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Joel Beard
May 16, 2023
Nazism occurred because Germany 'mucked up', suggests political commentator Douglas Murray
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Douglas Murray, the right-wing commentator and author whose book The Strange Death of Europe was branded “gentrified xenophobia” by The Guardian for wanting to “protect white Christian Europe from ‘outsiders’”, has now received widespread criticism for his latest comments on the Holocaust.
Speaking at the evening gala for a conference on National Conservatism – an ideology about “national independence” which some Twitter users have pointed out can, worryingly, be abbreviated to ‘NatC’ – on Monday night, claimed nationalism in Europe “sounds different depending on the country you’re in”.
“The ‘cordon sanitaire’ which used to exist around nationalism - until recent years – existed not because we didn’t trust the idea of love of country, not because, I would argue, there is anything wrong with nationalism in a British context.
“It all came from the recognition there is a problem with nationalism in a German context.
“I see no reason why every other country in the world, should be prevented from feeling pride in itself, because the Germans mucked up twice in a century,” said Murray, to applause from those in the audience.
Just to be clear, Murray is referring to the First and Second World Wars – the latter of which saw the state-sponsored murder of six million Jewish people, as well as disabled people, Roma, and LGBTQ+ people.
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Murray’s failure to acknowledge this in his remarks has since been slammed as a “serious minimisation” of the Holocaust by Germany’s Nazi Party, led by Adolf Hitler:
\u201cDouglas Murray\u2019s comment is serious minimisation of the abhorrent, planned nature of the Holocaust. Saying that Germany \u201cmucked up\u201d trivialises and minimises the fact that the Nazis systematically murdered 6 million Jews during the Holocaust.\u201d— HOPE not hate (@HOPE not hate) 1684234892
\u201cSix million Jews systematically murdered.\n\nMillions of Roma, Slavs, Communists, socialists, trade unionists butchered.\n\nOver 70 million humans in total killed.\n\nThe Continent of Europe reduced to rubble.\n\nHow does Douglas Murray describe this? "Mucking up".\u201d— Owen Jones (@Owen Jones) 1684235712
\u201cWords can't express the utter contempt I feel for Douglas Murray in suggesting the holocaust of six million and sparking a destructive war was "mucked up".\n\nNo serious UK publication should ever be publishing the views of this disgusting openly racist individual.\u201d— David Henig \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 aka @DavidHenig@mastodonapp.uk (@David Henig \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 aka @DavidHenig@mastodonapp.uk) 1684233334
\u201cGermany just \u201cmucked up\u201d, okay, and when you \u201cmuck up\u201d you sometimes send millions of people to death camps\u201d— Dr Charlotte Lydia Riley (@Dr Charlotte Lydia Riley) 1684227129
\u201c@NatConTalk @DouglasKMurray When you say "mucked up", do you mean murdered six million European Jews, caused untold misery and invaded 22 countries?\u201d— National Conservatism (@National Conservatism) 1684229509
\u201c@NatConTalk @DouglasKMurray Nationalism is not the same as patriotism\u201d— National Conservatism (@National Conservatism) 1684229509
\u201c@NatConTalk @DouglasKMurray Pompous vacuity from Douglas. And reducing the Holocaust to some sort of attempt at a joke? \u2018Mucked up\u2019 by murdering six million Jews?\u201d— National Conservatism (@National Conservatism) 1684229509
\u201c@NatConTalk @lewis_goodall @DouglasKMurray I really had no idea that \u201cmucked up\u201d meant \u201cplunging the world into chaos twice, and committing some of the worst atrocities known to man, including the Holocaust\u201d.\n\nI\u2019ve been using \u201cmucked up\u201d for trivial things, like making a mess of a cryptic crossword.\u201d— National Conservatism (@National Conservatism) 1684229509
It isn’t the first time Murray has issued concerning remarks about the Holocaust, as back in January 2021 he complained in The Spectator that “to draw facile lessons – perhaps any lessons – from history is becoming ever more aggravating to me”.
The piece – titled “History shouldn’t be used against us” - also saw Murray object to plans to erect an “ugly” Holocaust memorial in London’s Victoria Tower Gardens, arguing this would be “an extension of that way in which German war guilt keeps being spread across Europe and indeed the whole western world”.
“As though we all did it, or were capable of doing it, as cheap would-be historians keep insisting,” he added.
The remarks are the latest shocking scenes to emerge from London’s National Conservatism conference, as Jacob Rees-Mogg’s speech at the event was disrupted by an Extinction Rebellion protester warning of “a few characteristics of fascism”.
Rees-Mogg shortly responded to the incident to say attendees “believe in freedom of speech”, as the man was seen taken away by security.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman also had her speech interrupted by Extinction Rebellion protesters, who took issue with the government’s small boats policy.
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