Education Secretary visibly moved as 94-year-old survivor recalls Nazi horror
Bridget Phillipson heard survivor Mala Tribich's story at Holocaust Educational Trust event at Labour conference
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has said it is “crucial” that all school children understand the true horror of what happened in the Holocaust after listening to a survivor’s story at a Labour conference event.
Philipson spoke at the Holocaust Educational Trust event in Liverpool on Tuesday, before looking visibly moved as she heard 94 year-old Mala Tribich tell the story of the impact of the Nazi invasion of Poland on her own family.
Praising the work of HET in using technology to teach the Shoah in schools, the cabinet minister said: “Technology does present us with those opportunities to ensure that all of our children are able to understand the true horror of what was experienced and to extend the reach of Holocaust education in a way that we’ve not yet been able to fully extend.”
Phillipson also noted how Keir Starmer had mentioned at last week’s HET fundraising dinner in London how the government would use the national curriculum review to boost Holocaust lessons.
She said: “Ahead of our curriculum in assessment review, which is now underway, we confirm that Holocaust education will remain a crucial part of Key Stage Three education, and that this will be compulsory for every child in every school, no matter which school children attend.
“Holocaust education must be an essential part of their learning. ”
She praised the Lessons from Auschwitz project, which takes children to see the death camps, and committed a further £2.3 million of funding from next year.
“Education is crucial to the tolerant, inclusive society that we all want to build,” added Phillipson.
She added: “We must encourage our children, from the youngest age, to be part of an inclusive society which celebrates our diversity and which recognises it as a strength. ”
At a packed event, hosted by HET’s chief exec Karen Pollock, Mala Tribich , born with the Helfgott surname in 1930 in Piotrków Trybunalski, Poland, recalled with amazing clarity the persecution suffered under the Nazis.
Her mother and eight-year-old sister were among those taken and murdered in a forest by the Nazis. She also recalled the horror of the Ravensbrück concentration camp and then Belsen.
Eventually the camp was liberated by the British and in March 1947, Mala came to England to be reunited with her late brother Ben.
After telling her story at the conference event, also attended by MPs including Dan Tomlinson, Mala was applauded for some time.
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