Posted on 10/25/2005 4:07:59 PM PDT by Sabramerican
Anti-Semitic poem in children’s school book By Jeremy Last Updated: 16/Oct/2005
A poem which praises the murder of Jews by the Nazis has been included in a book of children’s poetry to be distributed amongst schools in the UK.
The publication, entitled Great Minds, features the work of school children aged 11 to 18 who won a nationwide literary competition.
But one poem has generated outrage amongst Jewish groups, politicians and Holocaust charities for its anti-Semitic content.
The entry by the 14-year-old Gideon Taylor is apparently written from the viewpoint of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
It includes the lines "Jews are here, Jews are there, Jews are almost everywhere, filling up the darkest places, evil looks upon their faces."
Another part reads: "Make them take many paces for being one of the worst races, on their way to a gas chamber, where they will sleep in their manger… I'll be happy Jews have died."
Publisher defends poem
The book was produced by Forward Press who ran the Great Minds competition through its youngwriters.co.uk website.
Wining entries were rewarded with cash prizes of up to 20ukp for pupils and 1,000ukp for schools.
According to the Jewish Telegraph newspaper, the poem was the only entry in the entire book not to include the writer’s school or location.
Young Writers editor Steve Twelvetree, who also edited the book, said the poem was included as it illustrated how the writer was able to empathise with the infamous Nazi Fuehrer.
Twelvetree told the Telegraph: "From Gideon's poem and my knowledge of the National Curriculum Key Stage 3 his poem shows a good use of technical writing and he has written his poem from the perspective of Adolf Hitler.”
The editor continued: "Key Stage 3 history requires pupils to show knowledge and understanding of events and places - to show historical interpretation and to explain significance of events, people and places, all of which World War II and the Holocaust is part of.
"The poem clearly states 'I am Adolf Hitler' and it recounts a historical fact, something Young Writers and Forward Press are not willing to censor."
Widespread outrage
However, communal leaders were less than impressed with the poem’s inclusion in a book which they said could be influential on youngsters' views of Jewish people.
Chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews Jon Benjamin said: "It is the duty of the publisher to consider the consequences of the poem."
Jewish Labour MP, Louise Ellman, who represents the constituency of Liverpool Riverside, spoke of her concern.
She said: "It's an incitement to racial hatred. The words are absolutely outrageous and appalling."
And a spokesman for the Holocaust Educational Trust echoed Ellman’s views. The charity is now urging the publishers to issue a formal apology for the book and remove the offending poem.
A spokesman said: "It is totally insensitive and inappropriate for this kind of hatred to appear.
"It is also immensely insulting to those who lost their lives in the Holocaust and to those who survived."
This 14-year old runt should have the living sh*t kicked out of him.
If you want that condemned in GB, stick it to the side of a Piggy Bank.
Just go to a "peace" march, and you will see, next to the hippies and tree huggers, the anti-semite crowd with their pro-palestinian banners.
Precisely.
What's more, such a poem would never even have made it into this anthology to begin with. 'Some animals are more equal than others,' after all. /s
I wonder if a poem from the viewpoint of a Crusader as they liberated Jerusalem from the moslems would have made it into the book?
Mark
Right. Teacher would have discreetly spoke with student who attempted and corrected him, poor misguided thing thinking all are equal, contacting parents if necessary.
This bothers me even more than the inclusion of the poem--the absolute silence of everyone except the Jews and the decent folks on the right (mostly Christian). What do we hear from the usually very vocal left, who claim to champion human rights and scream "fascist" at the drop of a pin? Where is the denunciation from the politicians?
Crickets...
I big duh for me.
Sorry for not reading more carefully.
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