This week marked 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. We remembered the six million innocent Jewish men, women, and children who were murdered by the Nazis. We also honoured the strength of the survivors who have courageously shared their testimonies to ensure new generations understand the dangers of extremism and hate. In a world marked by increased antisemitism, remembering the Holocaust remains more important than ever.
However, in the last few days, I have seen the concerning rise of both Holocaust universalisation and inversion, thereby erasing the unique experience of Jews. So let me be clear: the genocide of European Jews by the Nazi regime was unique both in its systematic nature and industrial scale.
In January 1942, Nazi officials met at Berlin-Wannsee to plan the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question”. This followed years of dehumanisation and ghettoisation of Jews across Nazi-occupied Europe. Under Himmler’s decree, Auschwitz was to play a key role in these extermination plans, and the mass transportation of Jews to Auschwitz began that year. 1,1 million people were murdered there. The vast majority, approximately 1 million, were Jews.
Of course, it is important to remember the other victims of the Nazis, including Poles, disabled people, gay people, Roma, and Sinti. It is also right to commemorate more recent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur. However, the genocide against Europe’s Jews remains a unique atrocity that demands distinct recognition, remembrance and education.
It is for this reason that I was so disappointed to hear a GMB news reporter refer to the 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust simply as “6 million people”. Additionally, there was no mention of antisemitism throughout the entire report. I have also seen several statements from Members of Parliament commemorating Holocaust Memorial Day omitting any mention of Jews.
It is welcome that GMB has since apologised for this. However, there appears to be a worrying trend of erasing Jews from a genocide in which 6 million Jewish men, women and children were slaughtered specifically because they were Jews.
JLC-Chair-Claudia-Mendoza-introduces-the-panel. Pic: Yakir Zur
More worrying, however, is the ongoing attempt to draw comparisons between the Holocaust and the current conflict between Israel and Hamas. To compare the systematic murder of 6 million Jews to Israel’s war on Hamas is not only absurd but deeply offensive to survivors and the wider Jewish community.
Many in the community will have seen the Irish President Michael Higgins address a Holocaust Memorial Day event which he was asked not to attend by members of Ireland’s Jewish community. While it was not a surprise that he used his speech to reference the conflict in Gaza, it was shocking to see Jewish members of the audience thrown out of the room for objecting.
I have seen several statements from Members of Parliament commemorating Holocaust Memorial Day omitting any mention of Jews
Only recently, Ireland adopted the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism, which states that equating the State of Israel to Nazi Germany is antisemitic. Higgins’ hijacking of Holocaust Memorial Day makes one wonder why they did.
Even more disgracefully, the Islamic Human Rights Commission called for boycotts of Holocaust Memorial Day events this year unless they included a reference to Gaza. Those who call to boycott Holocaust Memorial Day events, unless they are inverted to associate modern-day Jews with their persecutors, are the clearest example of why we must keep the memory of the Holocaust alive.
This Holocaust Memorial Day I had the privilege of hearing Janine Webber’s testimony at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration event.
Unfortunately, as Holocaust survivors grow older, first-hand survivor accounts are becoming less easily available. Initiatives like the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Ambassador Programme and Testimony 360 do vital work to advance Holocaust education.
I also support the construction of a new Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in Westminster, which will enshrine Holocaust remembrance at the heart of our democracy. In a world of rising antisemitism, where people seek to abuse the memory of the Holocaust, this is more important than ever.
