Prominent figures urge government to divert Westminster memorial funds to Jewish Museum
The letter, signed by Tory MP Sir Peter Bottomley and historian Sir Simon Schama among others, comes after the Jewish Museum announced it will close its building in Camden Town.
A group of historians, politicians and Holocaust survivors are calling on the government to establish a new Jewish Museum in central London by using the funds allocated for the Westminster Holocaust memorial.
The letter, signed by Tory MP, Sir Peter Bottomley and historian, Sir Simon Schama among many others, comes after London’s Jewish Museum announced it will close its building in Camden Town, selling the premises.
Nick Viner, chair of Jewish Museum London (JML), told Jewish News the combination of meeting financial challenges, the pandemic and cost of living crisis, together with a “reluctant decision not to continue with temporary exhibitions”, had led the museum trustees to think “about our vision for the future”.
The solution, suggested the signatories to the letter, could be to “combine” the “controversial” plan to establish a Holocaust “learning centre” in Westminster, estimated to cost more than £102 million.
“What is the better use of funds – to present the tragedies and triumphs of continuing Jewish life in Britain over the centuries, as the Museum does? Or on a politicised perspective on our worst tragedy set in isolation from our survival, which is the theme of the ‘learning centre’?” the letter said.
“The obvious solution is to combine the two in one splendid Jewish Museum in central London dealing with Jewish history and the Shoah in context. This would end the toxic debate about the government project and has the potential to provide a world-class. cohesive thriving centre for generations to come,” it concluded.
The museum is due to close at the end of next month, with the bulk of the museum’s collection of more than 40,000 objects going into storage.
The JML hopes to be out of the building by the end of 2023. Viner said the idea was “probably to set up in a new location with more footfall”, a process he said might take between three and five years. He said there had already been interest from a number of parties in buying the building.
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