Statement delivered by Ambassador Neil Bush at the OSCE
Permanent Council, 28 January 2021.
Madam Chair,
I would like to express my thanks to Ambassador Küchler for her
introductory remarks, and her work as the current Chair of IHRA.
Yesterday I and my family joined thousands of people across the
world – each in our separate places, but united in our actions –
to light a candle to honour the memory of the six million Jewish
men, women and children who lost their lives during a time of
unparalleled depravity and inhumanity. We remembered the
thousands of Roma, Sinti, and all other victims of Nazi
persecution. And we remembered the victims of other genocides.
Madam Chair,
We must never forget that the Holocaust was committed by ordinary
people, its victims were ordinary people.
The Arolsen Archives, a
copy of which is housed in London at the Wiener Library for the Study
of the Holocaust and Genocide, shines a light on what happened.
It shows it in all its horrible banality. Each bureaucratic
record shows that there was once a government that decided to
murder any Jew it could get its hands on. That murder was an
integral part of its statecraft. Chillingly, it would use the
efficiencies of mass production to commit mass murder.
Each record in the archive is a testament to lives cut short, of
families wrecked.
Madam Chair,
We should not be lulled into a false sense that the Holocaust
happened in darkness, nor should we over emphasise the importance
of those few individuals whose acts of courage saved Jews.
The proposed Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre next to our
Houses of Parliament will be a powerful symbol of the UK’s
commitment to remembering the Holocaust. It will explore the role
of Britain’s Parliament and democratic institutions - what we did
and what more we could have done to tackle the persecution of the
Jewish people and other groups. Most importantly, our new
memorial will allow us to continue to confront the immense human
calamity caused by the destruction of Europe’s Jewish communities
during the Holocaust, and to demonstrate our sincere commitment
to mourn, remember and to act.
Today, in a world where Holocaust denial, distortion and
revisionism is gaining a foothold, we must remain resolute and
recognise that attempts to attack the facts of the Holocaust all
undermine the truth and our understanding of history.
We must face this challenge head on. It is not enough to know
that facts are on our side; we must actively ensure that we never
forget.
