Jon Kay said six million 'people' had been killed in the Holocaust (Image: BBC)
The BBC has been criticized for failing to mention Jews when covering the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The broadcaster covered the day of sombre reflection on the murder of six million men, women and children in Nazi death camps during World War II, but failed to mention that they were Jewish.
BBC Breakfast presenter Jon Kay introduced a segment on remembrance events to mark the date today by saying it was a “day for remembering the six million people who were murdered by the Nazi regime over 80 years ago”.
Radio 4's Today program repeated the gaffe by broadcasting that “buildings across the UK will be illuminated this evening to mark Holocaust Memorial Day, which commemorates the six million people murdered by the Nazi regime more than 80 years ago”.
The UK's Holocaust Memorial Trust said January 27 was the date when “we remember the six million Jewish men, women and children who were murdered, and the millions more murdered under Nazi persecution”.
The Daily Express front page on Tuesday featured a powerful message from one of the survivors of the atrocity, Eva Clarke, aged 80, who was born to her skeletal mother Anka in a concentration camp and who had 15 members of her family murdered by the Nazis.
Karen Pollock CBE, chief executive, Holocaust Educational Trust, said the BBC's omission of mentioning Jews in the broadcast on Holocaust Memorial Day was “particularly hurtful, disrespectful and wrong”.
He told the Daily Express: “Ignoring that the victims were Jews, widening the figure to include all victims of the Second World War, or attempting to draw in contemporary conflicts, is an abuse of the memory of the Holocaust and an insult to victims and survivors.
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Six million Jews were killed in Nazi death camps across Europe (Image: Getty)
“Any attempt to dilute the Holocaust, strip it of its Jewish specificity, or compare it to contemporary events is unacceptable on any day. On Holocaust Memorial Day, it is especially hurtful, disrespectful and wrong.”
Danny Cohen, former BBC Director of Television, said it was a “new low point” for the national broadcaster. He said: “It is surely the bare minimum to expect the BBC to correctly identify that it was six million Jews killed during the Holocaust.
“To say anything else is an insult to their memory and plays into the hands of extremists who have desperately sought to rewrite the historical truth of history's greatest crime.
Jon Kay and Sally Nugent presenting BBC Breakfast this morning (Image: BBC)
“This will be very painful to many in the Jewish community and will reinforce their view that the BBC is insensitive to the concerns of British Jews.”
Lord Pickles, co-chair of UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation, former UK Special Envoy for post-Holocaust Issues and former chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, said: “This is an unambiguous example of Holocaust distortion, which is a form of denial.
“This kind of obfuscation was common during the Soviet control of parts of Europe. For the BBC to use it today is shocking. They should be fighting Antisemitism, not aiding it.”
A spokesperson for the BBC said: “This morning's BBC programming commemorated Holocaust Memorial Day. The Today program featured interviews with relatives of Holocaust survivors, and a report from our religion editor. In both of these items we referenced the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust. The Chief Rabbi recorded the Thought for the Day.
“BBC Breakfast featured a project organized by the Holocaust Educational Trust in which a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust recorded her memories.
“In the news bulletins on Today and in the introduction to the story on BBC Breakfast there were references to Holocaust Memorial Day which were incorrectly worded, and for which we apologize. Both should have referred to 'six million Jewish people' and we will be issuing a correction on our website.”