Posted on January 5, 2024
The BBC is facing furious backlash after omitting the word ‘Jewish’ from promotional material for a film starring Sir Anthony Hopkins about WWII hero Sir Nicholas Winton, who saved children from the Nazis with the kindertransport scheme.
The new film, One Life, tells the story of Sir Nicholas’ efforts to rescue hundreds of predominantly Jewish children from the expanding Nazi invasion across Europe.
However, the word ‘Jewish’ was not featured on the website of film co-producer BBC Film in its information page, saying only that Sir Nicholas saved ‘669 children’, leading to claims that Jews were being ‘written out of history’.
Co-producers See-Saw Films and distributors Warner Bros used the same wording on their websites.
HMV and several cinemas in the UK, including the Peckhamplex in London, posted on Twitter, formerly X, a promotion for the film which described it as the story of a man ‘who helped save Central European children from the Nazis’.