Finkelstein siblings share Holocaust legacy in rare joint Yom HaShoah event

Three of Britain’s most senior Jewish public figures have come together for a rare joint appearance to mark Yom HaShoah, sharing a deeply personal account of their family’s survival and its lasting impact.

Professor Sir Anthony Finkelstein, Lord Daniel Finkelstein and Dame Tamara Finkelstein appear together in a special episode of The Impact Equation podcast, recorded before a live audience at JW3.

Released on 13 April, the episode is believed to be the first time the three siblings have taken part in a public conversation together.

At its centre is the story of their parents, Mirjam and Ludwik Finkelstein. Their mother survived Bergen-Belsen concentration camp as a child, while their father endured imprisonment in the Soviet Gulag system.

Dame Tamara said: “They left Belsen in January 1945… very rare, except prisoner exchange, which they were on because my grandfather had managed to get them some false passports, Paraguayan passports.”

That escape was made possible by their grandfather, Alfred Wiener, whose archive remains one of the world’s most important centres for Holocaust documentation.

The episode explores how that legacy shaped lives of public service. Between them, the siblings have held senior roles across national security, the civil service and Parliament.

Sir Anthony said: “My son was working at the Foreign Office, Tamara was at Defra, and I was at National Security. We had these extraordinary conversations about what the country ought to do.”

Dame Tamara added: “We shouldn’t be leaving it to the most vulnerable person in the system to join us up… we have a duty to join ourselves up.”

The discussion also reflect on how Holocaust memory is changing as the survivor generation fades. Sir Anthony recalled his mother’s reaction to becoming part of the national curriculum: “She said, ‘Here I am. I’m part of the history syllabus. That seems very strange to me…’”

Lord Finkelstein noted: “There’s a young generation who react to it differently… they see it more as historical.”

Despite her work in Holocaust education, Mirjam Finkelstein resisted being defined solely by her past. As Dame Tamara said: “My mum wrote: ‘I’m a person, wife and mother first and a survivor last.’ She was a Holocaust educator, but she lived her life in an incredibly positive way.”

In one striking moment, Lord Finkelstein reflects on reclaiming identity from Nazi legacy: “I’m not going to let Hitler steal his name… My grandfather was called Adolf, and I’m going to call him Adolf.”

The episode concludes with a focus on the next generation, including Dame Tamara’s son, who now shares survivor testimony through education programmes – continuing a family story that began with escape and endures through remembrance.

The special episode of The Impact Equation is available from 13 April on major podcast platforms.