Holocaust education ‘must fight rising hate among young’
Sir Sajid Javid, chair of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, says there are 'reasons to be hopeful', after more than 1,000 secondary schools across the UK marked HMD this year
The chair of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust has said he remains hopeful about the impact of the annual event, after more than 1,000 secondary schools across the UK marked it this year.
Writing in The Times on Thursday, Sir Sajid Javid said there were “reasons to be hopeful” despite growing concern about antisemitism and Holocaust denial among young people.
In his article, the former Conservative cabinet minister referred to the recent alarm prompted by Louis Theroux’s documentary Inside the Manosphere, which explored misogyny and homophobia consumed by 18 to 24-year-olds online.
Sir Sajid said what was “equally disturbing” was “the racism that underpins so much of it”, adding that the documentary featured online figures whose content included “antisemitic conspiracy theories, Holocaust denial and outright abuse, including brazen Nazi salutes”.
He warned that “classic tropes such as Jews controlling the media, exaggerating the Holocaust and chasing money have become mainstream”, and said reports showing a drop in the number of schools marking Holocaust Memorial Day after the 7 October attacks had “made for bleak reading”.
But he said Holocaust Memorial Day continued to make a difference in schools and communities.
“Holocaust Memorial Day isn’t just about remembering the dead,” he wrote. “It’s about educating the living.”
Sir Sajid said the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust provides schools with resources to help teachers confront young people with “the horrors of genocide”, grounded in survivor testimony and the reality of how quickly societies can descend into hatred.
Referring to recent antisemitic incidents, including the attacks on Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester, the arson attack on Hatzola ambulances in Golders Green and attacks on Jewish businesses, he said there were still clear signs of progress.
More than 1,000 secondary schools marked Holocaust Memorial Day this year, he said, representing 17 per cent of secondaries nationwide, up from 9 per cent last year.
He also said the Trust had recently run one of the largest antisemitism awareness campaigns seen in the UK, reaching tens of millions of people.
Sir Sajid said rising antisemitism “isn’t seen as a problem for Jews to fight alone” and called for a “renewed shared responsibility” ahead of next year’s Holocaust Memorial Day.
He concluded by saying the effort must begin with the next generation.
“Every teenager who hears a survivor’s story is one less space where denial can take root,” he wrote.
“Next January, when Holocaust Memorial Day comes around again, the question for every school in the country should not be whether to mark it, but how.”
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