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Multiple British Broadcasting Company (BBC) broadcasts marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Tuesday failed to state that the Nazis murdered six million Jews.
On January 27, a BBC Radio 4 morning program told listeners that International Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorated “the six million people murdered by the Nazi regime.” By replacing six million Jews with six million “people,” the broadcast fundamentally reframed the meaning of the day.
As antisemitism becomes increasingly normalized, Holocaust denial, distortion, and trivialization are also accelerating. In that context, this cannot be dismissed as a trivial error. It represents an effort to strip the Holocaust of its Jewish reality and rewrite history.
The same phrasing appeared in several other BBC broadcasts on Tuesday, including on the “BBC Breakfast” program and the BBC News Channel. The omission was repeated across platforms on a day dedicated to remembrance.
Following public criticism, the BBC acknowledged the error on its corrections page. The broadcaster admitted that references to “six million people” and, in some cases, “six million mostly Jewish people” were incorrectly worded. It stated that the broadcasts should have referred explicitly to “six million Jewish people.”
Critics stressed that precision is not optional when addressing the Holocaust. The systematic murder of six million Jews was not an abstract tragedy. It was a documented genocide with a specific and deliberate target.
CAM Research Highlights a Surge in Holocaust Denial, Distortion, and Trivialization
Recent data underscores why such omissions carry serious consequences. According to CAM’s Antisemitism Research Center (ARC), 287 antisemitic incidents involving Holocaust denial, distortion, or trivialization were recorded in 2025. That figure is up from 187 incidents in 2024, a 53.5 percent annual rise.
These incidents accounted for 4.2 percent of all antisemitic cases documented in 2025, compared with 3 percent the previous year.
Removing Jews from Holocaust remembrance does not occur in a vacuum. It reinforces a growing ecosystem of historical distortion.
The Holocaust Was the Systematic, State-Sponsored Murder of Six Million Jews
Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, underscored that point directly. She said the Holocaust was the murder of six million Jewish men, women, and children. She added that any attempt to dilute or strip away its Jewish specificity was unacceptable. On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, she said, such omissions are especially hurtful, disrespectful, and wrong.
Former BBC director of television Danny Cohen described the incident as a new low for the national public broadcaster. Speaking to The Telegraph, Cohen said correctly identifying Jews as the victims of the Holocaust was the bare minimum. Anything less, he warned, insulted the victims’ memory. It also aided extremists seeking to rewrite the most documented crime in modern history.
Part of a Wider Pattern
The controversy followed another recent BBC correction involving Holocaust-era history. Earlier this month, the broadcaster amended an episode of “The Repair Shop” that discussed the Kindertransport without mentioning Jews.
The episode devoted significant airtime to the story of a cello taken on the Kindertransport by actress Helen Mirren. It failed to state that the rescue mission primarily saved Jewish children fleeing Nazi persecution. After complaints, the BBC added a clarification. It noted that approximately 10,000 children were evacuated from Nazi-controlled Europe in the operation and that the majority were Jewish.
Accuracy Is Not Optional
International Holocaust Remembrance Day exists to preserve historical truth and honor Jewish victims. Repeated failures to do so — across radio, television, and entertainment programming — raise serious questions about editorial standards at the BBC.
When Jews disappear from Holocaust coverage, the consequences extend far beyond a single broadcast correction.
Take Action
CAM has launched Report It — a secure app to report antisemitic incidents anonymously and in real time. Don’t stay silent — download it today on the Apple Store or Google Play. See it. Report it. Stop it. Together, we can fight this hate.
