A Tory student group at Warwick University has been forced to apologise after footage from a black-tie dinner showed members singing and dancing to a German marching song used by the Nazis during the Second World War.
Erika, which has since been reclaimed by the far-right, was heard being played at Warwick University Conservative Association’s annual “chairman’s dinner” at Wroxall Abbey last month.
A member of the association approached the DJ to request Erika.
The song was composed in 1938 by Herms Niel, who later served as a trooper in the Nazi Party’s paramilitary wing Sturmabteilung.
Students from the University of Warwick were filmed singing the Nazi song
UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
It has since been adopted by white supremacists, including the New Zealand-born Australian founder of the National Socialist Network Thomas Sewell.
The leaked footage of the Warwick University Conservative Association event showed several members enjoying the song, with one member shouting: “Don’t film.”
Some members reportedly chanted “kill the Hughs”, apparently an attempt to substitute the word “Jews” with the first name of the recently departed association chairman Hugh Herring.
Other members of Warwick University Conservative Association also declared: “Heil the chairman.”
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Warwick University is a Russell Group university
UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
The association told The Sunday Times that it “wholeheartedly condemns the behaviour exhibited during this video and apologises for any offence that has been caused”.
It added that most of those in the video “were completely unaware of the origins and connotations of the song”.
Warwick University is a Russell Group academic institution, ranking seventh in Complete University Guide’s history league table.
However, Warwick University Conservative Association confirmed the person who asked the song to be played would no longer be welcome to its events.
Students at the University of Warwick
UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
A statement also said: “We are committed to ensuring that anyone else we find to have knowingly engaged with the song is no longer welcome at events.”
A spokesman for Warwick University said it was reviewing the “extremely troubling” video, stressing “behaviour like this is reprehensible and we are disappointed to see our students involved”.
The Union of Jewish Students and Warwick JSoc added: “The blatant and unchallenged support for Nazism at the Warwick Conservative Association ‘chairman’s dinner’ is utterly abhorrent. Glorification of the Nazis has no place in our society, especially on campus.
“It is in no way acceptable and must be widely condemned. We expect swift and decisive action from the University of Warwick and the Conservative Party. Actions must have consequences.”
Source Agencies
