- James Cleverly and Israeli Embassy host Holocaust Memorial
Day event at Foreign Office
- The Foreign Secretary speaks of the importance of learning
from the Holocaust and grieving for all those who died
- Concentration camp survivor Manfred Goldberg and Israel’s
Ambassador to the UK also attend the first in-person memorial
event at the FCDO in three years.
The Foreign Secretary said we all share “a solemn duty” to
remember the six million victims of the Holocaust – as the UK and
Israel jointly commemorated Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) with a
ceremony at the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office.
The event, co-hosted by the FCDO and the Israeli Embassy in the
UK, was part of a long-standing collaboration between the UK and
Israel to mark HMD and returns in-person for the first time in
three years.
The Foreign Secretary gave a speech to attendees reflecting on
his own visit, last year, to Radegast station in Lodz in Poland
where 200,000 Jewish men, women and children were transported to
Nazi death camps.
In his speech, the Foreign Secretary spoke of the “solemn duty to
remember” that “every one of us shares.”
Stutthof Concentration Camp survivor, Manfred Goldberg BEM, also
shared his testimony with guests at the ceremony, including
representatives from the Jewish community, diplomatic community,
civil society, Parliamentarians, and other communal leaders.
UK Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, said:
Every one of us shares a solemn duty to remember that six million
men, women and children were killed during the Holocaust.
When we say the words “never again”, we must mean it, heart and
soul.
We owe it to all who were not saved to reflect, to learn, to
grieve, and above all, to remember.
Israel’s Ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, said:
Today, we remember the six million Jewish people murdered in the
Holocaust, as well as the millions of other lives who perished at
the hands of Nazism. We reflect on the systematic murder of
ordinary people and the immense pain and suffering needlessly
inflicted on so many. “We also consider the terrible consequences
of when other ordinary people stand idly by and allow the initial
roots of hatred to take hold. We, therefore, renew our promise to
forever challenge prejudice in all its forms wherever it occurs,
so that the horrors of the Holocaust are never repeated.
The Rt Hon. the , the UK’s Special Envoy for
post-Holocaust issues and Co-Chair of the UK Holocaust Memorial
Foundation, said:
Sadly, the number of direct witnesses to the Holocaust are
dwindling and that is why we must ensure that what they endured,
what they witnessed is never forgotten. We should make it our
mission to ensure that no one questions the basic facts of the
Holocaust.
The Holocaust was the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and
murder of six million European Jews by the Nazi German regime and
its allies and collaborators.
We owe it to the six million Jewish men, women and children who
were murdered during the Holocaust, survivors, and refugees to
reclaim their rights, their history, their cultural heritage and
traditions, and their dignity.
Both the Embassy of Israel and the FCDO will mark Holocaust
Memorial Day on Friday 27th January 2023, by lighting up their
respective buildings in purple, in honour of all victims of
genocide.
Further information
The Foreign Secretary, The , the Israeli Ambassador, Her
Excellency Tzipi Hotovely, and The , UK Special Envoy for
post-Holocaust issues and Co-Chair of the UK Holocaust Memorial
Foundation gave speeches at the ceremony.
The Rt Hon. Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister of State
for the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and United Nations
also delivered an Elie Wiesel poem during the event.
Following the ceremony, the Ambassador, Lord Ahmad and to viewed two exhibitions,
provided by the Wiener Holocaust Library. The exhibitions, named
Fate Unknown, which details the ongoing search for missing
victims of the Holocaust, and A Thousand Kisses: Stories of the
Kindertransport, both have relevance to this year’s theme for
Holocaust Memorial Day - ‘Ordinary People’.
