A French politician has caused outrage by suggesting that Adolf Hitler “did not kill enough” Gypsies during World War II. In the latest ferocious attack on Roma, Gilles Bourdouleix, a member of the National Assembly and mayor of the town of Cholet, stirred up memories of the Holocaust during which the Nazis murdered hundreds of thousands of Roma and Sinti because Hitler believed them to be sub-human.
Bourdouleix, who represents a constituency in the Maine and Loire region of west France, was visiting an illegal Roma camp in Cholet when he made the comments. Surrounded by armed police, he was trying to persuade the new arrivals to move on. But as he began to speak to community leaders, some of the Roma standing by began to make Nazi salutes in his direction. Bourdouleix was recorded by a journalist saying: “Like what, Hitler didn’t kill enough?”
Challenged about his comment by some of the Roma men, he then said: “You compared me to Hitler, do you think that’s nice?” Bourdouleix then accused the community of incest, saying: “The other day, they called me a paedophile, even though half of their children are from fathers and grandfathers.”
Jean-Louis Borloo, leader of Bourdouleix’s centrist UDI party, said: “Whatever the real and unacceptable provocation [he] was subjected to, nothing justifies the remarks apparently made by him.” Jean-Christophe Lagarde, the secretary general of the UDI, meanwhile tweeted: “The words of Bourdouleix, even though made in the heat of the moment, were intolerable and incompatible with the values of the UDI.” He added: “The only possible sanction is his expulsion from the UDI, and this should be adopted by the Executive Committee on Wednesday.”