WHY is Bobby Fischer still respected in the chess community???

Rick, sorry for allowing my thoughts to wander, but a forum is a forum. There are no rules on the subject matter. As for Fischer, I think everyone agrees the original poster of this thread erred on the assumptions he set forth about what people think of him. Respecting ones chess should be irrelevant to respecting/disrespecting ones political beliefs.

I don't know where you studied history, bur you should sue your teachers.

 I have studied, and read at great length what Churchill wrote both during and after WW2, and you are talking utter nonsense.

Churchill was unequivocal on this issue. He not only condemned it as a crime against humanity, but tried to establish a Jewish force to (in his words)

"'I like the idea of the Jews trying to get the murderers of their fellow countrymen in Central Europe"

Do not denigrate a statesman like Churchill with your mealy-mouthed appologist ideas.

Don't apologise. You have made it quite abundant you dont have an original thought in your head

This implies Churchill supported the Nakam group? interesting stuff.

EDIT: I see this quote is from 1944, 2 years prior to the bread incident! We might be onto something 

Another book by Fischer that I always recommend to beginners Is

. . . . "BOBBY FISCHER TEACHES CHESS" . . . .

DENVER

As far as I know Fischer was banned from the community.

the OP is gone:(

Fischer was barred from re-entering the United States for tax evasion. (Unless he wished to serve time.) Not sure which community, if any, banned him or what form the ban took.

That's just it, though. There's a difference between respecting him as an overall person, and respecting him as a chess player. I'm still amazed at how a mind like his could exist. It doesn't make me enjoy his rude comments any more, though.

My greatgrandfather was shot in the head by a nazi officer in 1944. Guess he was just faking it and actually went on to live in Hawaii. There's literally no unaffected family in eastern Europe, how can anyone believe it was fake is beyond me.

JoEvJohn, you sound like you just arrived into the chess world and just learned about Bibby Fischer and his crazyness. Please, I beg you, do a topic search. People post at least one post a day in these forums talking about or asking about Bobby Fischer. It's either "was Fischer the best ever?" or "was Fischer crazy?". 

In my opinion someone who is an antisemite and a believer in conspiracies is an idiot. Ok. But the same person can excell at something and be respected for that aspect of their life. Fischer is respected for his contribution to the world of chess in winning against the people who thought they could never lose, and for inspiring young and old Americans to play more chess.

There are so many  chess prodigies.  Fischer produced so many deep and beautiful games, and his effect in chess in the US cannot be underestimated. 

For these reasons it is enough to give him what is due. Time have it's own person and each person has his own time. He is a genius  and is eccentric but we are talking about chess. 

GnrfFrtzl, going from the idea that the gassing of Jews could be an exaggerated lie to the idea that WWII never existed isn't logical. Your personal feelings cloud your thinking in this subject matter. And sorry for the unnecessary loss of your ancestor during war. My ancestors only were unlawfully imprisoned in Internment camps, not executed.

I believe the victors of any war usually change historical facts here and there to suit their aims, usually justification for going to war. The United States nearly avoided WWII but one of the rallying cries was Hitler being a madman and that he would eventually exterminate everyone but the Aryans. Just because one side, Nazism, was wrong, doesn't make the other side right. But the victors need to "prove" their righteousness, sometimes with propaganda. Yes, deportations, death, and the war cannot be denied, but was there actual cyanide gassing at Auschwitz? I don't know for myself because I was not there. There may have been gassing of a different kind. There may have been no gassing, but mass executions instead. Like the My Lai massacre. Who knows? The only thing I conclude is that war makes for horrendous events and governments have a need to deal with those atrocities.