A Holocaust Memorial for London

by Marie Lynam

Last week the government announced that it intends to build a National Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre  in Victoria Tower Gardens near the Houses of Parliament in London. This memorial – first proposed in 2021 – will “honour the victims of the Holocaust” and “help combat antisemitism”.The Memorial will also pay tribute to the Romas, gays and disabled people and others who were victims of Nazi terror in the Second World War. Sadly it will not mention that the Soviet Union was the primary liberator of the Nazi death camps. 
And some survivors and those whose close relatives died in the Holocaust  say the phrase ‘never again’ also means nothing without action against Israel’s genocide in Gaza today.
On the 27 January 1945 Soviet troops liberated prisoners of the Auschwitz concentration camp – the largest death camp of the Third Reich. That day is now recognised by the UN as the Holocaust Memorial Day. Last week a group of Holocaust survivors from various countries held a simple street ceremony and demonstration on that day to remember all the victims of genocide in the heart of the capital.
Holocaust survivor Agnes Kory told the left-wing Canary news outlet that “it was the Russian army that liberated the Jews of the Budapest Ghetto in 1945. It was a Russian soldier that liberated my mother and myself. At Memorial Day events I say this as loud as I can, making sure that the people around me can hear it”. 
Another survivor, Israeli peace activist Haim Bresheeth-Žabner, said  “I am deeply shocked about the total denial of the events in Gaza by the wide variety of Holocaust memorial institutions. All such institutions are run mostly by Zionist Jews, and all share an unwillingness to mention a genocide in real time...”.
And Chris Romberg said “the Holocaust was not the only massacre committed by the Nazis and their collaborators: the genocides of the Roma and Sinti (Porajmos) and of the Slavs took place in parallel, as did the murders of disabled people, LGBTQ+ people, political opponents and many others. They too should not be excluded from our memory, nor from the call Never Again! It applies to everyone”.

Saying no to genocide!

by New Worker correspondent

On 27 January, International Holocaust Memorial Day, the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN), arranged an alternative memorial service outside the Polish embassy in London to call for the arrest of Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu, who was attending the official service at Auschwitz, the former Nazi death camp in Poland. The Polish government had already promised to ignore the ICC (International Criminal Court) arrest warrant issued against Netanyahu for potential war crimes.
Interestingly the Russians, who liberated Auschwitz, have not been invited to the official ceremony for some years, while German politicians, representing the country that committed the Holocaust are honoured guests.
Two of the themes of the protest were education on other lesser acknowledged and unpunished crimes and genocides and the misuse of the Nazi Holocaust to prevent criticism of Israel and its actions.
Stephen Kapos is a Jewish child Holocaust survivor. As a child, he wore the yellow star, and avoided deportation from Budapest to the camps in 1945 by going into hiding. He was a long-standing Labour Party member, in the same local branch as Keir Starmer, until he was threatened with expulsion in 2023 for agreeing to address a Holocaust Memorial Day event that the Labour hierarchy disagreed with. So he resigned instead of being expelled.
Stephen has always supported the Palestinian cause and calls for the end of illegal occupations and since October 2023 he has spoken tirelessly for this cause; for a ceasefire, the end of weapons sales, and for the decisions of the ICC and ICJ to be implemented. He sees his Jewishness as central to his support for the Palestinians and he spoke of his disgust at the Nazi Holocaust being used to cover up and justify the ongoing slaughter in Palestine, and now Syria and Lebanon.
Clare Glasman from disabled advocacy group, WinVisible, spoke of how the Nazi Holocaust began with the dehumanisation of the disabled and sick before moving on to other marginalised groups in society, and how the Aktion T4 Euthanasia Programme, beginning in 1939, gassed disabled people in Germany years before the Final Solution and the extermination camps.
Other speakers from Rwanda, Vietnam and Kenya spoke of more recent genocides from direct experience, and the need to use these crimes as examples to prevent them happening again. A speaker from Colombia covered the New World from the arrival of Columbus to the African slave trade.
One constant across the speakers was that what the Nazis did in Europe was not new. Western countries had behaved the same way in Africa, Asia and the Americas for centuries. What was new was bringing colonialism to Europe, and treating Europeans in the same way as what was then seen as the ‘lesser breeds’. Across the globe, bourgeois politicians are using divisive rhetoric and tactics to divide people and set them against each other, aided by the media. All speakers spoke of the importance of people and communities under attack to stand together and support each other, how Palestine is the crucial issue of our time and the need for international support and solidarity.

We will remember them!

The ceremony begins

 by New Worker correspondent

New Communist Party leader Andy Brooks joined comrades, war veterans, diplomats and anti-fascists to remember the victims of the Holocaust at a ceremony in the grounds of the Imperial War Museum in south London last week.
    The annual Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration, organised by the Soviet War Memorial Trust and Southwark Council, could not be held last year because of the Covid lockdown but the recent easing of the restrictions meant that although the traditional commemoration in the halls of the Museum was still suspended the outdoor ceremony could once again go ahead.
    The solemn event organised by the Soviet War Memorial Trust and Southwark Council was held on Thursday 27th January, the day back in 1945 when the Red Army liberated Auschwitz, the largest death camp in the Third Reich.
    The Nazis killed six million Jews during the Second World War. There were hundreds of thousands of Soviet citizens amongst them. About three million Soviet prisoners of war perished in extermination camps.
    The Act of Remembrance began with a procession led by veterans’ associations to the Holocaust Memorial Tree and the Soviet War Memorial, followed by the laying of wreaths and floral tributes by the company that included veteran organisations, representatives of the embassies of the Russian Federation and Belarus, as well as local Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors, the NCP and members of the Russian community in London. It ended, as always, with a minute’s silence and the Last Post.

Honouring the victims of Auschwitz

by New Worker correspondent

Comrades joined war veterans, diplomats and anti-fascists last week at the annual Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration, organised by the Soviet War Memorial Trust and Southwark Council.

This year marks the 75th  anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau by the Red Army on 27th January 1945. The liberation of Auschwitz, the largest death camp in the Third Reich, is now commemorated as International Holocaust Remembrance Day to remember those who suffered Nazi persecution. Every year, on that day, the millions of victims of the Nazi Holocaust are remembered in the gardens outside the Imperial War Museum in south London.

The Nazis killed six million Jews during the Second World War. There were hundreds of thousands of Soviet citizens amongst them. About three million Soviet prisoners of war perished in extermination camps along with millions of other victims of Nazi terror.

The Act of Remembrance began with a procession led by veterans’ associations to the Holocaust Memorial Tree and the Soviet War Memorial, followed by the laying of wreaths and floral tributes by the company that included the Russian and Israeli ambassadors as well as the mayor of Southwark, veterans’ associations, representatives of community groups and local political parties, including the New Communist Party (NCP).  It closed, as always, with a minute’s silence and the Last Post.

Never Again!

 by New Worker
 correspondent

Andy Brooks paying tribute to the dead

New Communist Party (NCP) leader Andy Brooks joined comrades, war veterans, diplomats and anti-fascists last week at the annual Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) commemoration, organised by the Soviet War Memorial Trust and Southwark Council.

The Nazis killed six million Jews during the Second World War. There were hundreds of thousands of Soviet citizens amongst them. About three million Soviet prisoners of war perished in extermination camps.

On 27th January, 1945, the Red Army liberated Auschwitz, the largest death camp in the Third Reich. The day is now commemorated as International Holocaust Remembrance Day to remember those who suffered Nazi persecution. Every year, on that day, the millions of victims of the Nazi Holocaust are remembered in the gardens outside the Imperial War Museum in south London.

The Act of Remembrance began with a procession led by veterans’ associations to the Holocaust Memorial Tree and the Soviet War Memorial, followed by the laying of wreaths and floral tributes by the company that included four London mayors and a judge, military veteran organisations, representatives of the embassies of the Russian Federation, Belarus and Georgia, as well as local Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors, the NCP and the Communist Party of Britain. It closed, as always, with a minute’s silence and the Last Post.

Holocaust Day: The lessons of the past

Andy Brooks and Dermot Hudson from the Metropolitan NCP lay flowers

 by New Worker correspondent

LONDON communists joined war veterans, diplomats and anti-fascists at the annual Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration in London last week. On 27th January 1945 the Red Army liberated Auschwitz, the largest death camp in the Third Reich, and every year the millions of victims of the Nazi Holocaust are remembered at the Imperial War Museum and the nearby Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park.

Holocaust Memorial Day began in Britain in 2001. Since then special events have been held in London and all over the country to remember the millions of Jews and other innocent victims of the Nazis who died in the Second World War and commemorate subsequent genocides around the world including Cambodia, Rwanda and Darfur.

    The solemn event at the Imperial War Museum began with a procession led by veterans’ associations to the Holocaust Memorial Tree and the Soviet War Memorial.

New Communist Party leader Andy Brooks joined the Mayor of Southwark and other council dignitaries, Russian diplomats and members of London’s Jewish and Russian communities in laying wreathes and floral tributes at the memorials. It ended, as always, with a minute’s silence and the Last Post.

    The remembrance ceremony then continued in the museum cinema. It was opened by Charlie Smith, the Mayor of Southwark, and the programme included musical and literary tributes to the victims as well as an interview with John Dobai, a Holocaust survivor.

            Memorial candles were lit to remember the dead and the ceremony concluded with Rabbi Lionel Rosenfeld from the Western Marble Arch Synagogue leading the Memorial Prayer and Kaddish.