Build Holocaust Memorial 'not just for the sake of the Jews but for the sake of the whole country' urges Chief Rabbi

Addressing the same critics, Chief Rabbi Mirvis said he respected their views but added: “I differ with them in the strongest, most passionate way.”

Rabbi Mirvis argued that the need to educate the nation on the lessons of the past was the most vital issue at stake.

In his speech  he highlighted how November 9, 1938,  was the date of  Kristallnacht, “a signal of something awful to come” but “at that time many did not see what was to come.”

He added: “That highlights for us how crucially important it is for us, today and well into the future, to appreciate the lessons of the past, to be educated about those horrors so that we might protect ourselves now and in the future.”

Rabbi Mirvis said the best form of protection was indeed education that would “inspire people with emotional experiences and expose them to the details of what has transpired in the past in order that they should learn from those lessons for the sake of our collective present and future.”

Discussing the proposed location he said: “Victoria Tower Gardens is an inspirational choice of venue. It is a wonderful location.

“Of course we need to look after the gardens, which hopefully will be enhanced. Of course we need to look after the interests of local residents, their welfare and wellbeing. Together with that, this is a most wonderful location because it is in a prime place of great prominence and it is at the heart of our democracy.

“We want to be in a place of such prominence because we want people to know about it - we don’t want to tuck the Holocaust away somewhere – similar to what currently exists, with a tiny monument in Hyde Park, that most people have never heard of.

“We want all of British society to be aware of what transpired to the Jews in the 20^th Century, not just for the sake of the Jews but for the sake of the whole country and its future. “

Labour heavyweight Mr Brown used his speech to raise his own political party’s record on the issue, as well as historical failings in the UK to challenge “persecution, hatred and intolerance”.

The former PM said he did not believe the building of the Memorial and Learning Centre next to Parliament was a matter of controversy.

Instead he argued that the £100 million project “advanced” the national interest and would ensure that the UK would be “strengthened” as a country.

“We need a national Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre,” said Mr Brown. “Everyone should know what we as a country did and did not do.

“Everyone should know what more we could have done to tackle the persecution of Jewish communities and the many minorities who perished.

“And everyone should know of the continued need to root out per suction, hatred and intolerance. Something that has come home to me in my sorrow, my anger and my shame at the Labour Party’s failure over the past four years to aggressively and relentlessly root it out in is midst.”

He said he spoke on Tuesday “in the shadow of death of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks”  whose memory and belief in building “unity through diversity should be celebrated in this centre.”

In his speech, Mr Rinder said: “Last night millions of my fellow citizens from every community, representing every age and creed across our country, watched a programme I presented on the BBC about the Holocaust.

“The stories we witnessed were not only of my family. They represented a tiny group of countless others.  The bond between each of the courageous men and women who went back to discover the fate of their relatives (parents, uncles and grandparents) in Europe was that the early lives of those we watched were not characterised by anti-Jewish racism or hate.  

“The architecture of Amsterdam and Berlin in the 1920s we saw were modernist, experimental works of art. They reflected their time. A time when people believed with justifiable confidence that, having suffered the trauma of the First World War, democracy and the rule of law would protect them. They were tragically wrong.”

He added: “The proposed Holocaust memorial stands, some have said, in the looming shadow of our Parliament. That is the wrong way to describe it. The design and position of the monument places neither edifice in darkness. They are precisely positioned to bring light to each other.  

“The memorial will illuminate the halls of Parliament where those exercising political power do their work. And, at the monument itself, each and every one of us, regardless of our background, faith or sexuality, will be able to speak to our representatives through bronze and stone.” 

Criticising Historic England – which has mounted a challenge to the project -  Mr Rinder said: “It is difficult to think (as Historic England put it), of space that would gift our nation, ‘an understanding of the belief and traditions of others’ more than a teaching centre at the heart of the memorial.

“For this is not just about commemorating a story of tyranny. It is the story of what happens when we forget to delight in, celebrate and - above all - remember the values that have made our nation last. It is a story to be taught to all the generations to come and in doing so will serve us all by safeguarding democracy so that we may be able to say, with renewed confidence, that oppression and discrimination by one group of human beings over another can and will never happen again.”