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Lou Hart, Prof David Cesarani, Rabbi Janet Burden, Mayor Jill Fraser and Dr Edie Friedman at the Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony in the Town Hall
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Genocide which begins with joke
A LEADING Holocaust historian warned on Thursday of the dangers of turning a blind eye to racism.
Visitors to a Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony at Camden Town Hall watched screenings of interviews with women survivors of the camps.
Among those present were Royal Holloway historian Professor David Cesarani, Jewish Council for Racial Equality founder Dr Edie Friedman, Mayor of Camden Councillor Jill Fraser, and Camden’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Forum director Lou Hart.
The ceremony ended with candlelit prayers said by West Central Liberal Synagogue Rabbi Janet Burden.
Prof Cesarani said: “Every year when Holocaust Memorial Day comes I find myself feeling anxious and wondering what’s the point?”
He spoke of a recent survey which found that 25 per cent of those polled between the age of 18 and 29 were not sure the Holocaust had even happened.
Prof Cesarani added: “Perhaps the most depressing thing is the knowledge that, despite all the work, it seems to do no good. The inhabitants of the Big Brother house unselfconsciously indulge in racism or do nothing themselves to stop it.
“A genocidal situation continues to unfold in Darfur, China is allowed to carry on gradually erasing a country and population in Tibet, yet every year a story of courage comes along.”
He pointed to an exhibition at the Jewish Museum in honour of Janusz Korczak, a Polish-Jewish doctor who refused to leave the orphans in his care and went with them to Auschwitz.
He added: “Where does genocide begin? It begins with the racist anti-semitic joke, social distancing, a shared consciousness that ‘they’ are responsible.”
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