OPINION: Westminster Holocaust Memorial: Keep calm and carry on
It's a matter of when, not if, the Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre is built in Westminster, write the sons of the beloved late survivor and Olympian Sir Ben Helfgott
There have been many times in these past seven months when we have thought about what our dad would have said, but none more so than when we saw last week’s editorial in Jewish News.
He dedicated so much of his life to educating others about the Holocaust. As a proud member of the Holocaust Commission, set up by PM David Cameron 10 years ago, he was at the very heart of shaping the vision for the Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre – and he profoundly believed in the importance of its location next to parliament.
This country was not going to build a memorial and hide it away apologetically. Nor was it going to place it somewhere within the Jewish community, as if this was just something for us.
The Holocaust Commission was making a national statement about the importance of the whole country remembering the Holocaust, and placing the thing dad gave so much of his life to – Holocaust education – at the heart of our democracy. So what would he say to that editorial? We think he would say: “Keep calm and carry on.”
There were no new arguments in that select committee room last week. It was an opportunity for those who remain opposed to express their views, and it is to the credit of our country that people can express their opinions freely and we can have these debates. But we have heard all these points before.
Everything has already been debated and the plan has been supported by every living prime minister, the leader of the Opposition, every major political party, the Chief Rabbi, all parts of our community and all the leading representative organisations, including Board of Deputies, JLC, the Holocaust Educational Trust, HMDT and the survivors’ own 45 Aid Society.
We don’t believe that less than a tenth of the park is too big or disrespectful to other memorials and other uses of the garden.
We don’t believe we should turn down the chance to place this memorial in such a prominent place, in favour of somewhere fewer people will visit and where fewer will have the chance to stop and think and learn from the past.
Holocaust education was central to my father’s life and his hope for the future. And is perhaps more important now than at any time since it happened. This memorial is going to happen.
We don’t believe we should shy away from this project because, like the Houses of Parliament themselves, terrorists who don’t believe in our values might want to attack them. That isn’t how we do things in Britain.
And what about the small minority of survivors who oppose the memorial? I know dad respected them enormously and they are entitled to their view. But that doesn’t mean he would agree with them.
The overwhelming majority of survivors, including many who have since passed away, wanted this memorial exactly where it’s planned.
And to anyone who questions whether we can still learn anything about the Holocaust that is valuable today, well, we know that dad respectfully couldn’t disagree more.
Holocaust education was central to his life and his hope for the future. And is perhaps more important now than at any time since it happened. This memorial is going to happen.
When it came to it, not a single MP voted against the Holocaust Memorial Bill at Second Reading. The Bill will pass, removing the legal obstacle dating back to 1900.
An independent planning inquiry previously considered all the arguments through the pandemic and found in favour of building it.
This country is going to have the courage to build a permanent memorial to the Holocaust right at the heart of our democracy.
This country is going to have the courage not just to erect a monument, but to build a place of education at the heart of our national life.
This country, which became a home for survivors like our dad and ‘the Boys’, is going to have the courage to make a serious national effort to educate future generations against antisemitism and all forms of hatred – at the very moment when we all know it is needed most. So this is not the moment to lose faith in this project.
This is the moment to get behind it. This is the moment to keep calm and carry on.
• This piece is written on behalf of and with the endorsement of The ‘45 Aid Society, as well as many Holocaust survivors and second generation families
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