The Roald Dahl Museum in Great Missenden (a town between London and Oxford) has published a statement in which it acknowledges that the racism of the writer whose legacy it preserves is “undeniable and impossible to erase”, condemns any form of racism, “individual or group” and promises to be “more welcoming, diverse and fair”.
The Dahl Museum was founded in 2001 by Liccy, the writer’s widow, and is owned by The Roald Dahl Story Company Ltd, Dahl’s copyright management company. The same one that in February of this year consented to the rewriting of the author’s books in non-offensive terms.
In this case, the communiqué of contrition refers to the Dahl’s antisemitic rantswho shortly before his death in 1990 spoke of his prejudices against Jews in an interview.
In 2020, his heirs already publicly repudiated those words: “The Dahl family and the Roald Dahl Story Company sincerely apologize for the lasting damage caused by some of Roald Dahl’s statements,” the family wrote then. “Those prejudiced comments are incomprehensible to us and contrast sharply with the man we met and with the values of his stories, which have positively impacted young people for many generations. We hope that, just as he did at his best, at his worst Roald Dahl can help us remember the lasting impact of words.”
This time, the Dahl Museum has insisted on the same line, announcing that its employees will receive training in anti-Semitism and that their exhibition will include information on the dark side of Dahl. And she has expressed her confidence that “the potential of his books” will continue to have a positive impact in the future.