Life

TV Review: The Holocaust, the Nazi murder of six million Jews, is incomparable in human history

Billy Foley

Billy Foley

Billy has almost 30 years’ experience in journalism after leaving DCU with a BAJ. He has worked at the Irish Independent, Evening Herald and Sunday Independent in Dublin, the Cork-based Evening Echo and the New Zealand Herald. He joined the Irish News in 2000, working as a reporter and then Deputy News Editor. He has been News Editor since 2007

David Baddiel meets with Rachel, a Holocaust survivor. (C) Wall to Wall Media Ltd
David Baddiel meets with Rachel, a Holocaust survivor. (C) Wall to Wall Media Ltd

Confronting Holocaust Denial with David Baddiel, BBC2, Monday at 9pm

The Holocaust, the Nazi’s murder of six million Jews, is incomparable in human history.

There have been many other genocides but none which compare to the scale, planning and organisation of the Nazi effort to remove Jews from Europe.

And had the Axis won the Second World War and its domination of the world secured, no doubt the Jewish people would have been murdered in every corner of the globe.

It is no wonder then that denying the Holocaust took place or the suggestion that the number killed has been exaggerated is deeply hurtful to a people who are but a few generations from the event.

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These issues have become heightened in Britain in recent years with the latest iteration of the Labour Party and its current leader accused of anti-Semitism.

And it is surely appropriate that Jewish people are sensitive to any suggestion of a return to the anti-Semitism of the past.

Comedian David Baddiel set out to explore if Holocaust denial has been given a new impetus by the nihilism of social media.

Unfortunately, while his motivation was correct, Baddiel, whose grandparents escaped from Nazi Germany, produced a confused and uneven programme.

He began by outlining the history of Holocaust denial, including pamphlets claiming gas chambers didn’t exist and the infamous David Irving libel case.

In 1996 Irving sued Deborah Libstadt after she labelled him a Holocaust denier. In the tautology possible in many libel cases, he denied he was a denier. He lost.

Baddiel sought out Libstadt who urged him not to give the oxygen of publicity to extremists through his programme.

He reflected and pondered on this throughout, before visiting Dermot Mulqueen in Ennis, Co Claire.

Anti-Semite, fantasist and conspiracy theorist, Mulqueen ranted about Auschwitz having a swimming pool, how Jews now drove luxury German cars and that the BBC was controlled by Zionists.

Baddiel even allowed the racist to sing an anti-Semitic dirge.

Baddiel was correct to point out that “conspiracy theory is how idiots get to feel like intellectuals” and then excoriated himself for being drawn into a discussion with Mulqueen and allowing him to air his abhorrent views.

It would perhaps have been better for Baddiel, and the viewer, had he worked out these issues in advance but then television loves taking celebrity presenters “on a journey of discovery.”

Despite these failings, it is right as we approach the 75th anniversary of the defeat of the Nazis, the liberation of Europe and the end of the Holocaust that we continue to educate the ignorant.

The rise of identity politics has perhaps brought about a weariness of claims of victimhood but this should not distract us from the unimaginable horror of the Holocaust.

***

EastEnders, BBC1

Soaps traditionally use disasters to clear out actors the producers want to get rid of.

It’s remarkable the acts of god which can befall a small soap community. Over the years the main British soaps have had train crashes, plane crashes, mass fires, floods and a fairground collapse.

For its 35th anniversary, EastEnders has gone for a boat sinking on the Thames with most of the cast on board celebrating the Queen Vic winning boozer of the year.

But before we even get to the boat, Whitney stabs her abusive ex-partner, Leo, to death.

Linda has managed to get herself stuck below-deck as the boat stinks and Ian has locked Dennis in a cabin after blaming him for an attack on his son who has converted to Islam.

The age of the live episode seems to have passed so to make an impact EastEnders filmed the sinking scene from a number of different perspectives.

It was a decent effort but it seems nothing will halt the decline in soaps viewing figures.