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The Story

Danny Finkelstein: How the world’s antisemites turned on me - The Saturday Story

The Story

The Times

Investigative Reporting, Daily News, Current Affairs, Uk News, News, Politics, Global News, News Analysis, In-depth Journalism, Long-form Audio, Audio Storytelling, Exclusive Interviews, Daily News Podcast

3.91.6K Ratings

🗓️ 14 February 2026

⏱️ 22 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Danny Finkelstein's mother survived Bergen-Belsen. When far-right activist Nick Fuentes began spreading antisemitic, pro-Hitler ideas, our writer challenged him. He wasn’t ready for the onslaught that ensued.


This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestory


Ready by: Danny Finkelstein, Times columnist, author and Conservative peer.

Producer: Dave Creasey.

We want to hear from you - email: thestory@thetimes.com

Read more: Daniel Finkelstein: How the world’s antisemites turned on me

Clips: TalkTV, CBS.

Photo: Tom Jackson for The Times Magazine.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

From The Times and the Sunday Times, this is the story on Saturday.

0:05.5

I'm Manving Rana.

0:10.4

This week, we have an incredibly powerful story, read by the Times columnist, author and conservative peer, Danny Finkelstein.

0:25.1

He recently wrote a piece about the tidal wave of anti-Semitic abuse that he's received

0:30.9

in the wake of an encounter with a far-right activist Nick Fuentes.

0:36.5

Danny's mother survived Bergen-Belsen. So when Fuentes began

0:41.5

spreading pro-Hitler ideas, Danny decided to publicly challenge him. But he hadn't expected

0:49.1

the onslaught that ensued. With a poll this week showing 2025 had the second highest yearly total

0:58.6

ever for anti-Semitic incidents, we asked Danny to read his piece, which you'll find in this

1:05.6

weekend's magazine. Here he is.

1:20.8

About a year before my mother died, she came to my son's school to give a talk about her life.

1:26.3

She was already pretty frail by then and needed me to take her there in a wheelchair. The pupils were totally gripped,

1:30.8

but her powers, that lovely, open, captivating way she had of telling a story, were clearly on the wane.

1:52.4

And as I listened, I realised I was seeing the last of all the many talks she had given.

1:55.7

I understood a little of what that might mean for me.

1:57.8

I knew my duty.

2:00.1

I'd have to tell her story for her. And I set to work on a book about her

2:03.5

experiences and those of my father.

2:12.4

Hitler-Stalin, mum and dad, told of my mother's near- death, an ultimate survival in Bergen-Belsen.

2:21.0

Of the death from starvation and disease of my grandmother, and of my family and their

2:25.7

neighbours who died in the gas chambers. It followed my father and grandparents to a Siberian

2:32.1

Gulag in slave labour on a state collective farm. It followed my

...

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