Richard Cooke (pictured) used a metaphor about the view on the train to Auschwitz to describe his displeasure at a report claiming the initial meeting between Captain Arthur Phillip and Australian Indigenous people was amicable
An Australian journalist has been slammed by a Jewish leader for posting a ‘vulgar’ joke about the Holocaust on Twitter.
Richard Cooke, a contributing editor at The Monthly magazine, was tweeting about a report on the teaching of the history of Western civilisation when he made the ‘insensitive’ remark.
‘Sure Auschwitz was bad, but the train ride there took in some lovely scenery,’ he tweeted.
Mr Cooke was immediately slammed on social media, with some calling for him to delete the tweet and others arguing he should be sacked from his job.
Jewish community leader Dr Dvir Abramovich, Chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission, told Daily Mail Australia in a statement that the tweet was ‘deeply insensitive, offensive and tasteless’.
He went on to say Mr Cooke’s poor choice of example was ‘an insult to the memory of the 1.5million people who were tortured and murdered in the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz.
‘If Mr Cooke thought this vulgar remark was funny or appropriate in this context, he was wrong on all counts, and it’s hard to believe he actually posted it,’ he said.
‘People are of course entitled to criticise reports about universities, identity and race.
‘But there is nothing funny about the horrific and unfathomable crimes of the Holocaust, and the suffering of the victims should never be twisted so as to generate a punchline or to score a point.’
The tweet was met with furious responses from his Twitter followers, who labelled it ‘disgusting’
Pictured: The gates to the Auschwitz complex, where more than 1.1million Jewish people were killed
Dr Abramovich went on to refer to Mr Cooke’s remark as a ‘slap in the face’ to those who were sent to the gas chambers during the Second World War, and called on the journalist to apologise.
‘The history of the Holocaust deserves greater respect than to be degraded, he said.
‘Many of the Jews who were transported on sealed freight cars to the killing centres were given no food or water, and enduring terrible conditions, died before the trains reached their destination.
‘They did not enjoy the “lovely scenery”.
‘This crude statement is a slap in the face to all those who perished in the gas chambers, and to those who survived, and we call on Mr Cooke to take our concerns to heart, apologise for his outrageous statement, and acknowledge that his use of Holocaust imagery went too far.’
Mr Cooke’s tweet came in response to a report on history subjects taught in Australia.
The report concluded there was a bias in favour of subjects which focus on class, race and gender, and that history facilities are failing to teach the history of Western civilisation as relevant to Australia.
It also claimed the initial meeting between Captain Arthur Phillip and the Eora people was ‘amicable’.
Mr Cooke is the contributing editor for The Monthly, which ‘offers a mix of investigative reportage, critical essays and thoughtful reviews’ according to its website.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Mr Cooke for comment.
During the Holocaust, many Jewish people were transported to the Auschwitz concentration camp via train. Jewish community leader Dr Dvir Abramovich said a great deal of these people ‘were given no food or water, and enduring terrible conditions, died before the trains reached their destination’
Dr Abramovich said those on the trains to the camps ‘did not enjoy the “lovely scenery”‘ and that Mr Cooke’s comments were ‘a slap in the face’