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Observer Newspaper: World’s biggest ship, the Pieter Schelte, sparks Nazi outrage on arrival in Rotterdam

Screen Shot 2015-01-25 at 19.40.54
Screen Shot 2015-01-11 at 16.39.25FROM AN ARTICLE BY ED VULLIAMY PUBLISHED BY THEGUARDIAN.COM AND THE OBSERVER NEWSPAPER, SUNDAY 25 JAN 2015 UNDER THE HEADLINE:

World’s biggest ship, the Pieter Schelte, sparks Nazi outrage on arrival in Rotterdam

Extracts

Leaders of Jewish communities and Holocaust memorial groups in Britain and the Netherlands have reacted with rage and despair at the arrival in Rotterdam of the world’s biggest ship, the Pieter Schelte, named after a Dutch officer in the Waffen-SS.

The vice-president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Jonathan Arkush, said: “Naming such a ship after an SS officer who was convicted of war crimes is an insult to the millions who suffered and died at the hands of the Nazis. We urge the ship’s owners to reconsider and rename the ship after someone more appropriate.”

Cidi cited a petition organised by a British-based website monitoring the affairs of Royal Dutch Shell, the energy group, which trumpeted the ship’s arrival in Rotterdam and which Allseas confirms in a press release to be among its early clients. The site, Royaldutchshellplc.com, is run by John Donovan, a former Shell contractor who is completing a book on the history of the company’s relations with the Third Reich. His petition reads: “Please change the ship’s name so that it no longer sails under the name of a former Waffen-SS officer jailed for war crimes.”

Donovan told the Observer: “This public homage by Edward Heerema as the wealthy son of a Nazi war criminal is an affront to the relatives of tens of millions of souls who perished at the hands of Nazi Germany. The name is unacceptable.”

Donovan has unearthed an extraordinary case in the high court in London last summer, brought after Allseas fell victim to a fraud scam.

The judge, Mr Justice Peter Smith, asked a witness about Pieter Schelte Heerema: “He was in the Dutch SS, was he?” “No, he was in the German SS,” came the reply. Counsel then asked: “And then he left the SS, you say, in the middle of the war?” Whereupon the judge remarked: “I didn’t know you could leave the SS. I thought it was a job for life.”

FULL ARTICLE ONLINE

PDF OF ARTICLE PUBLISHED SUNDAY 25 JAN 2015

The photograph shown above right, which is not featured in the Guardian article, is of Mr Edward Heerema, the sole owner of Allseas, wearing a safety helmet. 

RELATED

World’s greatest ship, the Pieter Schelte, sparks Nazi outrage on arrival in Rotterdam: NATIONAL REVIEW: 24 Jan 2015

One of the world’s largest ships named after SS officer: Times of Israel: 25 Jan 2015

Jewish leaders outraged over Dutch ship named after SS officer: HAARETZ: 24 Jan 2015

Outrage as it emerges world’s largest ship Pieter Schelte is named after SS Nazi war criminal: DAILY MAIL – MAILOnline: 25 Jan 2015

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John Donovan, Co-Founder of Royal Dutch Shell Plc.com

John Donovan, Co-Founder of Royal Dutch Shell Plc.com

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

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