Six events with a Holocaust denier pulled after pressure from anti-racism group
Hope Not Hate celebrate after venue pulls series of talks with Nick Kollerstrom, who published the article 'The Auschwitz Gas Chamber Illusion'
An anti-racism organisation has celebrated the cancellation of a series of six events in London in which a Holocaust denier was due to speak.
HOPE not hate said the organising group behind the aborted series is called Keep Talking, which it describes as hosting “conspiracy theorists of all types, ranging from Holocaust deniers, climate change deniers and 9/11 truthers”.
Run by Ian Fantom, the group had been due to hear from Nick Kollerstrom, a disgraced astronomer who has said: “Let us hope the schoolchildren visitors are properly taught about the elegant swimming pool at Auschwitz, built by the inmates, who would sunbathe there on Saturday and Sunday afternoons while watching the water polo matches” and “let’s hope they are shown postcards written from Auschwitz, where the postman would collect the mail twice weekly”.
Kollerstrom has called the 9/11 attack in New York “a constructed, fabricated event” perpetrated by Western spy agencies acting according to the wishes of their “Zionist masters”.
He has published an article titled ‘The Auschwitz Gas Chamber Illusion,’ arguing that there was “never a centrally-coordinated Nazi programme of exterminating Jews in Germany. Lethal gas chambers did not function in German labour-camps, that’s just an illusion”.
The cancelling venue – Conway Hall – said it was unaware of the nature of the event and withdrew when HOPE not hate highlighted this.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
