'We've got the wrong attitude. It's disappointing what's turned out'

Jewish D-Day veteran appalled by rise in antisemitism

- GILES SHELDRICK Chief Reporter

SECOND World War hero Mervyn Kersh, who has been given a New Year honour, has voiced his fears over soaring antisemitism and says leaders have not learned the lessons from appeasement.

And the Jewish D-Day campaign soldier, who landed in Nazi-held France in 1944 and helped liberate Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, says Britain must be strong against the threat from Vladimir Putin.

In a warning to our leaders, the 101-year-old said he can see chilling similarities between today and when war erupted in 1939.

Mervyn, awarded a British Empire Medal, said: "What is disappointing is the antisemitism that I see everywhere, hear everywhere, or read.

"There'd be no need for a war now, we've got the wrong attitude. It's disappointing what's turned out now."

Mervyn, from Cockfosters, North London, landed as part of the Allied fight to capture occupied France, serving with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps.

His role in the invasion was to help ensure a steady flow of vehicles to supply British Army units battling into Germany.

But it was at the Bergen-Belsen concentration amp that he witnessed the horrors of war and which gives him a sense of foreboding given the hate swirling today.

British troops liberated it on April 15, 1945, finding tens of thousands of starving prisoners and thousands of unburied bodies.

It is estimated 70,000 Jews died there.

He said: "I could almost say [going to war] was a crusade, if that's not the wrong word. To me, this had a purpose.

"It wasn't just a game or passing the time. It was to put the Germans out of action as long as possible. We knew what was happening. We didn't know the extent of it, but we knew they had gas chambers.