By
Richard Wood
Eight years ago, I saw the darkest side of man when I travelled to Auschwitz with a group of non-Jews to learn about the Holocaust.
This was a trip in which police officers, ambulance men and others in a similar position of responsibility were taken to the infamous concentration camp in a bid to understand the sensitivity and history about the Jews, what they went through and how we can work together with them.
I first became involved with the Jewish community when I worked for a year in Tottenham, North London, as Deputy Borough Commander. Having established good links with the locals, I was particularly impressed when I visited the Hatzola Voluntary Ambulance Service. This service is run totally by the Jewish community, for the Jewish community, but is inclusive to anyone who, for example, may have been involved in an accident - they would never turn a non-Jew down.
Up to this point, I hadn't had a lot of dealings with Jewish people but once involved in the area, I established good links with the locals and because of this, became very interested in the history of the Jews. It was not difficult to understand that you don't have to look back too far to see the misery and suffering that these people went through because of the Holocaust.
Through Chuni Kahan who arranges trips to the Auschwitz concentration camp, I had the privilege of visiting as part of an educational trust. This programme of visits is aimed at local politicians, police workers, ambulance drivers and other emergency service workers to try and help educate people about the impact of the Holocaust.
The experience was extraordinary and made me realise that every non-Jew in a position of responsibility should visit this terrible place. I was with 30 or so people and when we arrived at Auschwitz the atmosphere felt so cold, totally surreal. One has seen pictures, films and documentaries on TV yet nothing prepares you for when you are within the camp seeing history that has been perfectly preserved for so many years.
I felt an overwhelming sense of sadness, to think that mankind could have treated these people as despicably as they did. Through the trip, I could completely understand the sensitivity and history that there is about the Jews and why we need a better understanding in these difficult times.
Yet something that amazed me was that the guides and Jewish visitors present who most probably had relatives who suffered so much under the Nazis and in, most cases died in the camp, were not eaten up by bitterness. They were doing the tours as something positive - to educate and make sure that these horrors must never happen again yet at the same time that we should never forget that they did.
The visit moved me profoundly which is interesting because as a policeman one is pretty battle-hardened. But I was both shocked and desperately saddened that human beings could behave in such a way. Taking away what I learned from Auschwitz made me more passionate than ever about hate crime, trying to stop it happening, reassuring and helping unfortunate victims who get bullied or picked on simply because they are a different race or nationality. I came away thinking a lot about this, how we must all learn from it, and remember that tolerance is so important particularly in a multicultural city like London.
Every non-Jew who, like myself, is in a position of responsibility should visit Auschwitz and learn from this disgraceful time in our history.
The writer is Commander of Lambeth Borough Police.
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