In the aftermath of the murder of two Jews attending synagogue in this country – which itself has come in the context of a tidal wave of anti-Jewish hatred – it is time to ask what the point of Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) should be in modern Britain.
Of course, the simple answer to this question is that it is a day to remember and commemorate the Holocaust. To learn the lessons of the past so that such evils can never be repeated again. But is there really an agreed understanding of those lessons and what exactly are we specifying should not reoccur?
At its most fundamental, HMD must be a day to remember the victims of the Holocaust, the six million Jewish men, women and children who were systematically murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators. While we still have living survivors able to tell their stories, we should ensure that as many people as possible have the opportunity to hear their testimonies before it is too late. However, HMD can’t just be about looking into the past, at a time of rising antisemitism, it must also be a call to action today.
So, what are the lessons from the Holocaust? Each year, there are two points in the calendar which commemorate the Holocaust. The secular HMD takes place on January 27 on the anniversary of the Soviet Red Army’s liberation of Auschwitz. The Jewish and Israeli calendars mark Yom HaShoah instead on the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. HMD tells the story of Jews being liberated by others, Yom HaShoah tells the story of Jews taking our liberation into our own hands.
In a way, HMD should be an empowering moment for the Jewish community because it really isn’t a Jewish event at all. Across the country, including in areas with small or no Jewish communities, councils, schools, and other groups use this one day a year to show their commitment to the lessons of the Holocaust. A colleague who attends multiple HMD events across the North of England said to me this week that in some places it is done well and in others it isn’t; events where there is a true reflection of the history and an acknowledgement of the challenges faced today, and those where it is unfortunately just a box-ticking exercise.
That same colleague took the decision to walk out of an HMD event in Bolton as the Deputy Leader of the Council used their speech to opine on the conflict in Gaza. Another colleague sent me a photo outside the event he attended in Sheffield, where women gathered protesting the event, supposedly in support of Palestinians. The lessons of the Holocaust clearly aren’t being learnt if that is how it is being commemorated.
Last year, ITV had to apologise for neglecting to reference Jews in their HMD bulletins. This year, the BBC made the same error. Social media posts and marketing materials by various figures, brands and organisers also neglected to include any reference to Jews.
The civic nature of HMD also presents a unique issue in that many events are attended by those who have either participated in antisemitism themselves or enable it through their silence during the rest of the year. A politician cannot simply be absolved from such behaviour by listening to a school choir and posting a picture of a candle on social media.
There is a danger of focussing on the negative. The Holocaust Educational Trust and the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust do fantastic work to ensure that these mistakes are not made, and that meaningful commemorations do take place. Yesterday, the King and Queen hosted survivors and their families at Buckingham Palace, and a survivor attended the cabinet meeting in Downing Street where she told our most senior politicians that “remembering the past is no longer enough”.
So, what is the point of Holocaust Memorial Day? Well, for the most part it really is an important opportunity to talk about antisemitism as a nation. In the vast majority of cases, it is observed meaningfully and keeps the memory of the Holocaust alive. However, we need to be more robust in calling out the exceptions. As we lose the last generation of survivors, we fail their legacy when we allow some HMD commemorations to become part of the problem and not the solution.
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