Spades in the ground for Holocaust Memorial Centre before Burnham leaves Downing Street, pledges Ed Balls

“The fact that our parliament has passed a law to make it happen; that's a great statement of determination, and this exhibition is a real statement of intent.”

With a commitment to establish a Holocaust memorial and learning centre first made in 2015, Balls acknowledged that it was “frustrating” that the project had taken so long to reach this stage, and noted he and Pickles were into their second decade working on the memorial.

“We’re going to get there,” he said, describing himself and Pickles as a “determined partnership – do not underestimate us”.

“The ground will be dug into under the Burnham premiership. That is my confident view,” he added, and Pickles agreed.

The exhibition includes display panels asking “how did the British public react to the mass murder of Jews?” and “what did Britain know about the Holocaust?”. They also feature reports from national and local newspapers about the persecution and murder of Jews in Europe.

Balls continued: “We can celebrate the Kindertransport and the liberation, and what that meant for the children who came into our country while also lamenting the fact that the British government decided that only the children will come, and that was a reflection of the politics of the time.

“I think it's very important when people come to the memorial... that you see both sides of that story.”

Pickles added: “If you don’t understand how easy it is to shift into indifference, then you don’t understand the full horror and the full importance of the Holocaust.

“We’re not in a post-Holocaust world; people still want to diminish it.

“For many years, a comforting myth has persisted that Britain only discovered the full horror of the Holocaust when British troops entered Bergen-Belsen in April 1945. The truth is more uncomfortable.

“Long before liberation, reports of persecution and mass murder were reaching Britain. Britain knew. The question is what was done with that knowledge.”

Display cabinets ask what Britain knew about the Holocaust (the JC)[Missing Credit]

Martin Winstone, the project historian, told those gathered at the launch that the fact Britain knew about the Holocaust while it was taking place was well established among historians, but less well recognised in the national memory.

What was less widely understood, he went on, “is how extensive it was – the number of reports – but also the range of press that covered this. It was in the nationals but also every local newspaper”.

The JC reported extensively on the death camps throughout the war, including a front page report on the liberation of Auschwitz in February 1945.

Also less known, Winstone said, was the level of detail available to the British public about the Nazis’ campaign of extermination.

“There are examples of press reports which clearly understand [the Holocaust] there’s a Daily Telegraph... that says European Jewry are facing extermination.”

“It is clear there is a comprehension that this is not like the many other terrible crimes of the Nazis... but there is something distinctive about this crime which is to kill every single [Jewish] person.”

He added that by the end of 1942, “this was all over the British press,” with much of the information coming from the Polish government-in-exile in London.

Balls said the exhibition and the eventual memorial in Westminster would be a “powerful reminder that Parliaments can make mistakes” and ensure that “every generation in Parliament has to understand its responsibilities”.

The centre’s location beside parliament is expected to put it in the path of some of the roughly 800,000 tourists who visit the Palace of Westminster each year.

Pickles said: “This centre might be one of the smallest memorials, but it will carry a very big punch.”

Historian Robert Williams, chief executive of the USC Shoah Foundation, also addressed the launch, saying the location of the memorial would allow it to reach an exceptionally large and diverse audience.

“Few capitals have the infrastructure and the reputation to reach global audiences. No learning centre or museum will reach as large and diverse an audience as it will,” he said, adding that this “Sends a clear message that this history matters”.

The exhibition will travel to the legislatures of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as Manchester, as part of an effort to emphasise the national character of the project.

Organisers said the exhibition marked an “important milestone in the development of the national project, which will establish a Holocaust memorial and learning centre beside the Palace of Westminster, ensuring future generations understand the history of the Holocaust, its consequences, and its enduring relevance today.”

The co-chairs also honoured the memory of Sir Ben Helfgott MBE, the Holocaust survivor, educator and member of the original Holocaust Commission.

Reflecting on Helfgott’s lifelong commitment to remembrance and education, Pickles said: “Sir Ben understood that remembrance is not simply about looking back. It is about what we choose to carry forward.

“In 50 years’ time, when young people from every background want to understand what happened and why it matters, that memory must still be vivid, truthful and meaningful.”

Balls said: “As Sir Ben’s family have said so powerfully, the time has more than come. The time is now.”

And Pickles stressed that the memorial and learning centre would serve the whole country and highlighted the growing challenge posed by antisemitism.

“This is a national project. It does not belong to one city, one institution or one generation. It belongs to the whole country.”