Government reveals Holocaust education spend is more than £4.3 million

The Government has revealed that its current annual spend of Holocaust education in the UK is more than £4.3 million, alongside the £75 million promised to the planned new national Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in London.

The figures were revealed by Minister of State for Schools Nick Gibb MP in response to a question about Holocaust education in the House of Commons.

He said the Department for Education gives the Holocaust Educational Trust more than £2.1 million per year for its Lessons from Auschwitz project, and gives £500,000 to the UCL Institute of Education’s Centre for Holocaust Education, which is match funded by the Pears foundation.

In addition, in October last year the Chancellor announced £1.7 million to send schoolchildren on an educational trip to the site of Bergen-Belsen to commemorate 75 years since the camp’s liberation by British troops.

“The Department is fully committed to Holocaust education,” said Gibb. “Every young person should learn about the Holocaust and the lessons it teaches us today. The curriculum gives teachers and schools the freedom to decide how to teach the subject and what resources to use to support an understanding of the Holocaust.”

He added that all programmes also teach about the Nazi’s persecution of other non-Jewish groups, including Roma, Communists, trade unionists, LGBT+ communities as well as Polish or Soviet prisoners of war.

On top of the £4.3 million from the Department for Education, the Home Office has said it will give £1.5 million to organisations like the Anne Frank Trust as part of the national strategy to tackle hate crime.

The figures are dwarfed by the £75 million that the Government has committed to build the National Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in Victoria Tower Gardens, in the shadow of Parliament.

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