Board welcomes change of mind of over Nazi ship name

Board of Deputies vice president Jonathan Arkush has welcomed the decision of the shipping company Allseas to rename the Pieter Schelte – a vessel which had been named after the Dutch owner’s Nazi war criminal father.

The renaming has come following complaints from the Board, government, the Unite union and from Shell, which is planning to use the ship to decommission the North Sea Brent oilfield.

Mr Arkush said: “We note the owners have altered their misplaced earlier decision to name this ship after a convicted Nazi war criminal, and that the change of mind had come as the result of widespread revulsion at the original proposed name. We hope that when ships are named in the future, they will commemorate men and women who have contributed great gifts to society and not those criminals who sought to destroy it.