Keegan, who also pledged to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau in the coming year, said that she initially became interested in the Holocaust as a child after reading The Diary of Anne Frank. “The power of that book, the power of that story, that someone a few years older than me could experience such horror. It gave me a unique insight into what had happened through the eyes of a child.”
Paying tribute to the work of HET, Keegan, whose husband Michael is trustee of Chichester Holocaust Memorial Day, said: “You help people learn and you tell these stories and it’s almost impossible to state the importance of that because we should not forget the Holocaust.
“It began not with mass killings, not with concentration camps, but in the streets, in the classroom, in the workplaces of Europe. This is where the poisonous words and the passive acceptance of discrimination became the norm, where ordinary people just like us chose not to stand up, but to stand by."
Expressing that she was “proud” to support the building of the UK Holocaust Memorial Learning Centre next to Parliament, Keegan said that “nothing sticks with me as much as an experience from earlier this year when I had the privilege to speak at an event […] alongside [Holocaust survivor] Mala Tribich. Hearing her stories of the displacement, the ghettos, the hiding, the camp – the stories she tells in our schools all the time - that left a mark on me.”
Acknowledging that “sadly, one day, these events will move out of our living memory”, Keegan stressed that “in our schools, we need our children to know and to understand what humanity is capable of and the importance of speaking out against intolerance”.
Mala Tribich MBE at the Holocaust Educational Trust dinner on Monday (Photo: HET)
Much of the evening was dedicated to the memory of Mala’s brother, Sir Ben Helfgott MBE, honorary patron of HET, and other Holocaust survivors, who have died in the past few years, including Zigi Shipper BEM, Freddy Knoller BEM and Gena Turgel.
CEO Karen Pollock told the guests: “For many years, you have attended our events and heard of an approaching, critical, juncture - that the survivors we so love and depend on are becoming fewer and frailer. Tonight, it feels like we have hit that juncture.
“When the Holocaust is no longer in living memory, we will need to work ever harder to ensure it remains as relevant and accessible for young people as it is today.”
The evening was compered by broadcaster and barrister Rob Rinder and actress Louisa Clein, both descendants of Holocaust survivors.
The evening started with a dramatic presentation from the National Youth Music Theatre, who performed Wiegela, a song by Ilse Weber, who was murdered in Auschwitz in 1944.
Also speaking on the night were HET ambassador historian Laurence Rees and Mala Tribich, who said: “It is very emotional to be here without my brother Ben, who was at the forefront of convincing people of the importance of Holocaust education.”
“As a Holocaust survivor, I know what happens when people believe the unbelievable. It is so worrying to see conspiracy theories are on the rise in 2023. Thank you, HET, for continuing your important work and teaching tolerance."
The Trust’s chairman Craig Leviton said: “At its roots HET is about the survivors. It is about learning from those who were eyewitnesses to horrific historical events, it is about learning from survivors who provided so much inspiration and inter-generational knowledge. And we do this to try to make society a better more tolerant place”.
As well as the secretary of state for education, the dinner was attended by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Lucy Frazer, Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick, Higher Education Minister Robert Halfon and Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves. The Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis was also in attendance.
Other guests included TV personalities Natasha Kaplinsky, Tracy-Ann Oberman and Rachel Riley.
