David Baddiel recalls a trip to Auschwitz

David Baddiel has been asked to present a BBC documentary about Holocaust denial – prompting him to recall a visit to Auschwitz in which the mood of solemn remembrance was rather brutally shattered.

'It was incredibly moving, just absurdly moving,’ he told journalist Samira Ahmed on her podcast. 'I really urge anyone to go.

'But I was standing at the actual site of one of the places that the Nazis had tried to burn, it's basically a gas chamber they tried to burn. 

‘I'm standing at the site, looking over it, having a quiet moment. And a man comes up to me. I think he's going to say something incredibly moving and powerful about where we are.

'And he says, "Dave. When's Fantasy Football coming back?"’

The comic – whose novel The Secret Purpose was loosely based on how his maternal grandparents fled Nazi Germany – said he will 'probably' accept the BBC's commission.

He previously presented the BBC One documentary Baddiel and the Missing Nazi Billions in 2007, where he explored the question of restitution for European Jews like his family,  wealthy industrialists who lost almost everything.

Published: 6 May 2019