Diary
Holocaust Memorial Day
27 January, 2012
Today marks the UK's 12th annual Holocaust memorial day with a series of commemorations across the world. It is a unique opportunity to remember the most barbaric genocide in history, allowing us to recall the depths of evil to which men sunk in pursuit of a twisted utopia as well as honouring the righteous souls who saved lives while risking their own. It also serves to remind us of the constant threat of genocide from barbaric forces, and of our need for eternal vigilance. But is this the message being offered today?
My suspicion nearly a decade ago was that the wider the scope given to a Holocaust memorial day, the more its message would become diluted and lost. The more that other agendas became hitched to this day, the less we would focus on the unique barbarity of the Holocaust and the less we might be able to appreciate its true lessons for a modern generation. A number of events in recent years have indeed chosen to stray from the theme of Jewish persecution in World War 2. Their message has been about the importance of combating racism, speaking out against prejudice and learning to live with 'difference'. Anti-semitism has been lumped with Islamophobia and homophobia in order to avoid focusing on the unique tragedy of the Jews. At one event that I attended last year, a Council official proudly declared that she worked for an organisation that eschewed 'racism, sexism, homophobia and ageism'.
But these messages, laudable as they are, arguably apply to all times and all occasions. They are too broad to offer a meaningful perspective on the Holocaust, an event which was, after all, defined by a unique set of social, political and historical circumstances. Indeed the general message about avoiding racism and prejudice ignores the most crucial Holocaust fact of all, namely that this was the Jewish wartime tragedy. The prime focus of any such day must be to pay homage to the 6 million victims of this tragedy, honouring their memory while also remembering the other tragic victims of Nazi persecution, as well as the more modern victims of genocide.
And with this in mind, we can learn the central lesson from this appalling chapter in modern history: that when an uncivilised and powerful regime threatens to destroy an innocent people and has the means to achieve this, such threats must be taken seriously. Whether in Rwanda, East Timor or Cambodia, genocidal fanatics are often frighteningly efficient at murdering the innocent and all too often, the world reacts too late. It has become not so much 'Never again' but 'How many more times?'
The Jewish people have imbibed this lesson - they have had little choice. Faced with Jew hating fanatics in the Iranian regime, Gaza, Lebanon and elsewhere who threaten to repeat Hitler's satanic deeds and who openly celebrate Nazi crimes, Israel has proved itself more than capable of resolute self defence. She knows that only strength, used and asserted responsibly, will deter her uncivilised enemies from repeating mass murder. Quiet frankly, nothing else can prevent the triumph of barbarism.
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