The Nazi Holocaust

We must never forget the Nazi holocaust, and its lessons about the evil humans can do.

Around 6 million died in the genocide inflicted on the Jews and the mass murder of others the fascists hated - like gypsies, homosexuals and trade unionists.

We should reflect on the meaning behind the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz – the death camp where around 1 million Jews were gassed and burned.

For I’m not sure if our generation has remembered what a previous generation swore never to forget.

Just look at the genocides in Rwanda and Cambodia. Look at Darfur. The Balkans.

Racism. Mass hatred. Mass murder.

We see too many echoes here and now. Across Europe, anti-semitism on the rise. In the UK, the extreme right poisoning political debate. And a media-led demonisation of asylum seekers. Like some newspapers did when Jews from Russia and Germany began arriving over a century ago.

I’m reading a book called “Bloody Foreigners” – a history of immigration over a thousand years. It tells how the English persecuted and banished the Jews for over 3 centuries. It tells of influxes of Irish, French Huguenots and of peoples from across the British Empire. It tells of British prejudice, and British tolerance.

So when we learn the history lessons – of the holocaust and of our wonderful island – we should apply them to what we do and say now.