France: Marine Le Pen’s replacement as National Front leader questions use of Holocaust poison

Jean-François Jalkh has now been replaced by Steeve Bribois, the FN mayor of Hénin-Beaumont.

Via JTA:

The interim successor to Marine Le Pen at the helm of France’s far-right National Front party reportedly claimed in 2000 that the poison used by Nazis to kill Jews in the Holocaust could not have been applied in reality.

Jean-François Jalkh (pictured), who took Le Pen’s place this week as president on an interim basis while she campaigns for president ahead of the runoff vote May 7, made the remark about Zyklon B in an interview in which he advocated a distinction between “serious” Holocaust deniers and ones who deny the Holocaust or aspects of it as a provocation.

“Personally, I think that it is impossible from a technical point of view to use for mass extermination,” he said of the use of Zyklon B in gas chambers. “Why? Because it takes several days for a place where Zyklon B was used to be decontaminated.”

Laurent de Boissieu, a journalist for the La Croix Christian daily, found the interview while researching Jalkh, a relatively unknown figure within the National Front. They were republished in the Le Monde newspaper.

Jalkh told Le Monde that he did not recall the interview.

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