Holocaust denial

Teuila Fuatai at NZ Herald reports:

Prime Minister John Key shared tales of his Jewish mother’s escape from Nazi-controlled Austria at the United Holocaust Memorial Day event this morning.

Mr Key addressed a crowd of about 200 people, which included Holocaust survivors, politicians and Israel’s Ambassador to New Zealand, Shemi Tzur, in Auckland.

His mother, born in Vienna, Austria, moved to the United Kingdom in 1938 with her brother. She moved to New Zealand after marrying a British soldier.

She did not speak any English and left her own mother in Austria when she fled, Mr Key said.

My father and his mother also left in 1938. Sadly not all my family managed to get out.

He spoke of his mother’s pain over the Holocaust.

People often asked: “Why is it that I can’t speak German?

“The simple answer is my mother refused to teach me.” She “did not want to reflect on her history”, Mr Key said.

I didn’t even realise my father’s side of my family was of Jewish ancestry until I remarked one day how a schoolmate was Jewish and how he seemed so normal.  And never once did we talk about what happened with my grandparents. I can only imagine how awful it was.

ZB reported:

Newstalk ZB’s Allan Lee says it was a moving event, with Mr Key speaking passionately and without notes.

He says it’s personal for the Prime Minister – his mother was an Austrian Jew and was forced to leave as a result of the Nazi invasion.

“She never wanted to talk about it and he told the audience today that his mother, whenever he tried to question her about it, she would just not answer. So he’s never really found out the full story of what happened to her.”

Mr Lee says Mr Key also spoke about Holocaust, saying people who deny it happened can only be described as mad.

And to prove this point, we have the lovely intellectuals at Stormfront who reacted to the PM’s comments with:

When the evidence stacking up against the Holocaust, makes the world realise it was a plot to secure Israel and that we must teach the truth…

Will the UN then change the day to UN Holohoax Memorial Day?

What sad people.