Lord Pickles visited the Netherlands from 21 to 23 January 2025
to take part in commemoration events in the lead up to
International Holocaust Remembrance Day on 27 January,
remembering the 6 million Jewish men, women and children and
other groups who lost their lives during the Holocaust.
He also hosted meetings with representatives from the Dutch
government and Dutch society who are focused on tackling
antisemitism today.
In his capacity as UK Special Envoy for Post-Holocaust issues and
current Chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance
Alliance, Lord Pickles took part in the first evening of the
‘Namen Lezen' or ‘Reading of Names' at Camp Westerbork.
From 22 to 27 January, over 100,000 names of the Jews, Sinta and
Roma who were transited through Westerbork before being murdered
at concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau and Sobibor were
read out.
Lord Pickles also attended the reopening of Herinneringscentrum
(Memorial Centre) Apeldoornsche Bosch, hearing from a relative of
one staff member of the former Jewish psychiatric institution,
who was arrested and deported to Auschwitz on the night of 21 to
22 January 1943.
Almost 1,400 residents and staff members were deported on that
evening and the days that followed. None survived. Only a small
number of residents and staff members who had fled the night
before managed to survive the war.
In Amsterdam, Lord Pickles visited the National Holocaust Museum.
He met the General Director of the Jewish Museum Quarter, Emile
Schrijver and recorded a conversation for the British Embassy in
The Hague's Remembering Together podcast.
Together they reflected on the history of the Holocaust in the
Netherlands and how it is remembered, as well as the role of the
Chair of the IHRAPresidency.
Lord Pickles also had moving meetings with representatives of the
Jewish Community in Amsterdam and heard from the Dutch National
Coordinator for Tackling Antisemitism, Eddo Verdoner, about the
Dutch government's multi-year antisemitism strategy which was
published in 2024.
Lord Pickles said:
It was an honour to visit the Netherlands this month as the
country remembers and honours the victims of the Holocaust in the
Netherlands and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of
Auschwitz-Birkenau.
I heard about the devastation caused by the Holocaust in the
Netherlands, where only 35,000 of the 140,000 strong Jewish
community (ie less than 25%) survived the war, and what is
happening today to ensure the horrors of the Holocaust are not
forgotten.
Listen: podcast
Remembering Together: Episode 7 - Remembering and honouring
victims of the Holocaust, in conversation with Lord Pickles and
Emile Schrijver.
