William Faulkner, an American novelist, stated that "The past is not dead, it is not even past." This statement holds particularly true when we consider the Nazi persecution and mass murder of Jews, which took place between 1933 and 1945, and the "racial state" that Hitler built in Germany, which he almost imposed on all of Europe.
Even more than half a century later, Hitler’s legacy still painfully persists. Some people, who perversely cherish his memory, possess the hope that Nazism might be revived. The Jewish civilization of central and eastern Europe is lost forever, replaced by a scattered and dwindling band of former refugees and survivors of ghettos and concentration camps. However, racism, xenophobia, and political intolerance are still prevalent forces throughout Europe.
The Holocaust Memorial Day aims to commemorate those who perished in the genocide against the Jews and to remember the barbaric consequences of a racial-biological ideology that deemed the disabled as "life unworthy of life," persecuted gays and black Germans, as well as categorized Roma, Poles, and Russians as "sub-humans" who could be starved or massacred with impunity.
Yet, this commemoration does not only serve as a simple act of piety, but it is intended to be a springboard for positive action.
Nazi crimes against humanity were committed by a modern state in the heart of Europe with the complicity of millions in and beyond Germany. The history of Nazism demonstrates how democracies can slip into tyranny, how societies become inured to racism, and how populations ultimately connive in the exclusion, expropriation, and annihilation of individuals and groups classified as "enemies" based on "race," creed, lifestyle, or political beliefs.
Recalling all of this is one of the weapons we can use against the extreme right, and it is a powerful lesson explaining why democracy and pluralism are crucial to every individual.
The theme of the memorial day in 2003 will focus on children, but not for any sentimental reasons. Racism targets children mainly, as racists want to make them ashamed of their religious or ethnic identities. At its most extreme, racial ideology prescribes the killing of children to prevent the biological continuity of a people.
Children are, by definition, innocent and defenseless. If the perpetrators of genocide are willing to kill children, they will undoubtedly kill anyone. Conversely, any society that allows children to be persecuted or murdered cannot or will not protect anyone. An international community that stands by while children are denied schooling, uprooted from their homes, starved, tortured, or killed because they belong to the "wrong" ethnic group or worship the "wrong" god does not deserve the description of a "community."
Today, millions of children endure racial harassment, displacement, and genocide. The ongoing debate in this country over the schooling of the children of asylum seekers indicates that we cannot pretend it is not happening. If it appears that we have not learned anything from the past, maybe that is because we have not tried hard enough. This is the point of Holocaust Memorial Day.
Over the last two years, since its inception, the memorial day has brought the past into the present of millions of people and explained why, as Faulkner warned, it is far from dead. In 2001, over two million people watched the national ceremony on TV, and many stayed tuned in for the screening of "Schindler’s List." The event sparked debate that provoked articles, reports, and letters in local and national newspapers.
In 2002, the day was featured on Blue Peter and in dozens of TV and radio programs. Local authorities, schools, and churches organized events throughout the country, including multi-faith services, concerts, poetry readings, and exhibitions. Since it fell on a Sunday that year, several Premier League football clubs included articles on the dangers of racism in their match programs.
Of course, the memorial day is not perfect either in conception or execution. However, for the first time, schools and universities were offered educational materials on the suffering and resistance of those who faced Nazi persecution and other genocides in the last century, including Rwanda and Kosovo. Excellent education packs were created under the auspices of the DfES and distributed with the help of the Holocaust Educational Trust and Beth Shalom, both of which have proved to be outstanding resources. The website provides information and links that would not otherwise exist.
Thanks to Holocaust Memorial Day, communities have discovered former refugees in their midst and unveiled histories of local activism on behalf of those seeking a haven from oppression. These memories have raised questions about the way British society and the state behaved in the 1930s and inevitably how we treat refugees and asylum seekers today. When the day is rooted in the national calendar, it will have succeeded, and hopefully, Britain will become a more responsible and truly diverse country.