皇冠体育app

鈥淚t happened, therefore it can happen again.鈥�

Primo Levi鈥檚 words capture with an almost beautiful simplicity the central lesson of the Shoah鈥�

鈥�so much so that they are carved into the subterranean walls of Berlin鈥檚 Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

Yet today, more than 70 years since the liberation of the death camps, both the Holocaust and Levi鈥檚 warning are slipping to the fringes of living memory.

Now more than ever we cannot allow that to happen.

Because in 2015 history is beginning to repeat itself.

Across Europe, anti-Semitism is on the rise.

It鈥檚 easy to dismiss.

To see 鈥榣iars鈥� painted across an advert for a Holocaust Memorial event, and say it鈥檚 just petty vandalism.

Or to hear Dutch football fans chanting 鈥淗amas, Hamas, Jews to the gas鈥� and say it鈥檚 just a few bad apples.

Or to see a Rabbi being chased through Gateshead by a gang and say it鈥檚 an isolated incident.

To do so ignores the grim reality.

In the past 3 years Jewish schools, shops, museums and places of worship have been attacked by gunmen in Toulouse鈥�

鈥� in Paris鈥� 鈥� in Brussels鈥� 鈥� and in Copenhagen.

In civilised Western Europe, in the 21st century, Jews are once again being murdered simply for being Jews.

But mass murder is not the beginning of the process.

It never is.

皇冠体育app Holocaust did not begin in the gas chambers of Auschwitz and Treblinka.

Indiscriminate killing is simply where hatred, left unchecked, reaches its tragic conclusion.

皇冠体育app Holocaust began with nothing more than words.

皇冠体育appn came the insults, boycotts, discrimination.

皇冠体育app noxious weed of anti-Semitism crept insidiously into everyday life鈥�

鈥� degrading, denouncing and dehumanising its victims鈥�

鈥�until the stage was set for violence, oppression and finally murder on a scale unprecedented before or since.

That steady escalation meant that the 6 million individuals who died were not the only victims of the Holocaust.

Countless more were forced from their homes鈥�

鈥�abandoning everything they owned鈥�

often leaving family members behind as they desperately sought a friendly harbour in desperately unfriendly times.

Many found that harbour in Britain.

For that we have to thank people like Sir Nicholas Winton.

In 1939, as darkness descended across Europe, he organised the rescue of 669 Czech children as part of the Kindertransport.

Today, there are literally thousands of people 鈥� the children and their descendants 鈥� who can say they owe their lives to him.

Sir Nicholas died earlier this year at the age of 106.

But his daughter Barbara is here this evening, along with 2 of the children he brought to the UK.

Barbara, I know your father was a reluctant hero.

But a hero he truly was.

He deserves our eternal gratitude.

Anyone who fled murderous extremism 75 years ago will find the refugee crisis we face today depressingly familiar.

Despite what some say, ISIL are not the Nazis.

What we鈥檙e seeing in Syria is not genocide or a Holocaust.

But when we see armed police herd refugees onto a train, telling them they鈥檙e heading for a new life when in fact they鈥檙e on their way to a detention camp鈥�

When we see the shutters come down and the 鈥榳e鈥檙e full鈥� signs go up鈥�

It鈥檚 a chilling reminder of what happens when we forget the recent past.

Of the lack of empathy, education and awareness of history that allows such scenes to unfold in modern Europe.

Of how easily and quickly we forget what went before.

A migrant leaves their home in search of a better one.

A refugee has no home to go to.

And it is incumbent upon those of us who are more fortunate to offer such men, women and children the safe haven they desperately need and they truly deserve.

If we look the other way, if we say it鈥檚 nothing to do with us, if we say a refugee鈥檚 not welcome here because of his or her religion鈥�

Well, then we are no better than those who tried to bar the door against Jewish refugees two generations ago鈥�

鈥� and we have failed to learn the lesson that Levi so clearly set out.

That it happened, and therefore it can happen again.

That is why, this afternoon, the Prime Minister set out our immediate steps to tackle the current crisis.

But we also need to tackle the root of the problem, the often violent extremism that is on the rise around the world.

And I鈥檓 not just talking about the butchers of ISIL or Al Qaeda, thousands of miles away in foreign lands.

皇冠体育appre鈥檚 plenty of intolerance much closer to home, intolerance that is disproportionately directed at the Jewish community.

Some is explicit.

皇冠体育app hate preachers, the extremist mosques, the far-Right groups.

Some is more oblique.

A search on Google produces more than half a million hits for 鈥楬olocaust Hoax鈥�.

Thousands more pages will tell you that a greedy Otto Frank forged his daughter鈥檚 diary in a cunning scheme to make money.

皇冠体育appn there are the 鈥榙inner party anti-Semites鈥�.

Respectable, middle-class people who would recoil in horror if you accused them of racism鈥�

鈥�but are quite happy to repeat modern takes on age-old myths and slanders about Jews.

Who can鈥檛 condemn the murder of Jewish children in France without a caveat criticising the Israeli government.

Who demand that a Jewish American artist sign a declaration of support for Palestine if he wants to perform at a festival in Spain.

I can鈥檛 remember the last time I spoke to a Jewish friend or colleague who hasn鈥檛, at some point, found themselves sitting awkwardly at a dinner party鈥�

鈥� while a fellow guest railed against the international 鈥楰osher Conspiracy鈥�.

Together, these attitudes create a climate in which anti-Semitism is seen as 鈥榣ess bad鈥� than other forms of discrimination.

And in that climate, the most violent extremism can take root and it can thrive.

It happened, therefore it can happen again.

But there is hope in the darkness.

Those ideas can be challenged.

Those minds can be changed.

皇冠体育app climate of intolerance can be turned on its head.

And for 27 years that is exactly what the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET) has been doing.

In schools, in the media, in the streets, HET helps us not just to remember the past but, just as importantly, to learn from it.

I鈥檝e long been a supporter of your work鈥�

鈥�and in 2011 I got a new appreciation for what you do when I accompanied a group of students from Bromsgrove on a Lessons from Auschwitz visit.

I鈥檇 read about the Shoah.

But nothing could prepare me for what I saw when I visited that bleak, forbidding place in person.

Nothing will erase from my mind the sight of battered suitcases still bearing nametags.

Of thousands upon thousands of shoes stolen from the feet of murdered men, women and tiny children.

Everyone who joined me on that visit took something different from it, but none of us will ever forget what we learned there.

And nor will we stop sharing it with the world.

Lessons from Auschwitz is a powerful and necessary programme.

It was rightly supported by the Labour government, and by the Coalition government.

And I鈥檓 proud to say that it will continue to be supported by the Conservative government.

皇冠体育appre are too many good people involved with the Holocaust Educational Trust to pay tribute to you all.

But I do want to thank Poju Zabludowicz for hosting this dinner.

Because of Poju鈥檚 generosity, every penny raised tonight will go direct to the trust鈥檚 vital educational work.

So there are no excuses, give generously!

But most of all, let me salute the trust鈥檚 team of Holocaust survivors, more than 40 of whom are with us today.

You witnessed humanity at its very worst.

But you represent it at its very best.

By standing up and sharing your experiences, you honour the memory of generations past and make the world safer for generations to come.

By showing us where hatred leads, you can stop it in its tracks.

So on behalf of everyone here tonight and everyone who has benefited from your selfless work, thank you.

That applause was richly deserved.

But it doesn鈥檛 quite seem adequate.

After everything you鈥檝e been through, a politician standing here once a year and saying 鈥榞ood work, keep it up鈥�; it really isn鈥檛 enough.

That鈥檚 why the Prime Minister set up the Holocaust Commission 18 months ago.

And let me just thank the Chief Rabbi, who I know is here tonight, for his work on that Commission.

And another member was Sir Peter Bazalgette who is now the man tasked with chairing the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation.

皇冠体育app work of the Foundation to establish a National Memorial and Learning Centre will be vital鈥�

鈥� in ensuring we always remember the people and communities that were lost to us.

So huge thanks to Baz for all his work on the project so far.

But what really excites me about this work is the way it will support us to do even more to educate people across the country.

Because buildings and memorials are not enough 鈥� we also need to change the way people think and act.

Ella Lingens-Rainer was an Austrian doctor, a Gentile, who courageously worked to save Jews while she herself was detained in Auschwitz.

And, after the war, when Ella was asked why she had risked so much to protect complete strangers, her explanation was very simple.

鈥溁使谔逵齛pp people who ordered and implemented these horrible deeds were not so many,鈥� she said.

鈥淏ut infinitely many others let it happen, because they lacked the courage to prevent them.

鈥溁使谔逵齛ppy withdrew with a sigh claiming that 鈥榯here is nothing we can do鈥�, even in those cases when something could be done.鈥�

Seventy years later, we cannot afford to withdraw with a sigh.

We cannot lack the courage to stand up, together, and say that we will not tolerate intolerance.

So tonight I call on every decent Briton, whether you鈥檙e of any faith or none, to join us all in the fight against extremism and anti-Semitism.

And I call on everyone here today to support the Holocaust Educational Trust, and to give the memory of the Holocaust a place within your walls.

Because it happened.

And it falls to us to see that it never happens again.