Holocaust Memorial Day – remembrance and vigilance
The winter season is a time of remembrance for many people.
Some occasions signify hope: Christmas heralds peace to people of goodwill. Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights when the Menorah is lit, calls to mind for Jewish people the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem.
Other occasions are most solemn, even heart-rending. Remembrance Day in November allows time in Scotland and across the UK to ponder the loss of life caused by the 20th Century World Wars and other more recent conflicts and to reject the futility of war.
In January we are all, whether people of faith or not, called to remember the Shoah, the Holocaust.
27 January 2023 is the 78th anniversary of the liberation by the Soviet Army of the Nazi concentration and extermination camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau. The commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day falls each year on the anniversary of that event.
We remember what the survivors have told us – what they remember. The strength of their testimony, re-enforced by the tangible evidence from the camps, tell us of the horror of the Holocaust and is as relevant today as it was 78 years ago.
Robert Jackson US prosecutor, at the Nuremburg war crimes trials said: “The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so malignant and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored because it cannot survive their being repeated.”
That is why the United Kingdom committed, following the Stockholm Declaration in 2000, to remember all victims of Nazi persecution and the victims of all genocides.
It is useful to recall the resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on Holocaust remembrance on 1 November 2005, which said in part:
“Reaffirming the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which proclaims that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth therein, without distinction of any kind, such as race, religion or other status…
“Reaffirming that the Holocaust, which resulted in the murder of one third of the Jewish people, along with countless members of other minorities, will forever be a warning to all people of the dangers of hatred, bigotry, racism and prejudice…
- "Resolves that the United Nations will designate 27 January as an annual International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust;
- Urges Member States to develop educational programmes that will inculcate future generations with the lessons of the Holocaust in order to help to prevent future acts of genocide, and in this context commends the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research;
- Rejects any denial of the Holocaust as an historical event, either in full or part;
- Commends those States which have actively engaged in preserving those sites that served as Nazi death camps, concentration camps, forced labour camps and prisons during the Holocaust;
- Condemns without reserve all manifestations of religious intolerance, incitement, harassment or violence against persons or communities based on ethnic origin or religious belief, wherever they occur."
Furthermore, at the Malmö International Forum on Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism – Remember ReAct in 2021 the UK Government committed to “keep up the fight against Antisemitism”.
The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust chooses each year a different theme to enable people to learn something new about the past and to raise awareness of the dangers of the present. Every theme is relevant to the Holocaust and to more recent genocides such as those in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.
This year “Ordinary People” is the theme. The Trust website explains that “Genocide is facilitated by ordinary people. Ordinary people turn a blind eye, believe propaganda, join murderous regimes. And those who are persecuted, oppressed and murdered in genocide aren’t persecuted because of crimes they’ve committed – they are persecuted simply because they are ordinary people who belong to a particular group (eg, Roma, Jewish community, Tutsi).”
Ordinary people were involved in all aspects of the Holocaust, Nazi persecution of other groups, and in the genocides that have taken place elsewhere. Ordinary people were perpetrators, bystanders, rescuers, witnesses - and ordinary people were victims”.
How can we participate in the remembrance of the Holocaust?
There are many activities in Scotland including the official National Holocaust Memorial Day Online Event for Scotland on 27 January. Viewers are invited to register to view the online programme which will be available from 10am on 27 January 2023 on the Edinburgh Interfaith Youtube Channel.
This year there will also be an in-person Holocaust Memorial Day programme at the Scottish Parliament on 26 January. Other events in Scotland and across the UK can be found on the Trust’s website.
The UK online commemoration will be streamed live on 26 January at 7pm.
Holocaust Memorial Day is an important time for everyone learn about the Holocaust and push back against discrimination and hate crime.
Can the law do more to help eliminate antisemitism and prevent hate crime?
The Scottish Parliament has enacted the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021. It provides that a criminal offence is aggravated if: “the offender demonstrates malice and ill-will towards the victim based on the victim’s membership of a group defined by a listed characteristic, or the offence is motivated (wholly or partly) by malice and ill-will towards any such group. The listed characteristics are age, disability, race (and related characteristics), religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity and variations in sex characteristics. It also provides for an offence of racially aggravated harassment.
However, the Act is not yet in force and the Scottish Government is expecting commencement in 2024. Apparently, this new deadline will allow time to complete IT upgrades and training for the police and others.
Furthermore, there is no specific offence of Holocaust denial in any jurisdiction in the UK. Holocaust denial can be defined as questioning the state-sponsored, systematic persecution and mass murder of Jews, whom the Nazi regime and its collaborators sought to annihilate along with other persecuted groups, such as Roma and Sinti.
In certain circumstances prosecution for Holocaust denial (or distortion) under the Communications Act 2003 is possible where the denial is in a message sent “by means of a public electronic communications network”. For example the Act was used in the case of Alison Chabloz v Crown Prosecution Service [2019] EWHC 3094 where the accused was convicted of writing and performing antisemitic songs which denied the Holocaust. It is clear that using the Communications Act 2003 as a proxy for a Holocaust denial law is unsatisfactory.
This gap in the law to counter antisemitism will not be filled by the proposals in Part 10 of the Online Safety Bill currently in the House of Lords, notwithstanding the welcome provisions which will make it an offence for a person to send a message conveying “information that the person knows to be false”.
Upholding the rule of law and promoting human rights can go a long way to providing protection against discrimination and preventing antisemitism. Ultimately however it will be a matter for the legislatures which make the law to decide whether such a step as legislating against Holocaust denial or distortion will be made.
Making such a law would go a long way to honour the memory and sacrifice of those who died and respect those who survived.
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