I’ve just returned to London from Krakow where I attended events marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz Birkenau. As with any visit to the camps and environs one experiences a welter of thoughts and emotions in real time.
Whether winter or spring there is always a chill in the air which engenders a numbness of the soul. What happened in the camps and across occupied Europe defies comprehension. The grief, sorrow and anger are one thing, the sense of loss almost unbearable. How did it happen? What have we lost? What could have been?
At an individual level we think of the barbarity, cruelty and pain experienced by each victim. But it also has the power to provoke fear and anxiety amongst us in 2025. It’s like peering over the ledge and into the abyss.
It’s still there.
The backdrop to this international gathering was distinctive from the last one five years ago. The shadow of international conflict and instability were ever present. The war in Ukraine ensured the Russians were absent even though the camps were liberated by the Soviet army.
It was notable that President Zelenskyy received spontaneous applause as he lit his memorial candle at the ceremony.
Adrian Cohen (second right) at a Board of Deputies plenary session
Of course, the war with Hamas and the terrible events of 7th October and the wave of antisemitism which has followed provided a touchstone in most of the speeches, whether at the dinner hosted for the 17 survivors present at it and among the speakers at the ceremony itself, not least as expressed by the survivors themselves so cogently. Some bared their tattoos. Everywhere one turns the complexity of organised human existence makes itself felt.
There was a sense of mortality too. The likelihood of there being survivors present at the next gathering, presumably in five years’ time, is small. The narrative of the Polish government downplaying Polish complicity in the events pre, during or post Holocaust came through in the language of some of the guides and exhibitions.
The grief, sorrow and anger are one thing, the sense of loss almost unbearable. How did it happen? What have we lost? What could have been?
Conversely, I attended an atonement by representatives of Bayer and BASF (formerly part of IG Farben) in Monowitz or Auschwitz 3 site of slave labour camp and the industrial complex.
I had a brief opportunity to review the Book of Names and read the names of some of my extended family members. The bleakness of it all, what can one say? Being with members of communities from all over the world at least gave a sense of solidarity, from large and small communities, from Serbia, Moldova, Norway, Canada, South Africa, Tunisia and as far afield as Mauritius and of course Israel, to pick a random sample. Jews are both gathered and scattered and yet share the same hopes and fears. But it is also a testament to the tenacity and bravery of our very tiny and ingenious people.
Never again isn’t just a sentiment. It remains a call to action; one we are obliged to answer.
Adrian Cohen is Senior Vice President of the Board of Deputies
