Michael Howard among historic Holocaust Memorial Day delegation

The former Home Secretary Michael Howard will join 30 Shoah survivors and join politicians from around the globe at an historic session at Auschwitz on Holocaust Memorial Day next week.

The gathering of politicians will include the largest ever Knesset delegation to attend an event abroad – numbering 64 and including cabinet ministers Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett as well as Opposition leader Yitzhak Herzog.

The Israeli delegation – led by Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein and also featuring 30 Shoah survivors– will take part in the Polish Government’s annual memorial service at the site.

MKs and members of Poland’s lower chamber will also hold a joint session together with politicians from other countries including America, France, Italy and the UK.

The British group will comprise the former Tory leader as well as Hendon MP Matthew Offord and Labour’s Anne McGuire, while US House of Representative Majority Leader Eric Cantor, America’s most senior Jewish politician, will visit Auschwitz for the first time as part of a four-strong delegation from Congress.

The historic gathering is being organized by not-for-profit organization From The Depths, which is headed by British-born Israeli Jonny Daniels.

He told the Jewish News: “We are delighted to have such prominent members of the British parliament standing with the majority of the Knesset, dozens of international parliamentarians and most importantly Holocaust survivors from around the world.”

He added: “It is so critical with the survivors leaving us so fast that we never forget and we take their message of survival to the next generation.”