David Baddiel struggles to contain his anger during a dramatic confrontation with a Holocuast denier, who accuses Jewish people of ‘hating Europeans’, ‘sacrificing Christian babies’ and ‘controlling the BBC’ in a new documentary.
The comedian, 55, from London, whose mother Sarah escaped to the UK from Nazi Germany as a newborn with her parents in 1939, explored the subject for Confronting Holocaust Denial, which airs on BBC2 tonight.
He met with with Irish Holocaust denier Dermot Mulqueen, a failed independent politician who describes himself as an ‘artist’, who charges for anti-Semitic songs on his website.
Mulqueen told David that Auschwitz concentration camp ‘didn’t have gas chambers’, and claimed that Jewish people buying cars from German companies is proof the genocide didn’t happen.
Comedian David Baddiel, 55, has made a BBC2 documentary about Holocaust deniers where he examines those who claim that the horrific genocide did not happen
He met with Irish Holocaust denier Dermot Mulqueen (pictured), and insists that Auschwitz concentration camp ‘didn’t have gas chambers’. He is pictured with a copy of ‘The Hoax of the Twentieth Century’
David confessed that while he felt uncomfortable meeting with a Holocaust denier, he felt it was necessary in order to understand the phenomenon, and so chose Dermot, who had been in contact with him prior to the documentary.
After admitting that he would find it difficult to remain objective in the interview, David began his talk with Dermot by listening to the Holocaust denier claim that ‘the whole narrative’ around the genocide is false.
‘When you examine it like I have done, there were no homicidal gas chambers,’ said Dermot.
‘There were 15 ovens, you can fit one or two maximum in at a time and it takes an hour to burn a body. Okay? So it’s just not possible.’
David confesses that while he feels uncomfortable meeting with a Holocaust denier, and admits he will find it difficult to be objective
David then told Dermot that he wasn’t interested in listening to tired rhetoric about Holocaust denial, insisting that ‘none of it is real’.
The fact that I’m denying the Holocaust, there’s this hatred, you hate Europeans’, said Dermot.
‘There’s this hatred the Jews have for Europeans, because we never saved them from gas chambers that never existed’.
‘Why would we hate Europeans for something that actually never happened?, questioned David.
David replied: ‘Because it’s profitable’.
The pair were then sucked into a heated debate, where Dermot claimed Auschwitz had ‘swimming pools and bakeries’ and told David ‘you control the BBC, do you accept that now?’
David replied: ‘If I controlled the BBC, i’d really be on it more.’
David, pictured at Chełmno Concentration Camp in Poland, is the grandchild of Holocaust survivors who fled to London to survive the genocide
The Holocaust denier went on to explain that claiming these events didn’t take place ‘balances’ his life and believing these atrocious events didn’t take place gives him ‘peace of mind’.
After being quizzed on what exactly was troubling him before, he went on: ‘I always felt, I’d open a newspaper and open an article about the Holocaust. This victim of the Holocaust and this fear.
‘There is this narrative about antisemitism in Europe. Most of the anti-antisemitism Jews have encountered is has been satanic child sacrifice of Christians of Jews. It’s happened over the centuries.’
‘Do you think Jews are still sacrificing babies?, asked David.
‘I don’t know, that’s something you’d know,’ Dermot replied.
Then, in an odd turn of events, Dermot performed a song he had written himself about how Jews buying cars made by German companies like Mercedes-Benz or Audi proves the Holocaust did not happen.
Dermot ran a now deleted Facebook page under the moniker ‘President Mulqueen’ where he regularly shared memes about the Holocaust and claimed the genocide did not happen
He claimed that after the Holocaust, Jewish people would not be inclined to buy German cars, because they would not want to be reminded of the horrors their people had been through.
The bizarre song had lyrics including: ‘Outside the synagogue there are 50 Mercs, Auschwitz had it’s perks.
‘Brainwashes man about yesterday, we’re taught their version of history’.
When quizzed on the reference to cars in the song, Dermot said: ‘Isn’t it really bizarre that if you’re a Jew that you’d buy a German car, that you’d get out of everyday.’
David bluntly replied. ‘No, I have an Audi.’
He went on: ‘That proves, does it, that the Holocaust doesn’t happen does it? That I have an Audi.’
‘Well it does raise questions’, insisted Dermot.
Reflecting on his meeting with the Holocaust denier, David said that while he understands that Dermot may be using his beliefs as a form of escapism from the real world, the threat posed by people like Dermot must be taken seriously.
‘The whole thing was f*** weird’, said David, ‘That was one of the weirdest moments of my life, especially the song.
‘The room, the revelry, the kind of “Here I am in my own personal anti-Semitic Woodstock”.
‘He’s using this stuff to try and make his world make sense. I think it’s important to understand however mad Dermot seems, we’re not shooting fish in a barrel here, people believe this s***.’
Confronting Holocaust Denial with David Baddiel airs at 9pm on Monday night on BBC2.