Many Holocaust survivors upset by Sunak backing for memorial, claims peer

Crossbench peer Baroness Deech has claimed Rishi Sunak’s backing for a Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre next to parliament has been met with “the disappointment of many, not least within the Jewish community and Holocaust survivors.”

In a new article, penned for a magazine distributed to parliamentarians and others working in Westminster, the peer, who is herself Jewish, adds:”Members in both Houses should stand up to the defend the gardens” – a reference to the planned location of the memorial and learning centre in Victoria Tower Gardens.

The Prime Minister had announced on February 23 that the government had introduced the Holocaust Memorial Bill into parliament, which would repeal the protection afforded to the gardens, which adjacent to Westminster, as a result of a 1900 statute.

The Board of Deputies and the Holocaust Educational Trust were amongst the communal bodies to welcome the government’s move, with Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove insisting the new bill was “timely as the remaining survivors are becoming older and fewer in number, meaning it is vital that we push ahead with the memorial.

Gove added,” we owe it to the six million Jewish people who were murdered.”

But writing in the new edition of The House magazine, Deech states”To the disappointment of many, not least with the Jewish community and Holocaust survivors, the government is determined to push through the construction of the Holocaust memorial and underground learning centre in Victoria Tower Gardens, adjacent to parliament.”

She then takes issue with the government’s claim that just seven per cent of space in the gardens will be lost as a result of the £102 million memorial project, describing the claim as “misleading.”

Deech suggests that completion of the project, not expected until 2027, will stretch out the costs of it even further.

She also claims the proposed site will mean the Holocaust memorial overshadows others nearby including the Buxton memorial to slavery abolition.

Deech also claims that it will be “tough” on the children at an open playground at the gardens to have the memorial nearby, and questions whether it is “appropriate” to have a cafe “on top of a memorial”.

The outspoken peer argues there are “alternatives” to a memorial situated next to parliament, and mentions the Imperial War Museum or Richmond House.

Responding to Deech’s claims Angela Cohen, chair of 45 Aid Society, said “ The 45 Aid Society Holocaust Survivors, Second Generation and our members have consistently welcomed and supported the cross – party plans for a UK Holocaust Memorial in a unique and important location next to the Houses of Parliament. ”

Sir Ben Helfgott MBE president  of 45 Aid Society Holocaust Survivors said “ There is no obligation on those of us who survived the Holocaust to share identical opinions on all issues.

“Having said that, the majority of Survivors in Britain came together as a ‘45 Aid Society and since 1963 have sought with our children and grandchildren to remember those who were lost and teach the history of the Holocaust and its lessons.

“Very few of the Survivors are of course alive today but I know that the vast majority agree with us that this UKHM should be built now as planned next to the Houses of Parliament. ”