A digital shiva was disrupted on Wednesday by neo-Nazis who displayed swastikas and photos of Adolf Hitler, and broadcast antisemitic messages.
The shiva was held at 8pm on Wednesday in honour of Linda Huglin, 68, who had been buried in Liverpool earlier in the day.
As many of the100 guests who had attended her funeral – also brooadcast online – began arriving for the shiva on video-conferencing app Zoom, they were met with a “vile and profoundly shocking scene”.
“There was this awful sight on different screens,” said Raphael Gee, who attended said.
“There were swastikas and cartoonish-type propaganda that wouldn’t have been out of place in Nazi Germany,” he added.
Mr Gee said that there were about “three or four” individuals who disrupted the event, adding that they had entered the session under the names of Anne Frank and Adolf Hitler.
Gwendoline Lamb, who also attended, recalled: “They were playing films of the Nazis, of Hitler, they were shouting that there was no Holocaust, and they showed images of people saluting Hitler. It was horrific.”
Hertfordshire Constabulary and Dorset Police were made aware of the incident, and Dorset Police is currently dealing with the incident. The CST has also been informed.
Ms Huglin had been the founder and chairwoman of Women’s United Jewish Appeal in Liverpool, as well as the ex-chairwoman of the Liverpool branches of the CST and Women’s International Zionist Organisation.
Husband Victor Huglin, who did not witness the incident as funeral prayers had not yet finished, said that while “it was particularly insensitive, the world is full of crazy people – but we are proud Jewish people, and my view is: bring it on, let me meet them face to face.”
Mr Huglin added: “Linda’s life was one of great inspiration as she was a great leader and took great pride as a Jewish person. If some neo-Nazis and some crazies want to break into a Zoom shiva, then I’ll teach them the prayers that they want so they can participate.”
It is believed that the neo-Nazis were able to access the event through a link that was posted on Facebook.
David Coleman, the administrator at Allerton Synagogue, said that the incident “shows the danger of posting things on Facebook”.
Mr Coleman said that while Allerton were the Zoom ‘hosts’, the event was operated independently by Ms Huglin’s family.
