Downing Street meeting for Holocaust survivor and Student Ambassadors
Rt Hon David Cameron MP, the Prime Minister, and Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP, the Deputy Prime Minister, joined Holocaust survivor Ben Helfgott MBE and Student Ambassadors who have taken part in the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Lessons from Auschwitz Project in signing the Trust’s Holocaust Memorial Day Book of Commitment at 10 Downing Street.
Ben Helfgott MBE is a remarkable man, who having survived Nazi camps including Theresienstadt and Buchenwald went on to captain the British Olympic Weighlifting Team in 1956 and 1960. Georgia Evans, Lucy Johnstone and Sam Tuck from Jack Hunt School in Peterborough visited Auschwitz-Birkenau and have since led campaigns in their community to fight prejudice and bigotry.
Signing the Holocaust Memorial Day Book of Commitment the Prime Minister wrote:
“With each year that passes since the end of the Holocaust, we have a greater responsibility than ever to remember the dreadful events that took place. By learning from history, we must pledge that nothing like this ever happens again. I commend you for the excellent work that you do, educating new generations about the suffering of the past and ensuring that we never forget one of the darkest periods of our history.”
The Deputy Prime Minister wrote:
“This year we must ‘speak up, speak out’ as we remember the Holocaust: with each passing year, the need to remind the world of the darkest chapter in our common history becomes all the more acute – because to forget is to risk a repeat of history. And that must never ever be allowed to happen.”
The Leader of the Opposition, Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP, also signed the Book of Commitment, writing:
“Speak up, speak out is an essential message for us all as we remember the Holocaust. It reminds us that we must never forget the terrible genocide perpetrated against the Jews. We owe it to all those who perished to remember and speak up against antisemitism – we must speak out against injustice and bigotry wherever we find it.”
Over 200 MPs have already signed the Book of Commitment and EDM 2566, a cross-party motion marking Holocaust Memorial Day 2012.