On Monday I attended a specially arranged ceremony in Crawley Town Hall led by the Mayor to mark Holocaust Memorial Day. We were joined by councillors and residents of all faiths and none, members of the Phoenix Choir sang and members of Crawley Writers Circle gave readings. At the end, candles were lit.
There are many acts of sheer evil and atrocity in mankind’s existence, but the Holocaust is one that should be remembered long after all of us reading this no longer exist.
An act of hatred, directed against the weakest and children based on a barren ideology pursued by psychopaths and followed by many who simply never challenged it.
It is a lesson from history that should never be forgotten. People whose lives were torn from them, depriving them and their children and countless future generations of life. As wicked and shocking an act as it seems conceivable for supposedly civilised society to ever observe.
I remember hearing Baroness Lin Golding’s speech in Parliament of her father’s account of the liberation of Buchenwald, in April 1945, where in part she said:
“I remember him telling me about the horrors of what went on in that camp. They are engraved for ever on my mind and heart.
“There has been much talk tonight about the passage of time. I was but a child on the day when I opened the door to my father on his return. He stood there, grey and drawn, and said, ‘Do not touch me. I am covered with lice. Everyone in the camps is covered with lice. We have been deloused many times, but I am still covered with lice.’
“He could not sleep for many weeks, and he had nightmares for many years … My father showed me photographs of piles of bodies on carts. Three weeks later, the allies had not had time to remove them all. He showed me photographs of men in thin clothes, photographs of skeletons, and photographs of men with haunted eyes. I will always remember the look in those men’s eyes—the look of utter bewilderment and incomprehension. They had been starved and beaten, yet their spirit was still there”.
Even in the darkest moments of human history we need to know that the future can always be made a better place and provided we don’t forget the lessons history gives us, we can choose that better path. That people should not and must not be demonised for who they are or what they are born.
This year is the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi concentration camp complex, and the 30th anniversary of the genocide in Bosnia. The latter a reminder that with this and other atrocities such as in Rwanda, there are many examples in far more recent times. And that is why it is important for every generation to learn, and remember, for that better future I know we all want
Cllr Michael Jones
Leader, Crawley Borough Council