Opinion
It’s wrong to say Holocaust Memorial Day has been diluted. We must back it
Some say that including other genocides in the annual event diminishes its message. That’s nonsense.
February 19, 2025 09:01
3 min read
Some say that including other genocides in the annual event diminishes its message. That’s nonsense.
February 19, 2025 09:01I see it’s your busy season again,” I used to joke to my mum about all the invitations she would get as we approached Holocaust Memorial Day. There would be requests from schools and synagogues and memorial events and political receptions and media organisations. And she would try and do as many as she could, a great deal to start off with and fewer, naturally, as her health declined.
It was an opportunity to tell her story. And to explain how the day fell at a moving time for her and the family. The week of Holocaust Memorial Day is also the week each year when we mark the death of my grandmother, which took place on January 25, 1945.
After Mum’s own death the duty to tell her story fell to her family. And this year we duly appeared at commemoration events, at community meetings, at the Treasury, on Newsnight, on the Today programme, on Times Radio and even in a prison.
And on each occasion we were heard with respect and thoughtful understanding. Sometimes the audience was familiar with the Holocaust, and we were there only to remind them. Sometimes they were hearing the story for the first time. And they were left in no doubt about what had happened and why it mattered.
Which is why I have read with astonishment that some Jews have turned against HMD. They write that it might be better if we didn’t have one. Some Jews have even (I assure you this has actually happened) lobbied government to stop funding it.
I mean, oh my goodness! What on earth are they thinking? Let me try and stay as even-tempered as possible as I try to counter this astonishing nonsense. In order to gather myself, I’ve waited until now to respond.
The objection being made is that HMD makes reference to other genocides and commemorates them too. This, it is (extraordinarily) argued, makes the event almost pointless, leading people to think that what happened to Jews is a run-of-the-mill slaughter that has happened to plenty of others. Better not to have it at all, the critics suggest.
Well, first of all it is, in my view, entirely appropriate that other genocides are marked. My grandfather, Alfred Wiener, was one of the most important figures in shaping understanding of the Holocaust. He did much to make clear the Nazi project was to eliminate the Jews and he criticised the failure of political leaders to understand this.
Yet Alfred always drew attention to the broader consequences of the Nazi ideology. He saw himself as defending civilisation against brutality. He, without hesitation, regarded the prevention of other genocides as part of Holocaust commemoration. Indeed he had always asserted that the reason the Nazis had to be stopped was not just because of what they were doing to the Jews, but because of the result of this for everyone.
Second, in so far as there is concern about mentions of Gaza, the argument is quite simple. What has happened in Gaza is awful and depressing and the correct subject for endless debate and review. But what it is and was not is a genocide. To feel that we should abandon HMD and refuse to mention other genocides because someone might claim Gaza is a genocide is a total surrender.
In any case, HMD was not dominated by Gaza. We appropriately and sensitively noted deaths in the conflict, but did not allow it to overwhelm the commemoration. Despite all the pressure. It was, in fact, a triumph of diplomacy and leadership.
Which leads to my final point. Those people suggesting the genocide against Jews was drowned out? What were they listening to or watching? Not the same things as me, clearly.
A wonderful event on the BBC seen by millions, the King in Poland, the Prince and Princess of Wales meeting dozens of survivors, thousands of local events, buildings lit in purple all over the country, Pearl & Dean adverts in cinemas everywhere, and simply acres of media coverage.
I got to tell our family story over and over again, reaching millions of people. And each time I did so I was able to explain the impact this has had on Jewish people and our need for freedom and security.
Holocaust Memorial Day is a magnificent achievement. Let’s make sure we continue to give it the support it deserves.