Has there been a need for increased efforts to commemorate the Holocaust in the United Kingdom?
In the realm of academic discourse, concerns about the direction of Holocaust memorialization in Britain have been raised by Tom Lawson, a professor of history at Northumbria University. Lawson believes that the narrative is becoming absorbed into self-satisfied and comforting stories about the past, rather than encouraging challenging questions about our own world.
The professor's sentiments are shared by Bob Moore, a 20th-century European history professor at the University of Sheffield, who questions the need for the Holocaust Commission, as the Holocaust is not central to British history or to the history of Britain.
The Holocaust Commission, proposed by Prime Minister David Cameron, is intended to raise awareness of not just the Holocaust, but other genocides as well. However, Lawson argues that its focus on Britain's role as a haven for the oppressed and a liberator during the Holocaust turns the Holocaust into a good news story for Britain, rather than prompting us to reflect on our own role in the context of the Holocaust and other genocides.
Olaf Jensen, the director of the Stanley Burton Centre for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of Leicester, suggests a different approach. He proposes the creation of a research and teaching institution for the Holocaust, instead of a permanent memorial. However, there is currently no information available on Jensen's proposal or his reasoning behind this approach.
Memorials, such as the Washington Holocaust Memorial Museum in the US, Yad Vashem in Israel, and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, have a tendency to emphasize and support a positive national identity. The Berlin Memorial, in particular, has shown that memorials can write or rewrite history from a national perspective.
The greatest direct intersection of the Holocaust with British history comes with the deportation of the Jews from the occupied Channel Islands. The authorities in these islands were just as culpable in allowing the deportation as their counterparts in occupied continental Europe.
The Holocaust is already represented in the national curriculum, and remembrance and education are being undertaken through Holocaust Memorial Day and the Holocaust Educational Trust. Therefore, the stated purpose of the Holocaust Commission—to consider remembrance and education—is already being addressed.
This article was first published by History Extra in February 2014. It highlights the ongoing debate about the appropriate way to memorialise the Holocaust in Britain, with some advocating for a more critical approach that encourages introspection and reflection, rather than a narrative that emphasizes Britain's role as a haven and liberator.
