University uses Rommel quote to motivate staff and students
A UNIVERSITY has apologised after a quote from a Nazi general was used to motivate staff and students.
The University of Exeter’s careers service sent out an email which included a quote from Erwin Rommel, the Second World War general known as the Desert Fox.
Rommel was one of the most senior members of the German army during the Second World War.
The email included the quote: “One cannot permit unique opportunities to slip by for the sake of trifles.”
Rommel commanded the Afrika Korps in North Africa. After the Allied victory in North Africa, he went to Normandy to command defences there. He had also fought on the Western Front in the First World War.
Rommel died after he was implicated in a plot to kill Hitler, and there remains debate among historians over how closely he supported the Nazi regime.
A spokesman from Exeter University said: “This was a genuine error and in no way intentional, however we apologise unreservedly for any offence it may have caused, and have put additional processes in place to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”
The spokesman said the University of Exeter staff member who selected the quote did not know who Rommel was, and the information was taken from a free-to-use website.
The University of Exeter has been criticised in the past, with the Nazi swastika found carved in halls in Exeter, while last year students went out wearing the symbol to a fancy dress event.
Earlier this year the university was thrust into the national spotlight after students from a law society shared racist and sexist messages in a Whatsapp group, leading to multiple investigations and expulsions.
Dame Emma Thompson, while giving a speech at the university, said the leader of the BNP would “love it here” after her adopted Rwandan son’s experiences on campus.