‘You give me hope’ Chief Rabbi tells young HET ambassadors

He said he felt “heartened” to be among the ambassadors and was “full of hope, knowing that you, together with so many others, are absolutely determined to learn the lessons of history and to ensure that, together, we will be those upstanders”.

Ambassadors were joined by Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis and Lord Browne (to his right), head of the HET Ambassadors Programme (Photo: HET)[Missing Credit]

Other speakers included Holocaust survivor Uri Winterstein BEM and author David Bolchover, who led a plenary session based on his new book Digging Deep: Unearthing the Stories of Eleven Murdered Jewish Footballing Greats.

The ambassadors – many of whom are not Jewish – have all taken part in the trust’s Lessons from Auschwitz project, recently embarking on a sobering visit to the death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The idea is that having witnessed firsthand where around one million Jews were murdered, they then commit to sharing what they learnt with other young people to encourage them to also become “upstanders” against antisemitism.

Ambassadors taking part in one of the educational workshops at the HET Ambassador Conference (Photo: HET)[Missing Credit]

Ella, an HET regional ambassador for Wales, said: “As the Holocaust moves from living memory into history, I think it is such an important time for HET ambassadors, and all young people, to push more Holocaust awareness.

“We are the way to keep the memory alive and stop it from happening again. Being an upstander means not turning a blind eye. You have to get out of your comfort zone and make sure you're standing with people, even if it means taking a stand."

A range of historical and topical workshops took place throughout the day, exploring both the Holocaust and how it remains relevant in contemporary society.

A panel looking at allyship and what it means to stand up against today’s antisemitism was held with the Very Reverend Dr Mark Oakley, HET ambassador Evie Robinson from the Antisemitism Policy Trust, Dave Rich from the Community Security Trust, and Leah Preston from the Union of Jewish Students.

(L-R) Dr Mark Oakley, Dean of Southwark Cathedral; Leah Preston from UJS; HET ambassador Evie Robinson from the Antisemitism Policy Trust; Dave Rich from CST (Photo: HET)[Missing Credit]

Karen Pollock, HET chief executive, said: “We do not ask our young people to change the world. We ask them to be upstanders, not bystanders: to challenge the joke others laugh at, to report antisemitism online instead of scrolling past, to stand by a friend who feels unsafe.

“Hatred spreads one step at a time, and courage can spread the same way. Our ambassadors leave determined to confront antisemitism wherever they find it.”

The HET Lessons from Auschwitz Project has been running since 1999, giving tens of thousands of post-16 students and teachers the opportunity to visit the former Nazi concentration and death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau as part of an educational programme. There is now a huge network of HET ambassadors, including 100 regional ambassadors, who speak to schools and their local community about their experience.

Since 2006, HET has received government funding for the project, which operates throughout the UK.