An anti-semitic poem that would likely be banned in Germany under its law of how its deals with racism and glorifying Adolf Hitler appears to be acceptable to be given out to British children.
SomethingJewish (via Ynetnews) reports:
Education Secretary Ruth Kelly is under increasing pressure to ban an anti-Semitic poem featured in a book distributed for free to British pupils.
The scandalous poem includes the following lines: “Jews are here, Jews are there, Jews are almost everywhere, filling up the darkest places, evil looks upon their faces.”
The Times reports that the poem was written from Hitler’s point of view by a 14-year-old pupil, Gideon Taylor.
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.”
Irene Lancaster, a Jewish academic, told The Times: “Many of my university students have gone on to become secondary school teachers. If they had written essays glorifying Hitler and the Holocaust in this way, I would have failed them and reported them to the appropriate university authorities.”
If its written from the perspective of Hitler, then surely the poem is a commentary on his irrational obsessions and hatreds. It looks to me as if the poem highlights the evil stupidity of anti-semitism, rather than glorify it. As the author says:
I thought I would write a poem about Adolf Hitler and his perception of life and power.
Indeed, a poem like this could be a good place for teachers to discuss the intellectual void at the heart of anti-semitism.
That said, younger children might not understand the artistic device of putting yourself into the shoes of someone you disagree with.
Also, it doesn't actually look like a very good poem. Hitler to a T...
Posted by: Robert Sharp | November 10, 2005 at 01:31 PM