Three domestic Holocaust charities have defended plans for a national memorial centre in central London, pouring cold water on new objections raised by a cross-party group of Jewish peers.
The chief executives the Holocaust Education Trust (HET), the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT) and the National Holocaust Centre hit back at the claim that its proposed location — adjacent to Parliament — conveys an impression of national guilt.
In the strongest criticism of the project so far from within the Jewish community, the peers argued in a letter to the Times that the location and design “evokes neither the Holocaust nor Jewish history, and the risk is that is purpose will not be obvious to passers-by and it will not be treated with appropriate respect”.
It was signed by Lord Sterling, the President of AJEX; Baroness Deech, who has been active in Holocaust restitution; Lord Carlile, the former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation; Conservative peer Lord Grade, Labour peer Lord Haskel; Lord Mitchell, who resigned from the Labour Party over antisemitism; Lib Dem peer Lord Palmer; and Lord Turnberg, former president of the Royal College of Physicians.
Karen Pollock, chief executive of HET, said: “Alongside excellent Holocaust education initiatives already being delivered across the country, this memorial will enable a much wider audience to learn about the past, Britain’s relationship with the Holocaust and its contemporary relevance today.”
Olivia Marks-Woldman, the chief executive of the HMDT, added that the project will be a “fitting tribute” to victims of the Shoah, while Phil Lyons, chief executive of the National Holocaust Centre, in Nottinghamshire, said the site is “hugely appropriate”.
Some suspect that opposition to the bid is motivated by “NIMBY-ism”. In August, the Times reported that local residents and environmentalists warned that Victoria Tower Gardens, one of the smallest of the Royal Parks, would be “all but obliterated” by the £50 million project.
Worthing West MP Sir Peter Bottomley questioned how Victoria Park Gardens came to be chosen as the location, having been omitted from a September 2015 report by the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation (UKHMF).
Sir Peter told the JC the nearby Imperial War Museum (IWM), in Lambeth, which has commissioned a £33.5 million expansion to its own existing Holocaust exhibition, would be a more suitable site.
He said: “Nobody outside the foundation knew how the Victoria Tower Gardens had been chosen. There was no explanation of how this project met the specifications set out in the report relating to easy access and security.
“There was also no suggestion of how the running costs will be met. Virtually nothing set out in the specifications has been met by these plans.
“I would ask the government to look at how the current proposal matches what was set out, and how the Imperial War Museum would also match the specifications.”
Sir Peter owns a home near to the proposed Victoria Tower Gardens, although he claimed his interest in the Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre is motivated by his Jewish ancestry.
The IWM, which attracts more than 600,000 visitors a year to its Holocaust exhibition, also urged a re-think of the project, warning it would “very much divide the public offer on learning about the Holocaust.”
The UKHMF defended the Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre project, saying it will "remind us all that a central role of democracy is to encourage tolerance between of ethnic, religious and racial differences."
A UKHMF spokesman said: "No location in Britain is more suitable for the Memorial than Victoria Tower Gardens, alongside Parliament and amidst prominent memorials commemorating the struggle against slavery, inequality and injustice.
"The plans we exhibited to local residents in September retain 93% of the open space. We will enhance the park through improved, more accessible pathways and drainage as well as clearer views of the river Thames."
