Boris Johnson / Instagram.com
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and senior Conservatives joined nationwide commemorations to mark Holocaust Memorial Day this week.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson sat down with Holocaust survivor Manfred Goldberg BEM and heard his stories of life in Nazi concentration camps. In the video of the meeting, released by the Jewish Chronical, the Prime Minister stated that “we have to remember” survivor testimonies, to keep the horrors in our collective memory to make sure that it does not happen again.
Cabinet Ministers joined numerous Conservative MPs and MPs from across the political divide in signing the Holocaust Educational Trust’s (HET) Book of Commitment. Throughout the Holocaust Memorial Day Debate in the House of Commons on Thursday, Conservative MPs including Robert Jenrick, Andrew Percy, Nicola Richards and Gagan Mohindra shared Holocaust survivors’ testimonies and spoke out against the rise in Antisemitism in the UK.
Holocaust Memorial Day ended with the ‘Light The Darkness’ campaign which the Prime Minister, and several other Conservative MPs took part in – by lighting a candle in their window and then sharing it on social media.
On Tuesday, the FCDO held a joint virtual reception with the Israeli Embassy to “remember and honour” the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust. During Foreign Secretary Liz Truss’s speech she explained the ways that the government are “keeping the flame of memory burning bright”, particularly by holding the chair for the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance in 2024 and by 2025, opening a new National Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in central London.
CFI Parliamentary Chairman (Lords) and UK Special Envoy for post Holocaust Issues Rt. Hon. The Lord Pickles emphasised: “We must resolve that ‘never again’ does not become the empty echo of past good intentions”.
Ambassador of Israel H.E. Tzipi Hotovely said in her address: “It is our duty to hear witness to the accounts of Holocaust survivors and ensure their stories never stop being told”.
The UK government also announced that, for the first time, all its records related to the Holocaust will be made available to the public for research and study purposes. This will include the collection of 787 books in the St. Lambrecht collection that was once looted by the Nazis. The FCDO plans to move them to London’s Wiener Holocaust Library, Dr Toby Simpson the Director of the library explains that “it is crucial to ensure that the past is not ignored or locked away, but confronted and used as a tool for building a better future.” Read more here.
On Wednesday, Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi hosted a virtual summit to tackle antisemitic abuse on university campuses with vice chancellors, university reps and Jewish rights groups. Minister for Higher and Further Education Michelle Donelan MP also called on universities to sign up to the IHRA definition of antisemitism as “without a universal recognition of antisemitism, we cannot hope for its abolition”. Read more here.
HRH Prince Charles also marked Holocaust Memorial Day by unveiling the seven portraits of Holocaust survivors he had commissioned for the Royal Collection- the artworks feature Helen Aronson, Lily Ebert, Manfred Goldberg, Arek Hersh, Anita Lasker Wallfisch, Rachel Levy and Zigi Shipper. The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall spent time on Monday separately chatting to each of the survivors and their families whilst admiring the artwork. Prince Charles, who is patron of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, told Auschwitz survivor Zigi that he was “so pleased this has been possible. I was so worried. I wanted to capture as many of you as we could. To remember what you have been through.”
