Yesterday, on the 80th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, I welcomed World Jewish Relief’s Royal Patron, King Charles III, to the Jewish Community Centre ( JCC) that World Jewish Relief established and nurtured just a few miles away in Krakow – in response to his personal initiative some 17 years ago.
I had the privilege to express to The King the collective and profound gratitude we feel, not just for his active and engaged patronage, but also for his strong act of moral leadership in insisting on personally making the trip to represent Great Britain and the Commonwealth by standing alongside the very last living survivors of Auschwitz in collective remembrance at the International Holocaust memorial event.
His Majesty’s pitch perfect speech called out the unacceptable resurgence of antisemitism – and championed the tolerance he has worked tirelessly to foster. He meant every word and it is well worth reading or watching.
Experiencing the vital JCC, we were reminded of the incredible resilience of the Jewish people not only to survive, but to rejuvenate. And – recalling the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees we have helped since the war in Ukraine began – our determination to continue to reach out and help those beyond our own community too.
My Dad, Sir Ben Helfgott, first took my brother Michael and me to Auschwitz in 1985 to try and help us understand the enormity of the crimes. I have never forgotten the profound disgust I felt walking alongside the train tracks up to the gates of an enormous factory engineered and built by the Nazis to murder more than one million innocent people.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge meeting Sir Ben Helfgott during the UK Holocaust Memorial Day Commemorative Ceremony at Central Hall in Westminster, which was broadcast live on the BBC. (Photo credit: Chris Jackson/PA Wire via Jewish News)
I couldn’t wait to leave then, and I really really don’t like returning, but 24 hours ago I found myself travelling back in His Majesty’s diplomatic convoy alongside Chief Rabbi Mirvis and Chief Rabbi Schudrich (of Poland).
Four cars speeding along accompanied by police cars front and back; blue lights flashing and sirens blaring all the way.
I was trying to sort out all the mixed up feelings in my head when my fellow passenger, survivor Bernard Offen, said out loud: “I’m thinking, this is not how I arrived here from Hungary in 1944.”
Historians have argued that the passing of Queen Elizabeth marked the end of the “post war era’. Others have written that Hamas’s atrocities on October 7th, 2023 marked the end of the “post Holocaust era”.
Certainly, with ever fewer survivors around to tell their stories, and the 20th century receding into history, it is more challenging but ever more important to keep doing the work Dad dedicated so much of his life to – to remember the victims of the Holocaust; to study and teach the factual History; and to learn its lessons; that the Holocaust is both a unique and particular story of anti-Jewish hatred, and at the same time not just a Jewish story but a universal warning ; that the Jewish people are also entitled to our own state in our ancient homeland, and that we are all obligated to ensure Israel’s security; and that decency, tolerance , democracy, justice, checks and balances and The Rule of Law, are indispensable to our freedom and indeed to our life. We must stand up for these values and for each other in every single society.
It’s eighteen months since Dad passed away and perhaps unsurprisingly, in the last few days I have felt his – very welcome – voice in my head, encouraging us all to play our part in HM’s words – “Remembering what took place… and those who were so cruelly murdered is a duty; a sacred duty that must be protected.”
Dad would be proud of all we are continuing to do – and especially proud of his remarkable sister – my extraordinary aunty, Mala Tribich, 94 – who I stood alongside at the Auschwitz Memorial yesterday. As a child in Bergen-Belsen, she witnessed hell in its truest form, and still she travels the world telling people her story and ensuring we do not forget the past including this week in Edinburgh.
Mala Tribich and Maurice Helfgott at Auschwitz
And while Mala and I were in Poland, my Mum and brother Nathan were at the Guildhall in London as part of the UK’s annual Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration. With the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Prime Minister and many others emphasising the importance of ensuring that hatred and division must not win.
Antisemitism did not begin with the Nazis, nor end with their defeat in 1945. It has been a pernicious feature for more than a thousand years, and in the last 15 months, since the atrocities of October 7th, there is no doubt that it is reemerging in deeply troubling ways across the world.
There is much for all of us to still do but King Charles’ participation yesterday gave me hope and hugging my 94-year-old Aunt at Auschwitz 80 years after it was liberated, gave me strength.
