Yesterday’s Holocaust Memorial Day will ever serve as a poignant reminder of the liberation of the infamous Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau. This year is especially significant as it marks 80 years since the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps in Europe. With Holocaust survivors ageing and so ebbing away, this will likely be the last significant anniversary at which they will be present to share their eyewitness testimony – what an immense loss.
As always, this annual memorial is a solemn reminder of the darkest chapter in human history. Whilst it is undoubtedly a time for reflection and sorrow, it is also an opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to ensuring that such horrors never happen again. As we mark this day this year, with antisemitism on the rise once again, a vigilant response is needed.
Recent years have seen a disturbing surge in antisemitic rhetoric and crime across the UK. From January to June 2024, the Community Security Trust recorded reports of 1,978 anti-Jewish hate incidents, increasing from 964 in the first half of 2023. From violence directed towards synagogues to the dissemination of groundless conspiracy theories, persistent intolerances percolate again in our time.
Knowing our nation has a proud history of standing up to such hateful bigotry, it is my determination to play my part in stopping stop such influences from taking root in our country, where what’s right and wrong once seemed more certain. Holocaust Memorial Day is a fortification against forgetting, a chance to affirm and, through education, ensure coming generations understand the end that begins with unbridled hatred. For this reason, in my role as representative of the people of South Holland and the Deepings in Parliament, I signed the Holocaust Educational Trust Book of Commitment, as I do each year, without fail.
This year’s commemoration takes place against the backdrop of a ceasefire in Gaza, along with the release of hostages, both bringing worldwide relief. However, peace there is dependent on a fragile truce, and we are a long way from a permanent settlement.
For Jewish communities worldwide, the Holocaust is not a distant memory; for the fear of what might yet happen again is a perpetual living trauma. Survivors’ stories are a testament to both the depths of human depravity but also to the resilience of the human spirit. Which is why Holocaust Memorial Day matters - not merely a moment of remembrance, but as call for action. It demands that we stand against all forms of cruelty and work determinedly to defeat evil people and what they do.
The rise of antisemitism in our time warns us that this battle is not over - it never is. On Holocaust Memorial Day, we are reminded that the seeds of intolerance, if left unchecked, can grow into unthinkable horrors.
By honouring the memory of the Holocaust victims, reflection can and should furnish resolve. Let us hope and pray that as the fragile ceasefire in Gaza holds and etch in the minds of all kinds of people, what is at stake when humanity forgets the lessons of the past. Through remembrance, let’s all pledge, personally and together, to never forget and never again allow such wickedness to prevail.
