Lord Pickles has suggested it would be “quite wrong” for a future Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre built near to Parliament to focus on other genocides aside from the Shoah during the latest debate on the project.
Addressing suggestions that the long-awaited project could see genocides in Rwanda, Bosnia, Cambodia and Darfur also addressed, Pickles told the Lords Grand Committee:”I take exception to the idea that somehow the memorial is going to deal with anything other than the Shoah.
“That is quite wrong. There is not going to be a room on Rwanda or anything else.”
The Tory peer, who announced this week he was standing down from his role as UK envoy on post-Holocaust affairs to concentrate on his efforts, alongside Ed Balls, to get the Holocaust Memorial built in Victoria Tower Gardens, added:” This will be an important institution in the fight against antisemitism; it will be part of an international body that will fight antisemitism.
“It is likely to be the most visited museum anywhere in the world. It will act as a way of meeting new technologies and artificial intelligence and of finding roles that we actively take on; it will not be a passive museum.
“I understand and regret the disruption, but do not pretend that this is not focused on the Shoah, because it almost certainly is.”
Pickles also raised concerns about continued attempts to “use the Holocaust as a way of rinsing history.”
“The house of faiths in Hungary attempted to show Hungary being a victim of the Nazis, when in fact it was fully co-operative and collaborate,” said the peer, during Thursday’s Grand Committee debate.
” Look at the defamation laws in Poland, where it is a criminal offence to suggest that Poles were involved in the persecution of Jews.
“All these countries are really in favour of celebrating the blessed among the nations; they will talk forever about the people who saved Jews, and we should remember them and regard them with honour.
“But we should understand that those people were great exceptions to the rule.
“The majority of the population did nothing—they either collaborated or just looked the other way. Austria can no longer call itself the first victim of the Nazis. France has now admitted its culpability. Italy has admitted its culpability in the Holocaust.”
Lord Tugendhat, the former Tory minister, spoke in support of Pickles saying:”One of the most important aspects of the Holocaust, which one must understand, is that it involved ordinary people—ordinary Frenchmen, Lithuanians and Poles—participating in the extermination of their fellow citizens.
“Crimes by people against their own nationals became one of the most outstanding features of the Holocaust.
“Therefore, it is very important to convey in this memorial the fact that, if you have a Government who have no limits on their powers and what they can do and who are pursuing evil policy, that evil will contaminate and involve many others.”
Lord Khan, the Faith Minister
Speaking for the government Lord Khan, the Faith Minister continued to back the building of the controversial project in the site close to Parliament, despite concerns raised by several peers.
He said:”I can give noble Lords absolute confidence that the many Holocaust survivors I have spoken to are looking forward to seeing this Holocaust memorial built.
“It might not be so for everybody, but I speak in the context of my numerous heartfelt conversations with Holocaust survivors.
“My point stands: few Holocaust survivors, perhaps none at all, would live to see the project completed.
“In those lost years, how many more opportunities to spread and deepen understanding of the Holocaust will be missed?
“How many millions of visitors will pass through Westminster who might otherwise have been prompted to reflect on the murder of 6 million Jews? How many visitors, young and old, will be denied the opportunity to learn objective facts on a topic of such profound importance?
“We should not be creating new hurdles, setting new tests or extending legitimate processes.
Our aim should be to build a Holocaust memorial and learning centre of which the nation can be proud, and to do it soon. “
