Annetta Able, known at 100 years old for being the oldest survivor in the world of the experiments conducted by Nazi physician Josef Mengele at Auschwitz, has joined the Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC) on Thursday to urge the Australian government to ban far-right political commentator Candace Owens from visiting the country.
Owens in early July said on her podcast that experiments performed by Mengele were "bizarre propaganda." She is slated to visit the country on a speaking tour.
“As a survivor of Dr. Mengele's inhumane experiments in Auschwitz, I feel compelled to speak out against Candace Owens' planned visit to Australia. Her recent statement dismissing the horrific experiments I endured as 'bizarre propaganda' is not just deeply offensive, it is a dangerous distortion of historical truth that I witnessed with my own eyes," Able said. "I still bear the physical and emotional scars of Mengele's cruelty.
"The pain, fear, and trauma I experienced were very real and to hear someone deny these atrocities is a fresh wound to my heart and an insult to the memory of those who perished. I urge the Australian government to deny Candace Owens a visa.”
Able, who is based in Melbourne, also joined her daughter Daphne in calling for the commentator to not visit Australia. Her daughter said that "Owens' visit will be a betrayal of Holocaust survivors and their legacy of educating future generations about the dangers of antisemitism and racism.
"As the child of a survivor, I inherited the responsibility to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive," she continued. "And I ask the Australian government not to let my mother’s and my aunt’s suffering - and the suffering of millions - be dismissed as 'propaganda' on Australian soil."
Comments by the ADC Chairman
ADC Chairman Dr. Dvir Abramovich said that his "message to Candace Owens is very simple: Stay Out! We don’t want you, your hatred and your antisemitism here. Australia should not put out the welcome mat and provide a platform to a serial bigot, to an individual who has engaged in Holocaust denial.
Abramovich also demanded that Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke not to grant Owens a visa into the country.
"At a time of skyrocketing antisemitism across our nation, the last thing we need is to have this hate-preacher whose presence will only normalize and mainstream antisemitism and Holocaust denial," Abramovich continued. "Words are bullets and they often escalate into real-life violence and when people are told that Jews are bad and evil, they feel emboldened to harass, demean, degrade and carry out attacks against us."