Board of Deputies President writes to Chinese Ambassador citing ‘similarities’ between Chinese treatment of Uyghurs and Nazi atrocities

Board of Deputies of British Jews President Marie van der Zyl has today written to the Chinese Ambassador to the UK urging the Chinese Government to release the Uyghur people and other minorities from all ethnic and religious oppression.

In the letter, Marie wrote: “Nobody could watch the segment of the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on which you appeared yesterday and fail to notice the similarities between what is alleged to be happening in the People’s Republic of China today and what happened in Nazi Germany 75 years ago: People being forcibly loaded onto trains; beards of religious men being trimmed; women being sterilised; and the grim spectre of concentration camps.”

She added: “Mr Ambassador, we urge China today to release the Uyghur people and other minorities from all ethnic and religious oppression; throw open the doors of the camps to a full and impartial international investigation; take action against the perpetrators of any human rights abuses; and ensure justice for the victims and their families. This must begin immediately.

The world is watching. The hand of history is poised. For its future, China has a choice between great glory and eternal shame. Let it choose the former.”

You can read the full letter here.