3 min read
There is no singular way to express the overwhelming emotions I felt when walking through the entrance to Auschwitz. The infamous railway, the haunting watchtowers and the sheer vastness of the barracks leaves an indelible mark on the senses. I found my visit to the site of the darkest days in Jewish history a difficult experience. Yet, it also left me empowered to reflect on the strength that our community now possesses in the UK.
During the Holocaust, the Jews of Europe must have felt utterly helpless and abandoned as every single organ of state and the establishment became dedicated to implementing the destruction of the Jewish community.
There was literally nowhere for the Jews to turn for salvation. Government, judges, the police, the military, courts, employers, trade unions, universities and schools were all part of the process that led to the murder of so many.
Faced with such overwhelming, state-sponsored hatred, Jewish people must have felt isolated and abandoned in the extreme.
Contrast that with the UK, at this time, where every organ of the state is working hard to ensure freedom for the Jewish community to practise their way of life and to combat antisemitism wherever it may be found. In my role as CEO of the Jewish Leadership Council, I work with the Government, the Police, Members of Parliament and local councillors to ensure that antisemitism does not gain a foothold in this country. The effects of this support are varied and wide-reaching.
One example is the work of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Antisemitism, through which an independent cross-party group of mainly non-Jewish MPs have published a number of reports with recommendations to ensure that antisemitism does not take hold in civil society or in parliamentary business.
Another example is the work we have done with the leaders of local councils to confront the antisemitism that is poorly hidden behind an anti-Israel agenda. The launch of Local Government Friends of Israel at the LGA Conference in Harrogate last week was a seminal moment in confronting this pervasive form of bigotry. The JLC co-ordinates and leads on such work with our member organisations, such as the Board of Deputies and We Believe in Israel.
We also see support for the Jewish community from civic partners in campaigns facilitated by the JLC. The most recent example was the Golders Green Together initiative , our response to the planned provocation from the far-right.
Much has been written on how Jewish organisations worked together on this campaign. However, I want to note the masses of correspondence and support I received from outside our community.
Dozens of local organisations, shop-owners and residents from beyond the Jewish community were in touch to support our efforts. They repeatedly remarked that they have no truck with those who wished to spread hate and that they were squarely behind our visible efforts to show local unity.
When reflecting upon these efforts we must doubly resist comparisons with an era of widespread oppression against the Jewish community. As I try to navigate the choking emotion I felt when visiting Poland over this past week, I feel obligated to stress that we are not reliving 1936-1945.
Some have irresponsibly tried to impart this notion amid the feverish anti-fascist efforts of the past month and it must be firmly rejected. Using Holocaust imagery to encourage action against a fringe, hateful minority is not only harmful in the fear it evokes, but diminishes the magnitude of the Nazi era. Further, if our political adversaries tried to draw such a historical equivalency, we would rightly challenge them as either bigoted or hysterical, or both.
Despite the spike in antisemitic incidents over the past year , channelled largely through a false cover of anti-Zionism, we must take heart as a community that we have our concerns listened to by those who shape both political and civic life.
To reinforce the mantra of ''never again'' is not to use Holocaust memory inappropriately, nor is to be complacent about the challenges we face, but it is to act with dignity and the necessary strength that any given situation requires.
The member organisations of the JLC will continue to work with the civil establishment to protect the way of life for Jews in the UK and to preserve the UK as a great place in which to be Jewish.
Simon Johnson is Chief Executive of the Jewish Leadership Council
