December 06, 2004

Remembering Auschwitz

The BBC is to screen a six part series on Auschwitz to coincide with Holocaust Memorial Day. Richard Ingrams, writing in this week’s Observer, decries the need for it:
the BBC justifies the series with solemn talk about the need to educate the British public which, it claims, is ignorant about the Holocaust, a likely tale in view of the fact that it is referred to on news bulletins and current affairs programmes at every opportunity.
Ingrams must watch a whole different set of news and current affairs programs to me, but that’s by the by. As regards ignorance of the Holocaust, the BBC recently released the results of a survey which showed that nearly half of British people had never heard of Auschwitz, a fact of which Ingrams seems unaware. Still, he later concedes that some people may be educated by the programs but claims that “a great many more will be excited while others will be frightened and disturbed.”

Hmm, “frightened and disturbed” I can understand, but “excited” – what kind of people does Ingrams mix with? Probably the kind who quote Hitler approvingly, as Ingrams does later in the article under the sub-heading: “Hitler was right”.

That phrase is not something I ever expected to read in the Observer, especially in an article that deals with the Holocaust.

By the way, if you're Jewish and you feel like writing to complain, don’t bother – Ingrams won’t read it.