It was on January 27 1945 that the Russian army liberated a camp in Poland, a place whose name will go down in infamy, Auschwitz. More than 1.1 million folks were murdered there during the war, almost all of them Jews. So just over one sixth of the victims of the holocaust perished in that spot. Each year on January 27 we celebrate Holocaust Memorial Day and say Never Again. Or we should. For this family of non Jews there are very personal links to Auschwitz.
In 2023 more than 2,000 of the 4,000 UK secondary schools marked the day although, as I noted HERE and HERE, too many focused on the appalling war crimes at Srebrenica, wrongly terming that as genocide or a holocaust and not putting them in context, in order to paint a non Jewish group as victims on a day when we should be thinking of the biggest victims of THE holocaust. But by last year only 854 schools marked HMD with schools saying that they did not wish to offend parents or that in light of events in Gaza talking about THE holocaust was too controversial.
I dread to think how few schools will mark HMD this year? How can we say “never again” when the kids do not know what you are talking about. To see where that is going I need only look at the country of my ancestors, Ireland, now a pioneer and flag bearer for European antisemitism. The Irish Times reports this week that almost one in 10 young Irish adults ( 18-29) believe the Holocaust is a ‘myth’ while another 19% believe that the number of people killed was” greatly exaggerated.”
Ireland is a pioneer in holocaust denial, jew hatred and rewriting history. But as our kids in Britain are either not taught about the holocaust or are told that we must focus on those blacks, gays or gypsies who were gassed and that Jews were just “among” the victims or that THE holocaust is on a par with other holocausts in Gaza ( where not 1/3 of the global population was killed but where the population actually increased in the post October 7 war) or Srebrenica the UK will catch up.
One of my daughter’s Godparents, Joe Levy, left Corfu in his mother’s stomach just before the Germans took over the island from the Italians. Within a few weeks the 2,500 Jews on Corfu were on boats to Piraeus and then trains to Auschwitz. Fewer than 100 survived. Daughter Olaf has another Jewish Godparent, Iska. Her mother left Poland for New York in the 1930s. Her mother’s family largely got out, not so her father’s side
I think of my father’s best friend Janos Nyiri. He hid in a barn in rural Hungary during the war as he recalled in the semi autobiographical book Battlefields and Playgrounds. Those Jews staying in Budapest were almost all sent to Auschwitz in 1944 with most gassed within hours of arrival.
So my kids all know about HMD. We will light a candle that evening and I will talk to Joshua at least. The facts of what happened are not in doubt. Say what you like about the Germans but they were amazing record keepers.
I will talk to Joshua about hit. But will his school, which makes sure that its almost enturely white classes know all about Black History Month, mark the day? I doubt it. I know that my elder son will mark it in some way at Cambridge University but I doubt that it wil be widely marked in a place that hosts an active Gaza “peace camp.”
In 2023 more than 2,000 of the 4,000 UK secondary schools marked the day although, as I noted HERE and HERE, too many focused on the appalling war crimes at Srebrenica, wrongly terming that as genocide or a holocaust and not putting them in context, in order to paint a non Jewish group as victims on a day when we should be thinking of the biggest victims of THE holocaust. But by last year only 854 schools marked HMD with schools saying that they did not wish to offend parents or that in light of events in Gaza talking about THE holocaust was too controversial.
I dread to think how few schools will mark HMD this year? How can we say “never again” when the kids do not know what you are talking about. To see where that is going I need only look at the country of my ancestors, Ireland, now a pioneer and flag bearer for European antisemitism. The Irish Times reports this week that almost one in 10 young Irish adults ( 18-29) believe the Holocaust is a ‘myth’ while another 19% believe that the number of people killed was” greatly exaggerated.”
According to the same survey, half of the Irish adult population does not know that six million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust, with more than a quarter of the younger respondents claiming that the number of Jews killed was not six million but between none at all and less than two million.
Ireland is a pioneer in holocaust denial, jew hatred and rewriting history. But as our kids in Britain are either not taught about the holocaust or are told that we must focus on those blacks, gays or gypsies who were gassed and that Jews were just “among” the victims or that THE holocaust is on a par with other holocausts in Gaza ( where not 1/3 of the global population was killed but where the population actually increased in the post October 7 war) or Srebrenica the UK will catch up.
As I reflected to a friend just now: “how have we come to this?” This website will mark the day as it always does. So too will be commercial website ShareProphets.com although that will , as per usual, cause a few subscribers to cancel as always happens when I speak out against anti-semitism or in support of Israel.
I will discuss this with my kids. We can all do our bit. But I fear that we can also all see the way the world is moving. I wonder if by the time of the 100th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz whether folks in Britain or Ireland will mark the day at all.