Holocaust survivor praised for bravery in standing up to Home Secretary

A HOLOCAUST survivor was praised for her “courage” after confronting Suella Braverman for using “hate language” to speak about refugees.

Joan Salter, whose family fled the Nazis after she was born in 1940, questioned the Home Secretary for her earlier use of “dehumanizing” language in relation to refugees and asylum seekers.

The Home Office took the unusual step of issuing a public statement on the incident on social media, confirming that it had asked the human rights organization that originally shared it to remove the video.

Responding to a Freedom from Torture tweet that said they were “asserting our position” by leaving the video online, Salter said: “On Friday I confronted Suella Braverman’s use of hateful language. She refused to apologize.

“We must always challenge the language of hate. The Interior Ministry requested the removal of the video. They don’t seem to realize that we are still a democracy.”

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She was praised by others on social media, who applauded her for taking on the Home Secretary.

Scottish opera singer Cheryl Forbes also praised Salter, tweeting: “Joan, you have shown so much courage. Many people were moved by your words, including me.

“Unfortunately, Suella Bravermans are everywhere, but if the kind and good people shout loud enough, we will win.”

Meanwhile, journalist and author Otto English said Salter’s intervention should give the Home Secretary a “pause”.

He said: “When a Holocaust survivor rebukes the Home Secretary for her offensive and inflammatory use of language against migrants, then perhaps the Home Secretary should pause to think.

“Getting the official Home Office account to continue the attack is not the appropriate response.”

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Comedian Susie McCabe said: “This is nonsense, a Holocaust survivor is calling Suella Braverman about her divisive and hurtful language she regularly uses and the Home Office wants her removed.

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“We’re not North Korea, we’re supposedly a democracy and if we are, the video should stay.”

Braverman was heavily criticized during last year’s Tory party conference after she said it was her “dream” to fly a plane full of asylum seekers to Rwanda for deportation under Britain’s deal with the African nation.

Less than a week into her tenure as home secretary under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Braverman described her task as “ending the invasion of our southern coast.”

Salter’s life is chronicled on the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust’s official website, which notes that she was born to Polish Jews in Belgium just months before Nazi Germany invaded.

The family managed to escape and was put on a boat to America, departing from Lisbon, Portugal in 1943 – only being reunited with her parents in London in 1947.