British Jews are in danger of being reduced to “misunderstood stereotypes” following the closure of London’s Jewish Museum and the proposed opening of a Holocaust memorial in Westminster, Sir Simon Schama has warned.
Public understanding of Jewish history is at risk of being whittled down to “the Bible, the Holocaust [and] the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”, Sir Simon, one of the country’s leading historians, told the JC.
Jewish Museum LDN external © Jewish Museum London
The Jewish Museum in Camden (Photo: Jewish Museum London)
Instead of installing the £102 million monument to commemorate victims of the Shoah, funds should be diverted to a new Jewish Museum in central London, which could incorporate such a memorial, Sir Simon believes.
The London Jewish museum — Britain’s leading showcase of the community’s culture and heritage — recently announced plans to sell its current premises and said it was seeking a more suitable location in the centre of the city.
It is due to close its doors for the final time in July.
The announcement has prompted fresh calls from Jewish and non-Jewish figures for the Government to mothball its Westminster memorial project and divert the funds to the museum instead.
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Baroness Ruth Deech (Photo: UK Parliament)
Sir Simon has joined dozens prominent figures including the cross-bench peer Baroness Deech, actress Dame Maureen Lipman and broadcaster Gavin Esler in signing an open letter urging the government to “combine” a new museum and memorial project in one “splendid” centre.
“With the Albert Street museum gone there’s no possibility of that cultural outreach beyond our own community, so we risk becoming misunderstood stereotypes,” Sir Simon said.
The historian, who is Jewish, also expressed concerns that the indefinite closure of the current museum could mean that “for the vast majority of non-Jews in this country, Jewish history gets reduced to the Bible; the Holocaust; the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”.
A centre featuring both a Holocaust memorial and a museum could avoid British Jewish history being presented as a “catalogue of miseries” and would “give an opportunity for celebration”, he added.
In the letter signed by Sir Simon, the group states: “It is reported that the Jewish Museum in Camden is to close indefinitely for lack of funds. At the same time, the Government is forging ahead with its controversial plan to spend over £102m on a memorial and a small ‘learning centre’ in Westminster to illustrate Britain's action and inaction in relation to the Holocaust.
“What is the better use of funds - to present the tragedies and triumphs of continuing Jewish life in Britain over the centuries, as the Museum does? Or on a politicised perspective on our worst tragedy set in isolation from our survival, which is the theme of the ‘learning centre’?”
Frances Jeens and Nick Viner (2)-b
Nick Viner inside the museum (Photo: Handout)
It continues: “An obvious solution is to combine the two in one splendid Jewish Museum in central London dealing with Jewish history and the Shoah in context.
“This would end the toxic debate about the government project and has the potential to provide a world-class, cohesive thriving centre for generations to come.”
Other signatories include fellow historian Sir Richard Evans; president of the National Jewish Assembly Gary Mond; and Lord Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury.
It is also signed by Holocaust survivors Anita Lasker Wallfisch, 97, and Joanna Millan, 81.
Here is the full list of signatories:
Dame Ruth Deech
Sir Simon Schama
Lord Triesman
Lyn and Laurence Julius
Stephen Pollard
Dame Maureen Lipman
Lord Wasserman
Sir Malcolm Rifkind
Gavin Esler
Anthony Rudolf
Dame Rosalyn Higgins
Lord (Andrew) Roberts
Prof Abigail Green
Sarah Deech
Anthony Julius
Sir Richard Evans
Prof Tom Lawson
Lord Carlile
Sir Peter Bottomley
Gary Mond
Anita Lasker Wallfisch
Joanna Millan
Sandra Myers
Prof Bernard Silverman
Dr Geoffrey Alderman
Dr Vicki Harris
Rabbi Jonathan Romain
Dr Irene Lancaster
Lord (Rowan) Williams
Claudia Rubenstein
Miriam Owen
Prof Adam Ganz
Trudy Gold
Baroness Fleet
Nina Grunfeld
Barbara Weiss
Sammy Neumann
Floris Dichter
Naomi Halpern
Gillian Ansell Brauner
James Buxton
John Fannon
Dr Leslie Klaff
Charles Rawson
Jonathan Lass
Anthony Rudolf
Raphael Wallfisch
Rev Philip Chester
Michael Ignatieff
Jonny Geller
Bishop Nigel McCulloch
Museum chair Nick Viner said: “We are already in discussion with a range of organisations about delivering our programmes from their premises, as we begin our transition plan towards a future permanent museum.”
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities did not respond to requests for comment.
