This article by Karen Pollock MBE, Chief Executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, first appeared in The Times Red Box on Monday 26th March
Last week, I visited Oswiecim, a small town in Poland. Before the war, the majority of the town’s 14,000 population were Jewish, but there were only a handful who returned.
I continued to Auschwitz one mile away. Alongside 200 students from the south of London, we walked through the gates of the Nazi concentration and death camp, under the cynical phrase “Arbeit Macht Frei” — work makes you free.
We saw the piles of shoes and hair of those murdered. We stood at the train tracks that transported tens of thousands a day to be gassed, starved or forced into backbreaking labour. We saw the gas chambers.
That day we all witnessed the horrifying truth of the Holocaust and we understood the importance of speaking up against antisemitism and hatred.
So here I am, days later, doing just that. Yet again. Calling out antisemitism — not on the periphery of society or in the dubious world of social media, but at the heart of a mainstream political party. And at the very top.
Time and time again, we have seen incidents of antisemitism within the Labour Party. Members saying “Jews kill and kidnap their way around the world”, saying children are put through a “holocaust indoctrination programme” and the Holocaust Educational Trust’s logo photoshopped to read “Zionist Fairy Tales”. Sickening and hurtful.
But as if that is not enough, the latest problem should worry us all.
Last week it came to light that Jeremy Corbyn defended a mural by Kalen Ockerman in East London — not far from the events of Cable Street in the 1930s.
The mural even at first glance is blatantly antisemitic and highly offensive. It depicts a group of men with large hooked noses playing a Monopoly-style board game resting on the backs of dead people surrounded by demonic imagery.
Mr Corbyn claims he did not realise how offensive the image was, but why couldn’t he see what was staring him in the face?
To remain silent in the face of antisemitism is to be complicit. Ignoring it gives antisemites the license to thrive. This is all made more disturbing when he knew this to be case, yet failed to apologise. It is unforgivable.
For someone who regards himself as a champion against all forms of racism, there seems to be a blind spot. If this mural was condoned by any other politician, the outcry would be deafening.
Our political leaders must be leading the charge. They must be at the forefront of stamping out hatred and prejudice in all its forms. There’s no space to sit by in silence.
Antisemitism is a threat to society. To all of us. If we do nothing and leave it unchallenged, we know what this hatred can ultimately lead to. Leaders must take a strong, clear, irrefutable stand.
That’s why I hope you will join me and others in Parliament Square today from 5.30pm to say no to antisemitism.
Enough is enough.