Welsh Parliament: Statement by the Minister for Social Justice: Holocaust Memorial Day 2023

Statement by the Minister for Social Justice: Holocaust Memorial Day 2023

Y Dirprwy Lywydd / The Deputy Presiding Officer 15:02:33

Item 3 this afternoon is a statement by the Minister for Social Justice on Holocaust Memorial Day 2023. I call on the Minister, Jane Hutt.

Jane Hutt MS 15:02:44

Minister for Social Justice

Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd. This Friday, we remember the millions of people who were persecuted and killed during the Holocaust and subsequent genocides. The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2023 is 'Ordinary People'. During the Holocaust and the genocides that have followed, it was ordinary people who found themselves persecuted and murdered because they belonged to a community of people. It was ordinary people who took action and helped those being targeted. It was ordinary people who did nothing and accepted hateful propaganda. The theme highlights a stark reality of genocide: in many cases, these atrocities were facilitated by ordinary people.

In their introduction to this year's theme, the trust underlines how ordinary people have enabled horrific actions:

'Ordinary people were policemen involved in rounding up victims, secretaries typing the records of genocide, dentists and doctors carrying out selections, ordinary people were neighbours wielding machetes in Rwanda, schoolteachers turned concentration-camp guards in Bosnia.'

The theme has a powerful message that is relevant to us all. We are all 'ordinary people' who have the power to make a difference with our actions, for good or ill. We, as individuals, have a choice to stand up to hate and prejudice. We can all challenge divisive narratives that aim to fragment our communities and demonise certain groups of people.

For 2023, the Welsh Government has funded the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust to employ a support worker in Wales to inspire involvement across the nation. The support worker has been engaging with communities, encouraging their participation, and helping to support local commemoration events through guidance and the provision of resources.

There are a number of events taking place across Wales, including a memorial service at Tŷ Pawb in Wrexham on 27 January, which I will be attending. The headline speaker is poet Adam Kammerling, who has written poetry based on his Jewish heritage and about his grandfather being a Holocaust survivor. The exhibition, 'Sophie Scholl and the White Rose', will be on show at both the Art Central gallery, Barry, and at Penarth pier pavilion. The exhibition tells the story of Sophie Scholl and her brother Hans, who became activists, risking their lives by distributing anti-Nazi leaflets throughout Germany. This week, both the Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff and the Josef Herman Art Foundation in Swansea are hosting public screenings of films about the Holocaust. The Wales Hate Support Centre is holding an online webinar about the Holocaust on 26 January.

We are pleased to work alongside the trust once again, both to support this work at a grass-roots level as well as with the organisation of the national commemoration. The Wales national ceremony will be available online from 11 a.m. on Holocaust Memorial Day. It will be an opportunity to hear the harrowing testimonies of Holocaust survivor Joan Salter MBE, and Antoinette Mutabazi, a survivor of the genocide in Rwanda. We are grateful to both Joan and Antionette, and many other survivors of genocide, who devote hours of their time to share their stories and ensure the victims of these barbaric events are not forgotten.

At 4 p.m. on 27 January, people across the UK will take part in a national moment to remember those who were killed during the Holocaust and other genocides. I hope you are all able to join in with the Light the Darkness moment by lighting a candle and placing it in a window. The trust asks that we also join in with the national conversation and share a photo of our candles on social media.

Buildings and landmarks across the UK will also light up in purple during this national moment of commemoration and solidarity. Many places across Wales are taking part, including Welsh Government offices, the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea, the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth, and Cyfarthfa Castle in Merthyr.

The trust has also worked with the Royal Drawing School to organise the (Extra)Ordinary Portraits competition, which was open to anyone in the UK under 25 years of age. Participants were asked to create a portrait of an individual affected by the Holocaust, genocide, or identity-based persecution. An expert judging panel chose 30 portraits to be displayed for Holocaust Memorial Day, with five of the winning entrants coming from Wales, which are now available to view on the Holocaust Memorial Day’s website.

The Welsh Government also continues to fund the Holocaust Educational Trust to deliver the Lessons from Auschwitz programme in Wales. Since 2008, the programme has provided students across Wales with the opportunity to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau and to hear from Holocaust survivors. After two years of virtual delivery, I am pleased that the students will once again take part in person this year. All participants become young ambassadors and are asked to continue to share their knowledge and encourage others to remember the Holocaust. One young ambassador is speaking at the Wales national ceremony on Friday.

We welcome Lord Mann’s recent report on tackling antisemitism in the UK. The Welsh Government contributed to the development of the review, and we look forward to continuing to work with him on this important issue. As Lord Mann highlighted in his report, tackling antisemitism goes beyond education about the Holocaust.

It is important that our education system equips our young people to understand and respect their own and each other’s histories, cultures and traditions. Our new curriculum reflects the true diversity of our population and that learners understand how diversity has shaped modern Wales, through mandatory teaching of black, Asian and minority ethnic histories, contributions and experiences. This is a key part of our 'Anti-racist Wales Action Plan', which is driving us towards meaningful change.

The Holocaust is an extremely painful and distressing part of history, but it is a part of history that we and future generations cannot forget. It happened because of divisive narratives and abuse of power. We must never lower our guard to these same toxic narratives that remain present today.

This year is the seventy-fifth anniversary of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A historic and important milestone for humankind, which was developed in response to the atrocities and inhumanity of the second world war. The universal seclaration states that

'All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.'

And that these rights are

'the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world'.

It is well worth remembering the origins of these sentiments at a time when there has been a growth in anti-human rights rhetoric across the world.

So, I will close this statement by thanking the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and the Holocaust Educational Trust for their important work. I remain grateful to them for holding the lessons of history before us and continuing to speak out against hate and prejudice. Diolch yn fawr.

15:10

Y Dirprwy Lywydd / The Deputy Presiding Officer 15:10:13

I have eight Members who wish to speak today on this statement, and I hope to call them all. So, your help would be appreciated in making sure your contributions are within your time allocations. 

Altaf Hussain MS 15:10:26

Thank you for your statement, Minister. Friday marks the seventy-eighth anniversary of the day that Auschwitz, the largest Nazi death camp, was liberated by Soviet forces; 1.1 million people were murdered at that camp, nine out of every 10 of whom were Jewish. This is why 27 January is chosen to mark Holocaust Memorial Day. Why do we each year remember this Holocaust? It reminds us to learn the lessons of the past, to remember the stories of 6 million murdered Jews and those millions of Gypsy, Roma and Travellers, LGBT people, disabled people and black people who were also murdered in Nazi death camps. The world said, 'Never again', yet genocide has continued to take place since those terrible atrocities committed by Nazi Germany.

The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust also teaches us to remember those executed in the genocides of Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur, but even after all these terrible events, we fail to learn. Tragically, in the twenty-first century genocide is still being perpetrated around the globe. We have Rohingya Muslims being slaughtered in Myanmar, Uighur Muslims in the Chinese province of Xinjiang being placed in concentration camps at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party, and perhaps saddest of all, we see the sons and grandsons of the heroic troops that liberated Auschwitz in 1945 carrying out war crimes and, quite possibly, genocide in Ukraine. The world cannot sit idly by and allow these atrocities to happen.

I would like to thank the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust as well as the Holocaust Educational Trust for their invaluable work in educating future generations about the Holocaust and, more recently, crimes against humanity. Sadly, not everyone heeds these lessons, and we have seen a tragic rise in antisemitism in recent years. It was deeply disturbing to read the independent report into the NUS, which found that the National Union of Students has failed to sufficiently challenge antisemitism and hostility towards the Jews in our own structures. Minister, what discussions have you and Cabinet member colleagues held with the NUS here in Wales about the steps they are taking to stamp out antisemitism in our university campuses?

As you point out in your statement, the theme of this year's Holocaust Memorial Day is 'Ordinary People'. Genocide is facilitated by ordinary people. Watching the trial of Adolf Eichmann, Holocaust survivor Hannah Arendt coined the phrase 'the banality of evil', meaning that evil acts are not necessarily perpetrated by evil people. Rather, they are the result of ordinary people obeying orders. Minister, how do we get this message across to people that everyone has a responsibility to stand up to hatred, that all of us have a duty to call out inequality?

Finally, Minister, your referenced the report of Lord Mann and the fact that tackling antisemitism goes beyond education about the Holocaust. You rightly point out that this year marks 75 years since the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted. Will you be marking the anniversary by introducing your Welsh human rights Bill? Diolch yn fawr. 

Jane Hutt MS 15:14:57

Diolch yn fawr, Altaf Hussain, and thank you so much for your support for this statement, again reminding us of those horrific statistics of those slaughtered in the camps and the horror afflicted on 6 million Jews, but also on the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people. We stood shoulder to shoulder at the candlelit vigil—very moving today, cross party—hosted by Julie Morgan, as she's done year after year, hearing also from our Traveller community here in Wales, but also recognising the fact that disabled people were also slaughtered—Aktion T4, we won't forget that—and LGBTQ+ people, but also reminding us of the genocides across the world as well.

The theme is ordinary people, and I do want to just respond to your point about the NUS and universities. The Minister for Education and Welsh Language met the previous NUS Wales president last year. He had an introductory meeting with the new NUS Wales president in October. But he also met Lord Mann—you've mentioned, of course, the report on antisemitism—the UK Government's adviser on antisemitism. He met him last year to discuss the work and to raise awareness of antisemitism. He also met with representatives of the Union of Jewish Students in February, and he discussed the experience of Jewish students in higher education. And also recognising that we expect, from the NUS—. We continue regular engagement with this, but we expect, in terms of the investigation and subsequent report into antisemitism, an open and transparent engagement with them.

I want to finish by thanking you very much indeed for recognising that this is about human rights, and it is about learning the lessons. Commemorating the Holocaust is so important to ensure we don't forget, and never forget, how dangerous hate from divisive narratives can be and what can happen when people and communities are targeted and dehumanised because of who they are. I very much welcome—and I hope this is welcomed by your colleagues—a Welsh human rights Bill.

15:15

Sioned Williams MS 15:17:39

I certainly echo that call, Minister. Holocaust Memorial Day is dedicated to remembering those who were persecuted and killed because they were marginalised and othered by those in power. The theme of Holocaust Memorial Day, ordinary people, is one that has much to teach us today, as you have referenced, worldwide, and here in Wales. Because while Holocaust Memorial Day ensures we remember people, ordinary people, who are victims of atrocity, who were witnesses to such inhumanity, it also demands, while doing so, that we remember the fact that ordinary people inflicted those atrocities, were bystanders to bigotry, lies, hatred and obscene acts of violence. It forces us to confront what leads to such hatred, what facilitates such atrocities then and now. The author and Holocaust survivor Primo Levy said in his book The Reawakening:

'Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions.'

How are we ensuring that those questions are always asked in Wales? In her report on the war crimes trial of Adolf Eichmann, the philosopher Hannah Arendt famously called Eichmann, one of the functionaries of the Nazi machine, 'terrifyingly normal'. She concluded in her subsequent celebrated study, 'Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil', that his evil stemmed from

'an inability to think from the standpoint of somebody else'.

Thus, she suggested, an individual, and therefore those who serve a Government or operate on behalf of a state, can do evil without being inherently monstrously evil. That lack of empathy, that ability to see others as less, to detach from shared humanity, is what we must constantly guard against in society, in Government and in the media. Minister, do you therefore agree with me that compassion and empathy for those who are our brothers and sisters is crucial and that compassion and empathy must be expressed by Government through the language it uses and its actions? Given your comments on anti-human rights rhetoric, Minister, do you therefore also agree that we need to devolve further powers from Westminster to ensure our aim to be a nation of sanctuary is realised?

Freedom from Torture, an advocacy charity for torture survivors, recently posted footage online where Holocaust survivor Joan Salter confronted the UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman's dehumanising rhetoric regarding refugees and asylum seekers. Quoting words such as 'swarms' and 'invasions', Ms Salter asked the Home Secretary a very important question:

'I am reminded of the language used to dehumanise and justify the murder of my family and millions of others. Why do you find the need to use that kind of language?'

Yet the Home Secretary refused to apologise for the language she has used. As we mark Holocaust Memorial Day this week, will you, Minister, take this opportunity to join with me and my party in publicly denouncing the Home Secretary’s rhetoric used to describe people, ordinary people, fleeing from extraordinary circumstances and looking for sanctuary, and also the dog whistles such as the comments regarding small boats made by those in the Tory party both in Westminster and, sadly, by those who sit in this Chamber?

15:20

Jane Hutt MS 15:21:33

Diolch yn fawr, Sioned Williams. Can I just thank you again for your powerful statement as well as questions and your support for this statement today? As you say, the Holocaust didn't happen overnight; it began with a gradual erosion of human rights and divisive rhetoric against people who were different, who were perceived to be different to others. This is about the commitment again that we give as the Welsh Government—and it should be driven and expressed across this Chamber—that we want to drive out stigma and hatred and ensure people feel safe. I think what is happening over these coming weeks and months in terms of the work of the Holocaust Educational Trust is crucial in terms of ensuring that that underpins not only us as the Welsh Government but throughout all our public services, indeed every sector and facet of life. So, I'm really glad that we've got all those local authorities and organisations delivering a range of events and communication for Holocaust Memorial Day, and joining in the 'light the darkness' national moment.

Just very briefly, I want to say how important it is that we've funded the Holocaust Educational Trust since 2008 to run the Lessons from Auschwitz programme in Wales, as many of you will know, as you've met students who've actually engaged with this. Now this year they're able to actually personally engage in it. In 2023, the Lessons from Auschwitz project is running in February and March with 110 students from 55 Welsh schools signed up already. That will include six schools that are taking part in the programme for the first time—the first in-person Welsh project since the pandemic. And also, the online project is involving 131 students from 43 schools.

In terms of the expression of concern that you raise about statements by the Home Secretary back in December, I raised this this morning at an asylum and refugee taskforce that I chaired, which was attended by a Home Office official. I raised the concerns on our behalf from the Welsh Government, and it's good to have your support of that about the rhetoric and about the impact that that will have on people's lives. What does this mean for us as a nation of sanctuary? It actually goes right to the core against everything that we believe. I actually wrote to the Minister, Robert Jenrick, about this as well. So, I thank you for those points. I do think it is important that we look to the work that we're doing with the human rights advisory committee, looking towards us being able to—. We've established this new human rights advisory group. You also chair a very important cross-party human rights group so that we can move towards securing our legislation in terms of a human rights Bill. This is where we have huge concerns about the UK Government Bill of rights Bill, which seeks to repeal the Human Rights Act 1998. This is directly against what we wish to take forward in terms of our commitment in Wales, I believe, in the Welsh Government, and I thank you for your support on this issue.

15:25

Jenny Rathbone MS 15:25:28

I agree with the words of Lord Mann that tackling antisemitism goes beyond education about the Holocaust. However, it would be a mistake for us to think that there is not still an enormous job of work to be done to describe exactly what happened during the Holocaust and the things that were then subsequently suppressed. There was a deliberate policy after the second world war of drawing a veil over the Nazi terror in western Germany. My uncle was a colonel in the army of occupation, who told me, in some detail, about all the Nazis who were not put on trial but who were invited instead to resume their roles as administrators, as judges, and as police in the new post-war administration. Friends of mine who were of German-Jewish heritage, who've investigated the past, have huge amounts of stories to tell about those of them who managed to flee Germany. But we have to remember all the ones who failed to get here—all the Kindertransport that were denied entry into this country—rather than just the ones that we are proud to say we have accepted. We really have so much work to do to look at our own role. What did we know about the concentration camps and what could we have done to bomb the railroads that were taking people to their murderous end? So, Minister, I wondered what conversations you might have had with the education Minister on how we can ensure that the Holocaust is never forgotten and that we reflect on a new approach, a new eye on the things that we really do need to remember, because if we forget, we will simply repeat history.

Jane Hutt MS 15:27:40

Thank you very much, indeed, Jenny Rathbone, recognising that so much was suppressed, so much in our generation—in fact, in many family histories across this Chamber. We need to revisit that history.

Some Members may have had the opportunity—if you haven't, I do recommend it—to watch How the Holocaust Began, which was a film broadcast last night presented by James Bulgin. It was about the atrocities leading to the Holocaust. Again, it's unravelling the history that led to the Holocaust—the poisonous ideology that was being developed of ordinary people betraying their neighbours. All of this led up to the establishment of the camps as a result of mass shootings becoming unsustainable—Jewish people just being murdered. I've mentioned T4 in terms of disabled people. I think one of the horrific things that was said is that they referred to disabled people as 'life unworthy of life'.

I can assure you that we're taking Lord Mann’s report very seriously, but it is about what can we do in terms of that history. I would just say that this is really important, I think, with the new opportunities with the curriculum. Diversity is a cross-cutting theme in the Curriculum for Wales. We've also led the way becoming the first part of the UK to make it mandatory to teach black, Asian and minority ethnic histories, contributions and experiences as part of the story of Wales in the curriculum, with statutory guidance that makes it very clear the opportunities for our learners, but also helping our teaching profession as well with the diversity and anti-racism professional learning. And this, of course, will help in terms of widening our understanding of what history actually means—living history—for our learners in Wales.

Jane Dodds MS 15:29:57

It's so hard, isn't it, to talk about this, and, yet, it is so essential. It is so important that we remember these events, these horrific events, which should pervade our life, and we must never forget them. One thing I will never forget is standing in Kigali in Rwanda, on the site where 125,000 people were buried. It's hard to imagine that ordinary people in Rwanda, in a period of only 100 days, we found that Hutus were murdered by Tutsis—800,000 were murdered, and the world stood by and did absolutely nothing.

I've worked with refugees, and I've volunteered at Calais. I know how important language is in our discussions, and I associate myself with all of the remarks made earlier, particularly the remarks made by Sioned with regard to the language of our Conservative Ministers. It is absolutely unacceptable. We must look at our language. We mustn't call people 'migrants'; they are people—they are people desperately looking for a different way of life. And, in everything we do, we must remember what happened in the Holocaust. We must remember what's happened over the years in countries around the world, and we must always challenge what is going on today in this country, because it's about language, it's about challenging injustice, and challenging hatred. Thank you for your remarks, and thank you for the work that you're doing, Minister. Diolch yn fawr iawn. 

15:30

Jane Hutt MS 15:31:33

Diolch yn fawr, Jane. And it is so hard, but it is so essential, as you say. And I did want to also respond to the point that follows up what Sioned has said about the strength and the bravery of people who have spoken out. And, I think the fact that Joan Salter was filmed confronting the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, in January, about the language used to describe refugees—. And Joan Salter said to the Home Secretary,

'When I hear you using words against refugees like 'swarms' and 'invasion', I'm reminded of the language used to dehumanise and justify the murder of my family and millions of others'.

And I think it is important that we put that on the record today. 

Samuel Kurtz MS 15:32:25

I'm very grateful to have a chance to contribute to and respond to today's statement. As has already been stated, Holocaust Memorial Day is a day on which we remember all of those lives sadly lost in the Holocaust. With this year's theme being 'ordinary people', it is worth remembering those ordinary people and who they were. Approximately six million Jews, half a million Romany people, 270,000 disabled people and up to 15,000 LGBT people, and many others from many other groups, were victims—all ordinary people who perished at the hands of pure evil. 

As a school pupil, I was able to join a trip with my peers to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and death camps—an experience that will live with me for the rest of my life. To see for ourselves the site where so many ordinary people had suffered and died due to their race, sexual orientation or religious backgrounds can never be replicated by watching a film or reading a book. That trip made such an impression on me that I think it's imperative that others visit and learn exactly what happened, because, as each year passes, those who survived the Holocaust are sadly lost to us as they die.

Therefore, I would like to ask you, Minister, if you are willing to work with me, and organisations such as the Holocaust Educational Trust, to set up a cross-party visit to Auschwitz-Birkenhau before the end of the sixth Senedd, to give our fellow Welsh parliamentarians the same opportunity that I had 15 years ago. Diolch. 

Jane Hutt MS 15:33:57

Diolch. Can I thank the Member so much for his—? Well, he is a testimony today to the impact that the experience had on you as a young person growing up in Wales. And that has been very powerful as a contribution to the statement this afternoon.

I've already highlighted the fact that this is really moving forward in 2023, in terms of our visits, back in-person, in terms of the the Lessons from Auschwitz Wales project. And it is important that this is—. Looking at the Lessons from Auschwitz project, where you would have benefited from this unique four-part course, with two seminars, one-day visit to Poland and next-steps project. It's a journey of learning and exploration about the history of the Holocaust and the world that we live in. But, also, the fact that you, I'm sure now, will always be a lifelong ambassador, a Holocaust Educational Trust ambassador. And I think it's important, as I said, that there will be a young person, a student from Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Rhydywaun, Penywaun, who's going to be taking part in the ceremony on the memorial day, on Friday. So, I certainly would be very happy to look at that proposal. I think this is really important, that we do join across the Senedd in terms of the support. And tomorrow, I look forward to the event, which, of course, is being hosted, cross-party, by Jane Dodds, Darren Millar, Jenny Rathbone, and Llyr Gruffydd as well. And we will make sure that, again, we express that support, I'm sure, at that event, and hear, indeed, from a survivor herself.

15:35

Delyth Jewell MS 15:35:57

On Holocaust Memorial Day, as so often, I'll be thinking about Zigi Shipper, an Auschwitz survivor, who died last week, on his ninety-third birthday. I had the honour of meeting Zigi in Westminster, and I heard him speak, not only about the horrors he faced during that period, when man's hatred of other human beings was allowed to conquer all sense of humanity, but also about the wonderful life he'd lived in the years since, because chance allowed him to survive. His story overwhelmed me, and when I was leaving the room, he grabbed my hand, and he said, 'I saw that you were crying. Why do you cry? I'm so happy'. Minister, I worry that, as more survivors pass away, the immediacy of their testimony could be lost, that that direct link that reminds us of the consequences of unchecked hatred could be loosened. What is the Welsh Government doing, please, to capture that testimony, working with the Holocaust Educational Trust and others, to teach not only schoolchildren but grown adults too about how easy it was for human beings to slip into that ugliness, and how easily it could happen again?

Jane Hutt MS 15:37:18

Thank you very much for reminding us of that Holocaust survivor, who you met in the House of Commons, who died last year. And as I said, we're honoured to meet and to hear from a survivor tomorrow, and, indeed, in the national commemoration as well. This is why this event, this day and this statement are so important—it is not a one-off; this is about the way we live. I think it goes back to the point that was made by Sioned Williams—that this is a test of us as a compassionate society.

I do want to just very briefly mention the fact that we fund the Wales hate support centre, run by Victim Support Cymru. And it's very important that that centre is actually reaching out, to ensure that we tackle hate crime, and particularly, focus on an anti-hate-crime communications campaign, which, of course, is going to run right over this year, called Hate Hurts Wales. We've got to ensure that we get that message over. And I think it is important that we recognise the work of Lord Mann, in terms of tackling antisemitism in the UK. I think, now, what we have to do is make the connections between, yes, that important report, but then standing up for what we believe in Wales in terms of the people who we welcome to Wales—going back to Jane's point: it's the people we welcome to Wales. And that has to be reflected, not just in education, it's got to be reflected in the work that we're doing, not just in terms of tackling hate crime, not just in terms of education and supporting the trust, but also in our work to take forward, strengthening and advancing equality and human rights in Wales.

Alun Davies MS 15:39:24

I'm grateful to the Minister for her statement this afternoon, and I also welcome the cross-party unity that we see on this subject. I'm glad that she referenced the BBC programme last night, How the Holocaust Began, because I think it is an important aspect for us to understand—the way that ordinary people were both the victims and the perpetrators of the Holocaust. And I think that that programme did chart the development of the genocide in the second world war and before the second world war, and told again a story that we need to know and understand. I have borne witness to genocide twice in my life: in Rwanda and in the former Yugoslavia, and I think that creates a very real awareness that evil can always be there, that what happened in the 1940s wasn't a unique episode of evil, but it is something that can be just around the corner, even in today's world. 

Minister, we are losing the generation that bore witness to the Holocaust and the second world war; we're losing the human contact, the human link with the death camps in the second world war; and we're losing the testimony of those people, their voices speaking to us directly. And what I would like to ask you this afternoon is: how can we, in Wales today, ensure that young people growing up, particularly, understand the profound nature of what happened over 70 years ago? I would like to see us exploring ways in which young people can visit Auschwitz to understand the enormity of what happened there, but also that the Holocaust is a part of a curriculum, where people understand not simply the technicality and the numbers, but the human impact of a genocide against the Jewish and other peoples of Europe, so that we can hope that the people who are being educated today in Wales, although they will have lost the human connection, will have that human understanding of genocide and of what the Holocaust did to all of us today. 

15:40

Jane Hutt MS 15:42:03

Diolch yn fawr, Alun Davies. Thank you, again, for highlighting that theme of the ordinary people: the victims and the perpetrators, so clearly expressed in that broadcast last night. But, also, we've seen it in all the genocides; we saw it, as was mentioned, in terms of Rwanda, and the experience that Jane Dodds had. Thank you for sharing your experience of the impact of genocide yourself, personally. I think this is where—I won't repeat again the work that we're doing with the Holocaust Educational Trust. Actually, this is about priorities, isn't it? It is about, since 2008, funding that Holocaust Educational Trust, and I remember, as education Minister at the time, recognising how important it was that, even in a very pressurised budget, this must be a priority. Because, actually, as you say, Alun, this is about what we teach our children, what they learn and what are the opportunities we've got with the new curriculum. And I will share with the Minister for Education and Welsh Language the fact that I think this is really important learning, and the points you make for the diversity and anti-racism professional learning project. It is being driven forward by Cardiff Metropolitan University and the BAMEed Wales network. It needs to ensure that we can embrace this wider understanding of the history, and young people will be benefiting this week, I know, from hearing from those last survivors. 

Y Dirprwy Lywydd / The Deputy Presiding Officer 15:43:35

And, finally, Rhianon Passmore.  

Rhianon Passmore MS 15:43:38

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd, and thank you, Minister, for your statement. The sheer extent of the evil of the Holocaust remains unfathomable to comprehension. I have also had the honour and privilege of speaking to a number of Holocaust survivors now: children, people, human beings, and it was and is evil in its purest. A number of Members have spoken to the horrors of the Rwanda genocide, but I also wish to disassociate myself with the comments of the Home Secretary regarding 'swarms'.

It is powerful that the theme for Holocaust Memorial Day is ordinary people. It is too convenient and too comfortable for us to fool ourselves that the Holocaust horror was perpetrated by an extreme and abnormal group of political fanatics, and, as BBC2's compelling documentary by James Bulgin demonstrated, the true horror for humanity was the willingness of ordinary men and women to be complicit in this evil: a process of the dehumanisation of people, the acceptance of hate, the use of language by politicians and the acceptance of propaganda. One of the most shocking scenes presented in the documentary was a German solider's home movie, which showed men being thrown into a trench in Lithuania before being shot, but all as a large crowd of onlookers gathered, desperate to watch. Observing this, Bulgin stated, 'It's almost as if shooting Jews has become a spectator sport'—so truly horrifying to watch, eight decades later. And these horrific scenes were also replicated in The U.S. and the Holocaust, which presented us with pits of shot, naked women and infants, and the helpers filmed and laughed as the children were just executed. So, Minister, what can the Welsh Government and civil society do to ensure that future generations never forget such horror and evil? What lessons does it teach us about the power of individuals to effect good or ill on our fellow brothers and sisters?

15:45

Jane Hutt MS 15:45:49

I thank Rhianon Passmore for her contribution. It is a contribution—. Everyone who's spoken has been so moved by the fact that we're making this statement, and just recalling all the horror of the Holocaust. We must never forget that. It is about those ordinary people, and we must watch those programmes—we must learn from them. And also we must be very clear what we want to do in Wales. I won't repeat again what I've said about the opportunities through education, through our community cohesion, our anti-hate programmes as well. But also I have to say that we have raised our concerns with the UK Government, particularly not just about language, but the Nationality and Borders Act 2022—the fact is that it's diametrically opposed to our nation of sanctuary and the overall Welsh Government aim to have a more equal Wales—and the differentiation of refugees by their method of arrival. We must also continue, and we will do as a Government, and many of us around this Chamber raise these concerns with the UK Government, to be very clear what we believe and what we mean by a nation of sanctuary, and, hopefully, bring us together on understanding the history. So, I am really pleased to say thank you, Altaf Hussain, for starting this afternoon with that powerful contribution, because I think that really demonstrated that there is a lot that unites us on these issues.