Holocaust education exhibit denied space in Parliament for being ‘too political’

The National Holocaust Museum (NHM) has been denied permission to run an exhibition in Westminster Hall on the grounds that it was too political.

In correspondence seen by the JC, authorities told NHM, who wished to set up the display for Holocaust Memorial Day, that “Westminster Hall is a politically neutral space and activity which could be perceived as campaigning/lobbying or trying to influence political opinions would not be permitted”.

They were instead offered to apply for a space in the Upper Waiting Hall, a much less central location in the Palace of Westminster.

The exhibition tells the story of the Jewish communities in Berlin, Baghdad, Kielce (Poland), Aden (Yemen) and southern Israel and the pogroms that led to their ethnic cleansing in 1938, 1941, 1946, 1947 and 2023 respectively.

Titlted The Vicious Circle organisers also have plans to for international showcases in Tallinn, Berlin and the European Parliament in Brussels.

However, despite the claims of political neutrality, the JC understands that the controversial Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) was allowed to display the Palestinian flag in Westminster Hall as they organised supportive activists to lobby MPs.

The JC has previously reported about signs on display at PSC-organised marches comparing Israel’s war in Gaza with the Holocaust, displays of support for Hamas and Hezbollah and suggestion that the BBC is controlled by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “infested” with “Zionists”.

Palestine Solidarity Campaign mass lobby of Parliament in July.[Missing Credit]

NHM Director Marc Cave told the JC: “On Holocaust Memorial Day, Britain’s remembrance of the only industrialised, multi-country genocide ever known was extremely moving. Its support for our community of Holocaust survivors was heart-warming.

"Why does our desire to highlight the delusion that drives all murder of Jews so unsettle the Westminster Hall committee? The Holocaust is not finished business. It has been reopened by haters welcomed into Parliament — a group who play their part in driving the next turn of the Vicious Circle against Jews.”

He added: “A Parliament which does not therefore welcome an exhibition which presents an alternative view, based on hard facts and zero ‘lobbying’ content — is not the democratic institution I believed it was.

"It is only fair that Westminster Hall accords us the same democratic opportunity it has granted to monomaniacs who absurdly pin all the world’s problems on 0.2 per cent of its population.”

However, Parliamentary authorities insisted that the signs which the PSC were allowed to display in Westminster Hall were temporary and solely for the purpose of directing guests during their mass lobby event.

A mass lobby is when a large number of people contact their MPs in advance and all arrange to meet with them at Parliament on the same day to discuss a particular cause.

Both the Trades Union Congress and The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association were also allowed to display signage for the purposes of directing activists during their mass lobbies of parliament, and authorities said that these weren’t comparable to an exhibition.

A parliamentary spokesperson told the JC: "Requests for exhibitions in Westminster Hall are taken on a case-by-case basis, and many requests are made throughout the year. These are completely different to mass lobbies – signage is considered on a case-by-case basis for the sole purposes of directing individuals during a mass lobby."

Meanwhile, ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day, an exhibition put on by the Holocaust Educational Trust was on display in another prominent location in Westminster.

Testimony 360: People and Places of the Holocaust, located in Portcullis House – the newer part of the parliamentary estate where many MPs have their offices and routinely meet guests – features cutting-edge AI and virtual reality technology that allows MPs and visitors to Westminster to ask questions to a digital version of Holocaust survivor Manfred Goldberg BEM, and virtually explore the sites from his testimony.

Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle, who toured the exhibition with survivors featured in it, also hosted a Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony in Portcullis House.

Last year, Westminster Hall featured a Chanukah reception and speeches by representatives of all three major political parties and Jewish communal leaders.

Lord Mann, the government’s independent adviser on antisemitism, said that the occasion was the second time in the 800-year history of Westminster Hall that a Chanukah reception had been hosted there, and he confirmed it would now be “an annual event in Parliament”.