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Imperial War Museum says sorry for branding Jewish fighters against the Nazis ‘terrorists’
September 22, 2015 10:35
BySandy Rashty, Sandy Rashty
1 min read
BySandy Rashty, Sandy Rashty
The Imperial War Museum has apologised for posting an image that described Jewish soldiers who fought the Nazis during the Second World War as “terrorists”.
The Museum said it was sorry after a representative “accidentally” uploaded the image of the fighters to its website with the caption: “Terrorist activities: Men of the First Battalion Jewish Brigade during a march past.”
The description below the image, read: “"The Jewish Brigade was formed in September 1944 and fought in Italy under the British Eighth Army. Many of its members went on to join the Hagana and other illegal formations."
The Hagana was a Jewish armed force in British Mandate Palestine. The group later became a core part of the Israel Defence Forces.
The post provoked a complaint from the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, which sent a letter to Diane Lees, the director general of the Imperial War Museum.
In the letter, Dr Simon Samuels, the director for international relations, wrote: "For British Jews, so many of whom served in Her Majesty's forces, who later came to nascent Israel as volunteers to repel British-led Arab invaders bent on completing Hitler’s plan of extermination. Would you malign these loyal British Jewish military with the stigma of ‘terrorism’?"
He added: ““The Jewish Brigade under British command were heroes who combated fascist terrorists in Italy. They were eye-witnesses to the annihilation of their people as they joined the liberators of the camps.”
He called for the image to be withdrawn, a public apology to the Jewish community and disciplinary measured to be taken against the representative who wrote the caption.
Dr Samuels, who was born in London, added: “"To call them ‘terrorists’ is the greatest Holocaust revisionism imaginable.
"This has tarnished your museum and betrays the cause of British integrity."
A spokeswoman for the museum said: “We apologise unreservedly. This was the historic label we received alongside the photograph, accidentally uploaded in order to give the public access to our comprehensive archives. We have now removed this item and are looking in detail at all other captions.”
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre welcomed the removal of the offending image and caption.
