Roald Dahl’s Family Apologizes for Author’s Anti-Semitic

The household of late writer Roald Dahl, who wrote such kids’s classics as “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “Matilda,” issued an apology for his “incomprehensible” anti-Semitic feedback.

“The Dahl family and the Roald Dahl Story Company deeply apologise for the lasting and understandable hurt caused by some of Roald Dahl’s statements,” the letter posted on his official website stated.

It goes on: “Those prejudiced remarks are incomprehensible to us and stand in marked contrast to the man we knew and to the values at the heart of Roald Dahl’s stories, which have positively impacted young people for generations. We hope that, just as he did at his best, at his absolute worst, Roald Dahl can help remind us of the lasting impact of words.”

In 1983, Dahl — whose books additionally embrace “James and the Giant Peach,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “The Witches” — wrote a overview that appeared within the Literary Review of “God Cried,” an image guide in regards to the 1982 Lebanon War. He stated in that piece, “There is a trait in the Jewish character that does provoke animosity, maybe it’s a kind of lack of generosity towards non-Jews. I mean, there’s always a reason why anti-anything crops up anywhere. Even a stinker like Hitler didn’t just pick on them for no reason.”

Just a few months earlier than his dying in 1990, Dahl instructed The Independent, “I’m certainly anti-Israel and I’ve become antisemitic inasmuch as that you get a Jewish person in another country like England strongly supporting Zionism.”

He was roundly attacked on the time for his statements and his phrases had been by no means forgotten by many and solid a shadow over his literary legacy. The Royal Mint had deliberate to commemorate him with a particular version coin in 2014, however these plans had been scrapped due to his anti-Semitic views, saying he was “not regarded as an author of the highest reputation.”

Dahl’s books have bought greater than 250 million copies.