The government must rethink its Shoah memorial

Seventy-eight years ago saw the culmination of 2,000 years of persecution of Jews. Having been driven out of Judea/Israel they wandered the world in search of safe havens. Eventually in the aftermath of the Holocaust, it was recognised that the persecution could not be eradicated and that Jews needed a place of their own where they could live in relative safety. Israel was re-created.

In 2015, the Prime Minister’s Commission recommended that there should be a memorial to the Holocaust coupled with a large learning centre.The subsequent choice of the small Victoria Tower Gardens in which to place a so-called Holocaust memorial and underground learning centre at a cost of up to £150m has led to the abandonment of this ambition. The project has become ideological and political. The reason the promoters want the learning centre to be in Westminster is to signal that all minorities are protected from genocide by “British Values” and, in particular, by being close to the bastion of democracy (conveniently forgetting that western democracy has given no such protection against antisemitism).

The chosen location is ironic, given that every week hate marches go unhindered, even in Westminster, students are intimidated and antisemitism grows unchecked, while this government takes an anti-Israel stance.

To insist on placing a memorial near Parliament is to make light of the fears of the Jewish community for their safety now and in the future. It would serve only as a focus for anti-Israel and antisemitic protest and a convenient backdrop for politicians establishing their “non-racist” credentials.

There are already hundreds of Holocaust memorials around the world; Britain has six, as well as 21 Learning Centres. Despite compulsory Holocaust education in schools and the many Holocaust remembrance events every year in the UK, antisemitism is on the rise. This brings into question the effect and purpose of those memorials and remembrance days. Increasingly nations, especially in Eastern Europe, are using the story of the Shoah to present an account of themselves as victims and rescuers of Jewish citizens from the Nazis.

What is now being proposed is no longer a Holocaust memorial. The small learning centre will treat the Holocaust as one amongst several hate-related genocides and present a specific Evangelical Christian account of the Holocaust. It will emphasise the redemptive acts of rescuers. There will be a few minutes of video about antisemitism. Most importantly, it will not make the link between antisemitism and the establishment of Israel.

The late Chief Rabbi Sacks pointed out that the Holocaust should be taught in context and that today’s antisemitism focuses on the one Jewish state. Visitors to the learning centre will leave with no more knowledge about Jews than they had before – on the contrary, they will be diverted away from the religious roots and history of antisemitism and encouraged to think that it is just another species of racism.

The damage to the environment and the neighbourhood that this development in Victoria Tower Gardens will cause has been well documented.

Overruling vociferous and powerful objections from many Jews and non-Jews alike, and using their extensive powers, the government eventually obtained (i.e. granted itself) planning permission without having realised that there was a statutory prohibition on developing Victoria Tower Gardens. If the new government really wants to do more than pay lip service to eradicating antisemitism, it should end this misguided, divisive and expensive campaign and instead redirect resources to a better understanding of Jewish history by a more meaningful memorial and larger learning centre, ideally a new Jewish Museum.