Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines told a concert audience in London that her Texas-based band was ashamed that the President of the United States was from Texas. Radio boycotts, record burnings and even death threats followed.

This week, actress Susan Sarandon, another outspoken critic of the war, was told by the United Way of Tampa, Fla., that a scheduled speaking engagement had been cancelled, and by the Baseball Hall of Fame that a scheduled 15th-anniversary celebration of the movie Bull Durham, starring Sarandon and her husband Tim Robbins, would no longer be held.