The South African Jewish Board of Deputies is demanding an investigation by the Pretoria University authorities of a “Nazi Victory Feast” held on the campus there last month and has sharply criticized the university for failing to denounce the event which has seriously disturbed the Jewish community.
The Board flatly rejected claims by officials that the “Feast” was a student prank. It noted that anti-Semitic slogans such as “We hate Jews” and “Up Hitler” doubled on the walls of a men’s residence hall made it clear that the raucus Nazi party was more than a joke. According to a statement by the Board yesterday, the hall was decked with swastikas, students dressed in the uniforms of the Hitler Youth gave the Nazi salute and shouted “Sieg Heil.” About 170 students participated, all of them white.
“The conspicuous failure of the university authorities spontaneously to disavow and denounce this sorry event reveals a sad lack of awareness of the appalling evils which flowed from the racial hatreds of the Nazi era. Recent events in France and elsewhere in Europe suggest that the function may well have a sinister significance,” the Board’s statement said.
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